(Transcript)

Bill Adler:  Welcome to Hammer TV, everybody. Today, we’re going to talk about pedestrian accidents and what they’re like and truly how they’re caused. Estimates indicate that there are more than 4,000 pedestrian deaths a year and more than 70,000 injuries. Even when an accident isn’t fatal and you don’t pass away or your loved one doesn’t pass away, it can be debilitating and change your course of life and be extremely costly. So, Jim, talk to us a little bit about the percentages of accidents when there’s an at-fault driver and it involves a pedestrian.

Jim Adler: Well, statistically, about half of these pedestrian knockdown cases are the fault of the vehicle driver. So what I see is that there’s all different types of causes of accidents. I see carelessness, failure to look out, not paying attention, texting, not looking where you’re going, driving up on the sidewalk. What do you see as some of the causes of these accidents?

Bill Adler: Well, you mentioned a lot of the causes of the accidents, just essentially where you’re trying to back up without looking, someone’s walking across the street in the crosswalk, and like you talked about, they’re just simply texting or they’re maybe on their phone not using a hands-free device. But a lot of the time, it’s just carelessness like you mentioned.

Jim Adler: Why are these injuries so serious between a vehicle and a pedestrian?

Bill Adler:  Well, you think about the weight comparison. A person who maybe weighs a few hundred pounds and a vehicle that weighs thousands and thousands of pounds, just who’s going to win that battle. Most often the vehicle’s going to win that battle as far as causing the most injuries because someone who’s sitting inside the vehicle is protected by the protective cocoon. And ultimately, that renders them very, very safe. And then the other person who gets hit is extremely, extremely badly injured.

Jim Adler: What are some of the most serious injuries that you’ve seen?

Bill Adler: Well, I’ve seen a lot of leg injuries, a lot of knee injuries. You get popped by the vehicle, it shoots you up in the air and ultimately, have broken bones. You also may have some significant, significant spinal damage. I have on occasion seen some amputations as a result of being drug under the vehicle for long extended periods of time where the physicians do their best to try to save your limbs, but they just do their best and unfortunately, you can’t have your limb saved. It’s just tragic.

Jim Adler: I’ve seen a lot of these cases where people have to have metal pins and plates put in their legs or arms to reconstruct their arms or legs. And the doctors do a beautiful job with that surgery.

Bill Adler: They do.

Jim Adler: But after you’ve had that kind of accident, are you ever the same?

Bill Adler: You’re never the same. Once they have to put rods, pins, and plates in your leg, I mean, you’re going to walk with a limp. You’re not going to have the full range of motion in your arm. You’re going to be severely debilitated for the rest of your life, unfortunately. You can do physical therapy and sometimes you get close to where you were prior to the accident, but the amount of medical bills you accumulate, and to answer your question, no, you’re usually not the same as you were prior to the accident.

Jim Adler: What I’ve seen a lot of is, a pedestrian will get hit and it destroys their career. It destroys their earning capacity. Their lives are ruined. They have to file bankruptcy because their medical bills are so high. It can break up marriages. It’s just a terrible thing, these pedestrian accidents, And, what’s the deal? Why do pedestrians get run over when they have the right of way and the sign says that they can walk? What’s that about?

Bill Adler:  I think it boils down to carelessness. A lot of people are thinking about where they’re going next, what they have to do, they got to pick up their kids. Maybe had a hard day at work and they’re thinking about what they do next in that type of situation. And people are just … Especially in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, there cities where there’s not much pedestrian traffic, so you’re not used to people walking on the street and when, God forbid, that one person’s trying to get to work, trying to make a living, trying to do the right thing, and they’re in the crosswalk and some person because they have a lot on their mind, which isn’t an excuse, they just hit them. That’s something that we can help them out with and I know you can help them out with.

Bill Adler: And so ultimately, if you’ve been involved in an accident where you’re a pedestrian, you sustain lifelong injuries, life-altering injuries, Jim and I can help you. We enjoy helping people out just like you and helping out their family members. Because you mentioned this, if they can’t work and ultimately, that’s how they provide for their family, how do they ultimately, do that? They come to us and we can help them out, getting them the compensation they deserve. We can wrassle through the insurance process, we can file the claims for them. We can ultimately make sure that-

Jim Adler: That’s what we do.

Bill Adler: Absolutely, we do. And, every day we do it and we’ve been doing it. I know you’ve been doing it for over 40 years. Let me ask you a little bit about the accidents involving kids that you’ve seen and the horrible injuries. Where often do you see these types of accidents involving kids?

