A few weeks ago I was leaving a highway to get on a side st when something genuinely scary happened. A person was walking in the absolute middle of the road & I barley had time & room to move over to the shoulder. I was going around 35-40mph & it was dark out. If id hit this person, it would've been fatal. They weren't visible at all untill my headlights were on them. If id hit them, how screwed would I have been legally & financially? I have no idea if they were just stupid or looking to get hit. Should I have called the police to report them?
Nearly hit person walking in road at night.
byu/justarussian22 inInsurance
Posted by justarussian22
5 Comments
It depends?
The issue with this type of accident, quite frankly, is the other person won’t be around to tell their version of the story.
If you were at fault, yes, it could be devastating. Especially if you carry low limits on your policy.
There’s no one size fits all answer to this but hypothetically if you struck the pedestrian you would still be considered liable even though he was walking in the middle of the road.
Comparative negligence could be argued which in theory could lower the amount of money owed to this individual but to keep it simple, if you strike a pedestrian your insurance company is paying out on a bodily injury claim.
A wandering drunk or druggie wouldn’t be your fault.
My city is very hostile to pedestrians, so it’s common here for drivers to not get charged after hitting and killing a pedestrian. Your city may not be as lax.
Best thing is to maintain safe speeds in areas where pedestrians are, where sidewalks are nonexistent or in poor condition, and where you cannot see well for a decent distance. Lots of these nighttime accidents happen where people walk between apartment complexes and 24 hour stores on dark or curvy roads, especially on feeder roads where people drive really fast.
Happened to me. Bicyclist had a few too many, hit the curb crossing a rural road and decided that was a perfectly good nap spot. I ran them over with my truck and fucked him up good, thought I killed him. He sued my insurance and got 30k. It’s a small town so I still get to see the guy hobble himself around sometimes.
I was listed as vehicle 1 (at fault) in the accident. No citations, no civil penalty other than rates going up for 6 months. Pretty much Scott free except for the occasional dream where I run him over again but much more vividly.