Pedestrian and Bicycle Accident Lawyers
Pedestrians and cyclists get the worst injuries and the least benefit of the doubt. The police narrative is often written from the driver's account because the other person is in an ambulance, and it follows the case for years. These claims also run into coverage limits quickly, which makes underinsured motorist coverage, resident-relative policies and any commercial policy behind the vehicle the difference between a real recovery and a nominal one. We look for that coverage first.
What we do on these cases
- We look for coverage before we look for fault, because in these cases the recovery is usually capped by the policy rather than by the injury. Underinsured motorist coverage, a resident relative's policy and any commercial or employer policy behind the vehicle are all checked in the first fortnight.
- We go back to the scene and re-establish the sequence, because the narrative in the report was usually taken from the only participant who was conscious and standing.
- We look for the camera. Doorbell cameras, business security systems, transit vehicles and increasingly the striking vehicle itself all capture these collisions, and every one of those sources is on a retention clock.
- We anticipate the crossing argument. Where the person was crossing, what the signal was doing, and how the roadway is actually used at that point are answerable with measurement and with traffic data rather than with assertion.
What the insurer is doing while you wait
The report is the first problem. In a pedestrian or cyclist collision the driver is at the scene, uninjured and able to give a coherent account, and the other person is not. That account becomes the narrative section, the narrative section becomes the adjuster's starting position, and it is still the starting position two years later even though the report itself will generally not go in front of a jury.
The second problem is arithmetic. Georgia's minimum liability limits are low relative to what a pedestrian's hospital bill looks like after a week, so the carrier's calculation is often simply that the policy is exhausted regardless of the argument. That makes the search for additional coverage layers the most valuable work in the case, and it has to happen before anyone accepts a limits tender and signs the release that comes with it.
What it costs
There is no fee to talk to us and no fee unless we win. Where the only available coverage is a minimum policy we will tell you plainly what that means for the case, including when it means you do not need us.
“No fee unless we win” refers only to the attorney's fee — court costs and other expenses of legal action usually must be paid by the client, and contingent fees are not permitted in all types of cases.
Results in this area
- $1.1MPedestrian struck in a marked crossingSettlement · 2022
- $610,000Cyclist struck by a turning vehicleSettlement · 2023
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different, and the value of any case depends on facts that are specific to it.
Questions we get about these cases
The driver's policy is too small to cover my injuries. What now?
Then the case becomes a search for other coverage. Your own underinsured motorist coverage frequently applies even though you were walking or riding, because it follows the person rather than the vehicle. So can a policy belonging to a relative you live with. If the driver was working, there may be a commercial or employer policy behind them. Accepting the small policy and signing its release without checking the rest first is the mistake that closes those doors permanently.
I was crossing mid-block. Does that end the case?
No, though it will be the center of the fight. Georgia reduces a recovery by the claimant's share of fault and bars it past a threshold, so the argument is about proportion rather than about a yes or no. Sight lines, speed, lighting, how that stretch of road is actually used, and whether the driver had time to react are all real questions, and they get answered with measurement rather than with an assumption about who was where.
Does my own auto policy help if I was walking?
Often, yes, and it is the most commonly missed source of recovery in these cases. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage generally protects you as a pedestrian or a cyclist, not only as a driver, and medical payments coverage frequently does too. It is worth having someone read the declarations page early rather than discovering the coverage after the liability claim has been closed.
Tell us what happened.
Three steps, about two minutes. A lawyer reads every one of these.