Pedestrian Accidents, Uninsured And Underinsured Motorist Insurance

By  Peter M. Lazarus, Esq.

By the time 2016 is over, more than 4,000 pedestrians are expected to be killed in accidents, and more than 70,000 are expected to be injured. Those numbers are stunning, and California is one of the leading states in the country for pedestrian deaths.

Negligence and comparative negligence
Nearly all pedestrian accident lawsuits are based on the legal theory of negligence. As a personal injury lawyer, we’re required to prove the following elements in order to show negligence:

• A duty to use due care and caution for the injured person’s safety
• A breach of that duty
• That the accident complained of in the lawsuit caused the plaintiff’s injuries
• That the plaintiff suffered legally recognized damages

Sometimes the person who caused the accident alleges that the pedestrian was a partial cause of it by failing to use due care and caution for his or her own personal safety. That’s called comparative negligence, and drivers involved in pedestrian accidents often allege that in efforts to shift some of the blame for the accident onto the pedestrian. When successfully argued, comparative negligence operates to reduce the amount the pedestrian’s damages award by the percentage of negligence attributable to him or her. For example, if the pedestrian was awarded $100,000, and he or she was determined to be 25 percent comparatively negligent, the damages award would be reduced down to $75,000.

Uninsured and underinsured motorists
We all know that there’s a large segment of the driving population that is either uninsured or underinsured. Even if somebody carries minimum liability insurance, their coverage is only $15,000 per person. That’s not enough to cover the damages for a broken leg requiring a surgical repair. Then there’s the bill for the rehab, lost earnings, pain and suffering and a permanent limp.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance (UM/UIM)
These are two types of auto insurance coverage that every driver needs, and they’re offered together. Yes, you even need it as a pedestrian. It usually covers bodily injury to you and family members who are residents of your household in pedestrian or bicycle accidents that are the fault of uninsured or underinsured drivers. UM/UIM might even cover bodily injury when an accident is the fault of a hit-and-run driver.
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