PEDESTRIANS FACE HIGHER RISKS THAN RIDERS IN ACCIDENTS

Many Connecticut residents use walking as their primary mode of transportation. They might order Uber or Lyft and enjoy cycling, but their preference for getting from point A to point B is to walk.

It’s no surprise that pedestrians face higher risks of being killed in auto wrecks than the motorists and passengers in the cars that hit them.

Numbers don’t lie

In a single recent year, there were 5,987 pedestrian deaths in the United States. To put it in another perspective, one person dies from a collision with a vehicle every 90 minutes. Each time the pedestrians leave on foot they have 1.5 times the risk of dying than their counterparts on wheels.

Who is at risk?

Some risk factors cannot be mitigated, such as age. Those 65 and older made up one in every five pedestrian fatalities in the same year. Children are at higher risk as well: 20% of all kids 14 and under who died in auto wrecks were pedestrians.

Other risk factors

Nearly half of the pedestrian deaths involve alcohol usage in either the driver or the pedestrian (and sometimes both). In a third of the total annual pedestrian deaths, the pedestrian’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level was at least .08, making them legally drunk in all 50 states.

More pedestrians die in collisions in urban areas, at night and not in intersections. When the driver of the vehicle is speeding and strikes the pedestrian, the risk and severity of the injuries rise substantially.

Seeking recourse after a pedestrian wreck

Your ability to bounce back after being injured in a wreck with a car or truck may be severely hampered. You could suffer from permanently disabling injuries that prevent your ever working another day in your chosen field — if at all.

You or your survivors if you are killed will be faced with mountains of medical bills for everything from ambulance rides to physical therapy. But there will no longer be your income as a wage-earner.

In short, life as you know it will change in that split-second when the automobile strikes you and sends you flying. You should take the necessary steps you need to preserve your right to seek financial compensation for your injuries and damages.