Pedestrian cases turn on details that get lost fast. A skid mark fades with afternoon traffic, a witness catches a flight, a corner store overwrites its camera feed. When I build a pedestrian case, I treat the scene like a clock that starts ticking the moment impact happens. Proving driver fault isn’t just about pointing to the crosswalk and the walking signal. It’s about stringing together physics, human behavior, data from machines, and a clean narrative that holds up against cross‑examination and insurance skepticism.
This checklist grew out of years of litigating collisions that looked simple at first glance but unraveled into multi‑vehicle puzzles, visibility disputes, and shared fault arguments. Whether you’re a pedestrian accident attorney handling a new file or a personal injury lawyer stepping in after the claim stalls, the steps below help secure the facts before they slip away.
Start with the scene, but don’t stop there
Everything begins at the roadway. If you cannot get there the day of the crash, you still go, and you bring a camera and measuring tools. Photographs taken at pedestrian eye level matter more than wide overhead shots. I take pictures from the driver’s vantage point at the approximate stopping distance for the reported speed. If a client says the walk sign was on, I photograph the intersection lights and pedestrian signal patterns through a full cycle, because timing varies and juries believe visuals.
Weather and lighting sit at the heart of visibility disputes. I note the sun angle using free solar position tools and match it to the time of the crash. That “low sun in the eyes” defense evaporates if the sun would have been behind the driver’s shoulder, not in the windshield. Road surface conditions, even subtle ones like mosaic oil patches at turn bays, explain longer stopping distances and support why a driver should have adjusted speed.
Mark the contact point if it’s still evident: scuffs, glass, blood droplets, or shoe marks. I’ve had cases where the police diagram missed the actual impact location by a lane width, and the embedded glass trail told the truth. If there is construction, capture signage, cones, covered signals, and detour lines. Temporary setups create sudden conflicts between turning vehicles and crossing pedestrians, and they are often poorly documented.
Lock down video before it disappears
Far more intersections are instrumented than most people realize. City traffic operations centers keep feeds, but retention can be anywhere from 24 hours to a week unless a formal preservation request goes out. Traders’ row deli on the corner with a fisheye camera might be better than any municipal feed. The key is speed. I send hand‑delivered letters and emails to property managers within the first two days, and I follow with a subpoena if necessary. Ride‑hail drivers sometimes run multiple dash cameras, and rideshare companies often have partial telemetry, so the rideshare accident lawyer angle may open additional data sources.
Video solves the he said/she said battles. It can show a driver rolling a right on red, a cell phone coming up in the driver’s hand, or a late‑night street racing pack. Even when the scene camera misses the exact impact, you can use clips from 100 feet up the block to calculate speed based on lane markings and frames per second. When cameras yield nothing, I check for bus routes. Transit agencies frequently retain forward‑facing bus footage for weeks, and an approaching bus lens might catch the crucial seconds that private storefront cameras miss.
Treat light timing as evidence, not background
Signal timing changes by time of day, and sometimes by day of week. In a crosswalk case, the timing chart can make or break liability. I request the signal timing plan, conflict monitor logs, and any schedule for pedestrian recall or leading pedestrian intervals. A leading pedestrian interval gives walkers a head start before turning traffic gets a green, and if your client had that advantage, a turning driver owes a heightened duty to yield under ordinary negligence principles.
I’ve had engineers testify with a laptop running the intersection’s cabinet logs to the tenths of a second. Those logs show phase changes. If a driver claims they had a fresh green and never saw a pedestrian, yet the phase shows a stale green of 20 seconds with a long walk indicator, it supports inattention. Even without logs, a field timing study with a stopwatch across several cycles builds credibility, especially when you match it to video.
Reconstruct vision and sightlines, not just speeds
Defense experts love to say, “The pedestrian darted out.” My job is to test how long a reasonable driver would have had to identify and respond. I stand where the driver would have been and look back toward where the pedestrian came from. I take night shots with the same type of headlights if vehicle type is known. High beams versus low beams change detection distances. Headlight mounting height matters in trucks, and a truck accident lawyer should factor in the brighter cutoff and forward throw.
