Drivers turning on red, backing out of spaces, or looking at a phone strike people on foot every week in Western Massachusetts. Injuries run severe, and more coverage usually applies than families expect.
We represent injured pedestrians and their families from our offices in Springfield and Westfield. A new injury reaches a real person 24 hours a day at (413) 426-8657; the first conversation is free.
Why these injuries are worse than the speed suggests
There is nothing between a person on foot and two tons of vehicle: no crumple zone, no belt, no airbag. A strike at twenty-five miles an hour, which sounds survivable and generally is, routinely produces a fractured pelvis or tibia, a head injury from the second impact with the road, and months of limited weight-bearing.
That gap - between how minor the collision sounds and how serious the injury is - is the gap an adjuster works in. "He was barely moving" is a sentence about the car, not about the person it hit.
The crossing argument, and what it is actually worth
The first thing the driver's insurer will establish is where you were standing. Expect the file to turn on it.
Massachusetts law requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk on the driver's half of the road. When you were in one, the case is largely about damages. When you were not, the case is still very much alive: Massachusetts reduces your recovery in proportion to your share of the fault, and bars it only if you are found more than fifty percent responsible. Crossing mid-block might cost you a percentage. It does not hand the driver a defense.
And in practice the driver's own conduct usually dominates. Whether they were on a phone, how fast they were going for the conditions, whether they had an unobstructed view of you for four seconds or for half a second - those facts move the number far more than which paint you were standing on.
Finding every policy
This is where pedestrian cases are won, and it is unglamorous work. Massachusetts minimum liability limits are low, and a serious pedestrian injury runs through them before the hospital bill is even final. So the question is never just "was the driver insured?" but "how many policies can reach this?"
- The driver's liability coverage, first and usually smallest.
- Personal injury protection on the vehicle that struck you, which pays medical expenses and part of lost wages no-fault, immediately.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, which follows you as a person and applies while you are on foot. It also covers a hit-and-run.
- A resident household member's policy, which can reach you even if you own no car at all.
- A commercial or employer policy, if the driver was on the clock - delivering, making a service call, or running an errand for work.
Bring us every declarations page anyone in the household has. People routinely discover coverage they had been paying for and did not know applied.
What to do now
Call the police and make sure a report exists, even if the driver is apologetic and wants to handle it privately; that cooperation tends to end once an insurer is involved. Get examined the same day. Photograph the scene, the vehicle, and your injuries, and note what businesses nearby have cameras pointed at the street - that footage is usually gone within two weeks.
Then talk to us before giving a recorded statement. The first conversation is free, and if the claim is small enough to handle yourself, we will tell you so.