Pedestrian Accident Injuries

Pedestrian accidents can lead to severe injuries, ranging from cuts and lacerations to traumatic brain injury and even death. Each year, over 5,000 pedestrians are killed in accidents involving motor vehicles. Another 80,000 are injured, requiring emergency medical treatment. Pedestrians are among the most vulnerable users of the roadways, lacking any sort of barrier between themselves and the massive vehicles around them. As such, any accident involving a pedestrian can result in serious injury.

The following is a list of the most common injuries suffered by pedestrians during accidents involving motor vehicles:

• Head injury—sadly, head injuries are all too common among pedestrians. Collisions with a motor vehicle will often send a pedestrian pummeling to the ground or into the car. The individual’s head frequently takes the brunt of the impact. Unlike motorcycle or bicycle riders, pedestrians generally have no form of head protection. Head injuries can include bumps, gashes, scrapes, lacerations, and fractures of the skull, which can lead to brain injury.
• Brain injury—the impact of the pedestrian’s skull with the ground, the car, or another object can lead to movement of the brain within the skull, which often causes brain injury. Brain injuries can range from mild concussions to very serious traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injuries can have a devastating, sometimes lifelong impact, causing memory loss, mental impairments, decreased bodily function, and permanent disability.
• Spinal cord injury—often, the impact of the motor vehicle will throw the pedestrian in the air. One of the most common places landed on is the back, and in turn the spine. Spinal cord injuries can involve serious complications such as crushed or fractured vertebrae and even paralysis.
• Broken or fractured bones—the bumper and hood of the motor vehicle generally hits a person at the leg or hip, causing frequent broken bones in these areas. Other broken bones can result from the collision, including broken arms, hand bones, feet bones, ribs and facial bones.
• Amputation—depending upon the force with which the car is traveling, amputation of limbs is possible. Amputation will permanently affect the pedestrian victim.
• Organ damage—the high speed impact of the motor vehicle, coupled with its crushing size, can lead to internal injuries and organ damage, often necessitating emergency surgery, numerous complications, and potentially lifelong disability.
• Facial injury—pedestrians hit head-on may experience any number of facial injuries, from broken jaws and noses to chipped teeth, injured eyes, and fractured facial bones. Lifelong scarring can occur.
• Death—pedestrian fatalities are on the rise, and in the past few years over 5,000 pedestrians have been killed in accidents involving motor vehicles annually. Pedestrians are extremely vulnerable, outweighed many times over by even the smallest of cars. As such, death following a collision with a motor vehicle is far more likely than in accidents involving two cars.

As is evident from the list of pedestrian injuries above, pedestrians involved in an automobile accident require the assistance of an experienced pedestrian accident attorney who will aggressively fight for their full recovery. The Maine law firm of Peter Thompson & Associates has an unmatched reputation for zealous representation of pedestrian victims. Our accident attorneys will assess the facts of your case and guide you toward the optimal path of recovery. We accept clients on a contingency fee basis and offer an initial consultation in any one of our three convenient office locations in Falmouth, Bangor, and Portland. Home and hospital visits are also available statewide. Call us today at 1 800.804.2004 to start us fighting for you!