Trees, parked vans, and A‑pillar blind spots create momentary occlusions. The existence of a blockage does not absolve the driver. It increases the duty to ease off the throttle and scan. I document the width of A‑pillars and measure the angle they obscure. If a pedestrian walked at 3.5 feet per second, common in real life, and the A‑pillar hid a 15‑degree arc for 0.4 seconds, the driver still had several seconds of available sight time before impact. These are the kinds of numbers juries understand.
Preserve the vehicles, especially the “black box” data
Modern cars and trucks store useful data. Event data recorders capture speed, throttle, brake, and seatbelt status in the five seconds leading up to a trigger. Not every crash triggers a non‑airbag EDR event, but you do not know until you pull it. I send spoliation letters to owners and insurers immediately. If the car is repaired before imaging, that data can be lost. For rideshare vehicles, coordinate with the rideshare accident lawyer team to request trip data and driver app pings. For commercial trucks, the engine control module and telematics vendor often provide more detailed speed profiles, plus hard brake or fault codes. A motorcycle accident lawyer will know that many modern bikes carry limited data, but helmet camera footage often fills that gap.
Tire condition, brake pad wear, and windshield clarity turn into negligence facts when poor upkeep combined with speed created the danger. I once measured driver‑side wiper streaks that lined up with a haze band at eye level. The driver claimed rain made the pedestrian invisible. The maintenance neglect told a different story.
Work the human factors
Drivers do not hit people because of one cause. Distracted attention, target fixation on the vehicle ahead, and rare but real pedal confusion all play roles. Phone records, when obtained lawfully, provide call and data activity around the crash. Even the presence of a phone on the driver’s lap in bodycam photos raises questions that jurors consider. In fatigue cases, look for long shift logs. Ride‑hail platforms sometimes show when a driver has been online for hours. A car crash attorney who ignores fatigue risks missing the core negligence theme.
For the pedestrian, gait speed, clothing contrast, and line of travel matter. Dark clothing at night is not a legal shield for the driver, but it affects detection distances. I bring out the ANSI contrast tables only when needed and prefer to use simple photography showing how the clothing looked under similar lighting. If a client has medical conditions that affect reaction or mobility, address them candidly and explain how the law still places the primary duty on the operator of a two‑ton vehicle.
Witnesses are perishable
People want to help right after a crash. A week later, daily life wipes away specifics. I call witnesses the same day if possible and ask for sensory detail: what they heard first, where they were looking, how fast the cars seemed to move compared to typical traffic on that block. If someone saw brake lights late, that tends to match EDR data where braking occurred within a second of impact. I ask for the quiet details too: was music blaring from the driver’s car at the light, did the driver have a dog in the front seat, did the driver seem confused about the direction they were going.
Out‑of‑state or transient witnesses often need notarized statements. Lock those down early. Insurance adjusters may call witnesses as well, and you do not want their first recorded statement to be during a hostile phone interview.
Police reports help, but they do not decide fault
An officer’s diagram and narrative provide a starting point. Officers make reasonable inferences at chaotic scenes, but they do http://toextrade.com/offer-600007-the-weinstein-firm.html not run full reconstructions. I have seen “pedestrian outside crosswalk” written when the crosswalk paint had faded to ghosts. You can pull city resurfacing plans to show that a crosswalk existed before the last resurfacing and was scheduled for restriping. That converts a defense point into a municipal maintenance context, which often resonates with jurors.
If the officer issued a citation to the pedestrian, or none at all, remind yourself and your client: civil liability standards are different. Negligence is not bound by traffic ticket outcomes. A personal injury attorney knows to separate criminal or traffic adjudications from civil fault analysis, and to explain that difference with care.
Anticipate comparative negligence arguments
Most jurisdictions apply comparative fault. Adjusters will push hard on shared responsibility. Did the pedestrian look down at a phone? Did they step out from between parked cars? Were headphones on? The goal is not to turn the client into a saint. The goal is to quantify what a reasonably careful driver should have done with the available time and distance.
