Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Who Pays When a Pedestrian Is Hit in Florida

This is the question that confuses almost every injured pedestrian, because Florida's no-fault system was built around drivers, not people on foot. The key rule: PIP (Personal Injury Protection) follows the person, not just the car. That means the coverage is layered:

• Your own auto PIP first — even though you were walking. If you own a car, your own PIP policy (up to $10,000, paying 80% of medical bills and 60% of lost wages) covers you when you're struck as a pedestrian. If you don't own a car but live with a relative who does, that relative's PIP covers you.
• The striking vehicle's PIP if you have none. If you don't own a vehicle and have no resident relative with auto coverage, the PIP of the car that hit you pays your no-fault benefits.
• Seek treatment within 14 days. As with any Florida crash, PIP benefits generally require initial medical care within two weeks — a deadline that traps people who "walk it off."

Once your injuries meet the serious-injury threshold in Florida Statute §627.737(2) — a permanent injury, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or a permanent loss of an important bodily function — you can bring a claim against the at-fault driver's bodily-injury (BI) liability coverage for everything PIP doesn't cover. And if that driver has too little insurance (or none), your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage can step in. Identifying every layer is one of the most valuable things we do early in a motor-vehicle case.

The Heavy Toll of Pedestrian Accidents

Pedestrians have no protection in a collision, so the injuries are often catastrophic — traumatic brain injuries, spinal-cord damage, multiple fractures, and internal injuries that require surgery and long-term care. Florida is consistently one of the most dangerous states in the country for people on foot. In 2023, the state recorded roughly 10,290 pedestrian crashes and 778 pedestrian deaths, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Put in perspective, pedestrian crashes are a small fraction of all Florida collisions but account for more than one in five traffic deaths — a measure of how severe these cases are. When a pedestrian does not survive, surviving family members may have a wrongful-death claim.

Common Causes of Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accidents

Most pedestrian collisions happen at crosswalks, intersections, and parking lots when a driver breaches the duty of care the law imposes. Florida drivers must yield the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks, but the most common failures we see are:

• Distracted driving — texting or phone use that causes a driver to miss a pedestrian entirely.
• Failure to yield — ignoring signals or a pedestrian's right of way at a crosswalk.
• Speeding and reckless driving — higher speed means less reaction time and far more severe injuries.
• Left- and right-turn collisions — drivers watching for a gap in traffic rather than for people crossing.
• Impaired driving and poor visibility — especially at night on poorly lit roads.

We investigate quickly — obtaining the crash report, canvassing for surveillance and dashcam footage, and locking down witness statements — to establish exactly how the collision happened.

Common Pedestrian Accident Injuries

Because there is nothing between a pedestrian and a vehicle, injuries range from serious to life-altering: traumatic brain injuries and concussions, spinal-cord injuries and paralysis, broken bones and crush injuries, internal bleeding and organ damage, and permanent scarring. These injuries drive exactly the kind of costs — future medical care, lost earning capacity, and lasting pain and limitation — that fall well outside a $10,000 PIP policy, which is why the liability and UM/UIM layers matter so much in a pedestrian case.

Fault, Comparative Negligence, and Why Insurers Deny Claims

Insurers routinely try to shift blame onto the injured pedestrian — alleging you crossed outside a crosswalk, entered against a signal, or "darted out." That's not just an excuse; under Florida's comparative-negligence law, fault assigned to you reduces your recovery. And since House Bill 837 (2023), Florida uses a modified standard: a person found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing. That change makes early, independent investigation critical — because the insurer's version of events, left unchallenged, can wipe out an otherwise strong claim.

Even when a pedestrian bears some responsibility, a driver almost always shares fault too — a driver who is speeding, distracted, or fails to keep a proper lookout does not escape liability simply because a pedestrian was mid-block. We build the evidence to keep fault where it belongs.

Florida's Two-Year Deadline

Under HB 837, the statute of limitations for a negligence-based injury or wrongful-death claim is two years from the date of the accident (reduced from four years for older claims). Waiting costs more than time: surveillance footage is recorded over, vehicles are repaired, and witnesses' memories fade.

Why Fort Lauderdale Streets Are Especially Dangerous

Fort Lauderdale combines heavy traffic, year-round visitors, and busy corridors like Las Olas Boulevard, Federal Highway (US-1), and Sunrise Boulevard with stretches of poor lighting and long gaps between crosswalks. Broward County sees a high volume of pedestrian collisions as a result. Knowing the local roadways — and how a specific intersection or corridor tends to fail pedestrians — helps us reconstruct what happened and hold the responsible driver accountable.

What to Do After a Pedestrian Accident

The steps you take in the first hours and days can make or break a claim:

• Get medical care immediately — even if you feel "okay." It protects your health and preserves your PIP eligibility (14-day rule), and it documents the injury.
• Report the crash so an official police report is created and the driver's information and insurance are recorded.
• Document the scene — photos of the location, the vehicle, your injuries, and the surroundings, plus the names and numbers of any witnesses.
• Don't give a recorded statement to the driver's insurer before talking to a lawyer — those calls are used to build the comparative-fault argument against you.

We coordinate with authorities, gather the evidence, and deal with the insurance companies so you can focus on recovering.

Frequently Asked Questions