St. Petersburg Pedestrian Accident Scenarios

Typical St. Petersburg pedestrian accident scenarios occur at crosswalks in which somebody either runs a stop sign or rolls through the stop sign without stopping completely because they think pedestrian will be out of the way before they hit the gas.

It is also common to see someone running a red light while someone is walking across the crosswalk because they have the green light through the crosswalk. Those are the most common scenarios that happen with pedestrians being hit in the crosswalk. It is easy to prove liability that a pedestrian was doing nothing wrong if they were hit while crossing in the crosswalk.

Many times people will be walking across a sidewalk or crosswalk that may separate a parking lot from the street. If people are walking through and someone is trying to get out of there quickly or beat the next car that is coming and does not realize that someone is walking across that crosswalk, accidents occur. Individuals who have been harmed by negligent drivers should speak with a distinguished pedestrian accident attorney.

Accidents in Parking Lots

Many times people are walking in the parking lot. They are either looking down on their phone or not paying attention to cars around them. If a car does not see a pedestrian, it is easy to hit them in a parking lot by backing out of their parking spot, trying to move into a parking spot, or circling the parking lot. There is usually higher foot traffic because people are walking in and out of the stores, the gas stations, or wherever it is that they are in a parking lot.

Some of the most common St. Petersburg pedestrian accident scenarios occur in parking lots. If somebody is walking in a Walmart or a public parking lot and the driver of the car in the parking spot does not realize someone is walking behind them, they back up and hit them.

Buses

Buses driver have a harder time viewing their surroundings, which is why they have to have a special license to drive a bus. They have to pay more attention to their surroundings because of how big the vehicle is and all the blind spots on the vehicle that they are driving to make sure that there are no pedestrians in their way.

The difference between a school bus, a public transportation bus, and a charter is the process in which one goes about suing a bus. If someone is suing a school bus, they can sue the school bus driver, the school, or the county that the school is in. If it is a private school, then they can sue that private entity since they usually have those buses insured.

With public transportation, the person would be suing the city, the state, or whoever provides that transportation. They may also have insurance policies, as well. For a charter, one can sue either the company that charters the bus. They probably have an insurance policy on the driver or the bus.

Public Bus Stops

If the pedestrian is waiting at the public bus stop and the public bus driver does not see them, hits them, or goes up on the curb and runs over their foot, an accident can occur. It sometimes happens. They are standing in the middle of the street waiting for the bus because they do not see the bus coming. Those are the most common scenarios for accidents.

Stop Signs

Most pedestrian accidents at stop signs happen because the person in the car does not come to a complete stop or any stop at all. They run through a stop sign while somebody is walking across the crosswalk. It is a common accident. Sometimes they do what is called a California stop.The driver may slow down, but does not stop all the way and does not notice a pedestrian walking in one direction. That can cause a collision.

Risks of Walking on Streets with No Sidewalks

If a street does not have a sidewalk, the pedestrian is walking on the farthest side of the street without being in the middle of the lane, and somebody does not notice and swerves over or somebody is texting while driving and swerves into the bike lane or near the side of the street where the person is walking, it is the most common way that somebody is hit walking on a street with no sidewalks.

If there is no sidewalk, it does not mean a person cannot walk on the street. If there is a bike lane, then that bike lane can take the place of a sidewalk as far as where the pedestrian is supposed to be walking.

They should not be walking in the middle of the road, but even if they are, there still can be a liability on the part of the car that should have swerved around them, stopped, or done something to try to avoid hitting them. In most cases, there is something to walk on so they do not have to walk in the middle of the road, whether it is grass or a bike lane.

Crashes Caused by Cars Turning Right on Red

Many times people do not come to a complete stop when turning right on red because they think they can get across before the traffic coming through the green light. A lot of the times somebody is hurrying in a rush to get somewhere and they do not notice that a person is walking in the crosswalk.

This is a severe problem because the person walking in the crosswalk has the go-ahead. They have the green light on the crosswalk sign, so they are walking thinking no cars are going to be coming from certain ways through the red light. If somebody is going to turn right, then they can technically go through that red light before they turn right.

That can cause some confusion and why drivers have to be on the lookout for pedestrians walking across that crosswalk during the red light, even if they are going to turn right on red, which is legal.

Left-Turning Collisions at Intersections

Left-turning intersection crashes are not considered frequent St. Petersburg pedestrian accident scenarios. While the light can be green going North and South, meaning East and West is a red light so no cars are driving they have a green light through the crosswalk. Many pedestrians will walk through that crosswalk on their green light and a car turning left will try to beat the oncoming traffic and go through that red light after they have turned left which is legal, but they have to watch out for the crosswalk to make sure there are no pedestrians in the crosswalk. A lot of times they do not look until it is too late and a collision occurs.