I use step‑by‑step time‑and‑distance models, anchored to conservative assumptions. If the driver was traveling 30 miles per hour on a city street, they covered 44 feet per second. Typical perception‑reaction time for an attentive driver is around 1.0 to 1.5 seconds under simple conditions, longer at night or with complex stimuli. Braking distances layer on top. Even with modest reaction and braking, a driver often had more than enough distance to slow or swerve if they had been looking where their vehicle was going. That message lands better than moralizing.
Medical documentation that matches the mechanics
The injuries should make sense given the impact mechanics. Tibial plateau fractures and pelvic ring injuries tell me about bumper height and lateral forces. A windshield starring pattern with transfer of hair indicates a higher‑energy impact or a secondary body strike. I ask ER physicians and trauma nurses for photographs of initial wounds whenever possible. They are accustomed to that request from a personal injury lawyer and oblige if asked early and respectfully.
Later, physical therapy notes can become liability evidence. A client who consistently reports fear of crossing that same intersection gives the case a human dimension jurors remember. If there are preexisting conditions, do not bury them. The law allows recovery for aggravation of prior injuries, and credible acknowledgment helps juries trust the rest of your claims.
Economic loss: simple, precise, and conservative
Lost wages and future earning capacity claims need order and restraint. I verify pay stubs, employer letters, and tax returns. For gig workers and rideshare drivers, platform statements plus bank deposits form the backbone. A rideshare accident lawyer may combine platform utilization rates with local fare averages to avoid inflated numbers. When economists get involved, anchor their inputs to real documents and real schedules. Overreaching hurts credibility far more than it helps value.
Medical bills should be organized by date and provider, separated between billed and paid amounts if your jurisdiction requires it. Jurors appreciate clean numbers and a clear explanation of liens. A car accident lawyer who can explain hospital lien law in two sentences earns trust.
Special considerations for unique drivers and vehicles
Not all drivers are equal in the eyes of duty. A commercial driver has training and federal regulations stacked on top of the ordinary duty of care. Hours‑of‑service logs, pre‑trip inspections, and company safety policies can show that a violation was not just negligent, but rooted in a preventable system failure. A truck accident lawyer will mine driver qualification files, prior incident histories, and dispatcher communications for time pressure evidence.
Government vehicles introduce notice and claim deadlines. Miss those, and you lose otherwise strong cases. Police cruisers and buses often have onboard video, telematics, and incident review procedures. Use them. For motorcycles, lane position and headlight modulation become central. I’ve won a case where a motorcyclist’s daytime running light pattern confused a turning driver, but the driver still violated the right‑of‑way. The analysis centered on gap acceptance and scanning habits, not just who saw whom first.
Insurance carrier playbook and how to counter it
Adjusters favor early recorded statements that lock in small inconsistencies. If a client is still medicated or overwhelmed, you can decline until they are ready. Written statements reviewed for accuracy work better. Subtle tactics appear in property damage assessments too. A low estimate can imply a lower‑energy impact and thus “less serious” injury. That correlation is weak at best in pedestrian cases, where human tissue absorbs energy differently than sheet metal. Document the force transfer through medical evidence and body damage height, not just repair cost.
Insurers sometimes argue that a lack of “throw distance” shows low speed. Throw distance correlates with energy, but it varies with angle, body posture, and the secondary environment. A pedestrian clipped and dragged a few feet can sustain devastating injuries with minimal throw. Conversely, a glancing blow can send a person far with fewer fractures. The lesson: do not let a single metric define your case.
Negotiation timing and the value of patience
Pushing a claim too early invites lowball offers. I prefer to wait for a clear diagnosis and a treatment plan. Surgery, if contemplated, changes everything. If your client is still in active care, I present staged updates rather than a single giant package. It keeps the adjuster engaged while preserving the right to increase the claim with new information. A seasoned auto accident attorney knows when to file suit to stop the stall tactics and when to hold off to allow a medical picture to mature.
If the driver faces criminal charges, weigh the pros and cons of postponing civil proceedings until the criminal matter resolves. A conviction can simplify negligence proof. An acquittal does not end your case, but you will want to calibrate expectations with your client.
