A car accident can be devastating. However, when a pedestrian is hit by a car, the resulting injuries are likely to be severe or even deadly.
Regardless of the circumstances, you deserve an attorney who understands how to get the best results for your case, as knowledge, experience, and compassion matter in these types of cases.
What are the Main Causes of Pedestrian Accidents?
Most pedestrian accidents occur because drivers are simply not paying attention, or violating traffic safety laws.
Many of these accidents are filed under claims of reckless and negligent driving when a pedestrian is hit by a car, truck, bus, motorcycle, bicycle, or any other vehicle.
The most common reasons for a pedestrian accident include the following:
- Speeding, especially in major cities with high pedestrian traffic
- Running red lights with people walking at an intersection
- Disobeying traffic signs and road markings
- Driving too fast in neighborhoods with children often running into the street
- Making turns out of driveways without paying attention to people on sidewalks
- Making turns at intersections without first observing pedestrians in the crosswalk
- Distracted by talking or texting on their cell phones or playing with their car radio
- Failing to drive safely in poor weather conditions, like rain and snow
- Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while operating a vehicle
- Tired or too fatigued to drive safely and with caution
Michigan’s No-Fault Law Explained
Pedestrians injured by a motor vehicle are always entitled to no-fault insurance benefits under Michigan law. These apply even if the driver didn’t own the automobile or have an auto insurance policy.
However, you must be a Michigan resident, or an out-of-state resident with a vehicle titled and insured in Michigan, to qualify for these benefits.
No-fault benefits will either come from your own car insurance, or from the car insurance of a family member that you reside with at the time of the accident. If neither of those applies, then you can get benefits through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan.
These benefits can include payment of lifetime medical bills, lost wages, attendant care services, household benefits, and payments for other medically necessary services and things.
How a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Can Help You
An experienced attorney can help get your medical bills paid for and your lost wages reimbursed under Michigan’s No-Fault insurance law. Similarly, they should work on a contingency fee basis. This means the attorney fee and costs of handling the case will be paid with a percentage of the settlement or judgment the client receives from their personal injury case.
Simply put, when you hire Wigod & Falzon, no recovery = NO FEE.
This law is increasingly complex, and can present many traps for inexperienced lawyers. That’s why it’s important for an injured pedestrian or bicyclist to immediately report the incident to the police, and contact a pedestrian accident lawyer.
A skilled lawyer can adequately explain what benefits you’re entitled to, who will provide them, and can assist you or your loved one in making the appropriate applications for those benefits.
P.S. If an application is not made within one year from the date of the accident, then the injured pedestrian/bicyclist is barred from collecting these free No-Fault benefits.
Call Us For a Free, No-Commitment Consultation Today
Our team understands the law inside-and-out, and will guide you to ensure that you receive all the benefits you’re entitled to under Michigan law.
Let the pedestrian accidents attorneys of Wigod & Falzon fight for your rights. Reach out to us for a free, no-commitment consultation today.