Jim Adler: Well, what I’ve seen, which is terrible, is accidents in school zones where people are speeding through school zones. And as a matter of fact, there are special laws that apply to children. If you see children playing in a neighborhood, the law says you should slow down whether it’s a school zone or not, because these are what you call darting child cases. And children are apt to have fun and the next thing you know, they’re chasing after a ball in the street and you just feel horrible because you hurt some kid. The law is designed to protect children and they give children a lesser duty of care than adults. So if a child is hurt, we can help these children.

Bill Adler: Right.

Jim Adler:  And that’s an area that we can do. What else about kids do comes to your mind?

Bill Adler: Well, you mentioned schools zones, you mentioned individuals as far as children getting injured in school zones. Certainly, children are a lot of the time darting out in front of cars, but some of the time they’re just walking to school with their friends, trying to get to school, trying to learn something, and they get hit by a vehicle that’s not paying attention as far as their driver not paying attention, and it’s just horrific. And we help the children out as far as making sure that the parents, when they lose time from work, we ultimately make sure that they’re not only losing time from work and then having to worry about a kid and bills, but we can help them with the bills. And, that’s how we come in to help with the bills.

Bill Adler:  Also, sometimes what you see is there’s a driver who commits a hit and run. What I mean by hit and run is someone hits you and then they just leave the scene like nothing happened.

Jim Adler: Yeah. That’s the worst.

Bill Adler: You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve seen that. And, a lot of the time, we’re able to catch the perpetrator and the police work with us to try to help us get the insurance information, the driver’s name, and then on occasion, they do prosecute the individual who committed the hit and run. Sometimes what happens is you never catch the person who did the hit and run. You have to utilize your uninsured motorist carrier coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is if someone doesn’t have insurance and they may stop and just say, “I don’t have insurance,” and the police come out, but also it can be available for you or your family members when an individual causes a hit and run and you can never find them.

Jim Adler: Yeah. I’m glad you brought that up because that’s a really important point that you and I always emphasize, that when people go buy an insurance policy, they shouldn’t just buy a liability because if you buy a liability, you’re protecting the other person that gets hit by you.

Bill Adler: That’s exactly right.

Jim Adler: But what if you get hit by someone that doesn’t have insurance or your child doesn’t have insurance? Your uninsured motorist coverage can protect you as a pedestrian. And, people try to go cheap on insurance. Never ever refuse to buy uninsured motorist coverage because that’s a way that you can protect yourself, your wife, your husband, your children, everybody in your household.

Bill Adler: That’s right.

Jim Adler: So, I just don’t understand why people don’t buy uninsured motorist coverage. It’s cheap.

Bill Adler: Well, the reason people don’t buy it is because a lot of the agents probably mention it just in passing, but they don’t let you know how important it is when in actuality, it’s extremely important.

Jim Adler: Why do they that?

Bill Adler:  Well, they want-

Jim Adler: That’s ridiculous.

Bill Adler: You mentioned people wanting to buy cheap insurance and it’s cheaper if you just buy liability. Let’s just be honest. Liability coverage is cheaper, but you don’t want to cheapen out your own claim. So what I mean by that-

Jim Adler:  But, does the agent even care?

Bill Adler:  Well, some agents care, some agents are just interested in getting you to sign on the dotted line. I hope they want to care.

Jim Adler:  They just want a commission, right?

Bill Adler:  Yeah. They want a commission, but they should be doing the right thing.

Jim Adler: Give me a break.

Bill Adler:  They should be doing the right thing and some of them do the right thing, some of them don’t do the right thing.

Jim Adler: Man.

Bill Adler:  So with that said, we want to talk about the importance of not only purchasing correct insurance but also contacting an experienced attorney, an experienced attorney who does these type of cases, who’s done thousands and thousands of these cases, like Jim and I have. It’s extremely important that you contact someone like Jim or me. So contact Jim Adler & Associates. The best number to call at is (800) 567-7575. Tell them about how they can contact us on the web.

Jim Adler: If you’re a victim of a pedestrian knockdown case, please feel free to look us up on www.JimAdler.com. We’re all here to help. We’re 300-strong. And all our lawyers and staff want to thank everybody for watching Hammer TV. And, please, please leave us your comments, your questions, and tell us what legal topics you’d like us to discuss on the show. It’s all free and we’d really love it if you’d like to share this video with your friends and loved ones that might need some help. The call is free and it would mean a lot to me and my son, Bill, The Texas Hammers if you called us. So we’re signing off of Hammer TV for today. Thanks for watching.

Bill Adler:  Thanks, everybody.

https://www.jimadler.com/pedestrian-accidents/