Trial‑ready from the first demand
The strongest settlements come when the other side knows you are ready to try the case. That does not mean chest‑beating. It means your file has the pieces that a jury would need to understand fault. Clean liability visuals, credible witnesses, a reconstruction that fits the physical facts, and medical evidence that tells a coherent story.
I rarely lead with harsh rhetoric. Jurors reward clarity and fairness. If the driver stayed at the scene and tried to help, acknowledge it. Then show how the choice to roll the turn without a full stop, or to glance at a text, created the harm. It is often the small, relatable behaviors that persuade.
A practical, lightweight checklist you can carry to the scene
- Photograph vantage points: driver eye level at 25, 50, and 100 feet; pedestrian eye level at curb and mid‑crosswalk. Capture signals through full cycles, day and night if lighting is disputed. Preserve data sources: storefront and municipal video within 48 hours; bus and rideshare footage; EDR/ECM imaging; phone records where lawful; signal timing charts and cabinet logs. Measure the environment: lane widths, crosswalk width, curb radii, grade, A‑pillar occlusion angles, and any foliage or parked vehicle sight blocks. Document signage and pavement markings. Secure human evidence: early witness statements, officer bodycam and dashcam, driver statements and demeanor notes, and client’s initial injury photos and clothing. Build the story: time‑distance analysis with conservative assumptions, medical injuries that match mechanics, and a damages package tied to real numbers and lien realities.
What a driver “should have seen” is not a slogan, it is a calculation
Every pedestrian case returns to a basic question: with ordinary care, would the driver have detected, decided, and acted in time to avoid the collision or reduce its severity? Answering that question demands more than a moral stance. It requires math grounded in the physical world, evidence that survives scrutiny, and a narrative that respects human fallibility while insisting on responsibility.
When a personal injury attorney approaches the file with that mindset, fault moves from argument to demonstration. Jurors can follow the sequence, adjusters recognize risk, and clients feel seen. The road has its own logic. Our job is to reveal it.
Common pitfalls that quietly kill good cases
Missing the retention window for video sinks more claims than anyone admits. Let a week pass, and key angles vanish. Another frequent misstep is neglecting to request signal timing data. Lawyers assume a green is a green. It isn’t. Phasing, protected turns, and pedestrian intervals reshape the story. Finally, overcomplicating the reconstruction can backfire. Use the minimum data needed to make the point. Simpler models with tight ranges beat elaborate animations laden with assumptions.
On damages, resist the urge to stack speculative treatments. I have watched juries accept fair, well‑supported totals and balk at inflated projections. Speak plainly about pain, function, and the way injuries alter daily routines like getting children across the street or carrying groceries up a walk‑up. These details connect the impact to a life.
Where allied counsel helps
Pedestrian cases overlap with broader traffic litigation. A car accident lawyer brings the speed and braking expertise; a truck accident lawyer knows federal regs and company safety cultures; a motorcycle accident lawyer understands visual conspicuity and lane discipline; a rideshare accident lawyer has access channels for app data and camera policies. If your case touches these worlds, do not reinvent. Borrow their playbooks.
An auto accident attorney who has tried similar intersections can also flag local quirks: a slippery manhole cover at the apex of the turn, a bus stop that draws midblock crossings, or a school dismissal pattern that shifts driver attention. Local knowledge shortens discovery and sharpens themes.
Final thoughts shaped by sidewalks and depositions
Pedestrian cases stay with you. You remember the block where a rush‑hour driver shaved five minutes and cost a family a lifetime. You remember the midwinter dusk where a client in a gray coat looked like a shadow until you replicated the lighting and saw how the driver’s eyes tracked only the bumper ahead. The work is part physics lab, part detective story, and part storytelling that honors the stakes.
Proving driver fault is not about catching a villain. It is about measuring choices against the responsibility that comes with a two‑ton machine. If you build the file with care, preserve the fleeting evidence, and translate complex details into plain speech, liability reveals itself. And when it does, the path to a fair resolution, whether by settlement or verdict, gets much shorter.