Alberta Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

What To Do If Hit By a Car As a Pedestrian

Video Transcript:

Steve Grover: 

My advice is to reach out to a lawyer to know your legal rights if you unfortunately are struck by a car.

Molly Hendrickson: 

If you're injured as a pedestrian in Alberta, what should you do? We're speaking with lawyer Steve Grover about that on today's Ask the Lawyer. Steve, thanks for joining us.

Steve Grover: 

Hi, Molly. Nice to see you again.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Nice to see you, too. So first off, what is your experience representing people who have been seriously injured or even killed as a pedestrian?

Steve Grover: 

Well, I mean, first of all, if you're struck as a pedestrian by a car, unfortunately, you're gonna get the brunt of the injury. I mean, unfortunately, you have a large vehicle coming at you, striking you, you're unprotected. Unfortunately, sometimes, the injuries are catastrophic. Sometimes, they are just soft tissue, but more likely than not the injuries I've seen in my office are more like broken bones, brain injuries. And so they're not good results. My advice is to reach out to a lawyer to know your legal rights, if you unfortunately are struck by a car or a truck crossing a road as pedestrians, so you know your legal rights while going to go forward on a claim, if you choose to do so.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Can you walk us through what someone should do if they're hit by a car in a crosswalk after they receive medical attention? What steps should they take next?

Steve Grover:

Well, if the person's fortunately cognitive and knows what's going on, first of all, you should make sure the police are called to the scene. If you're injured, make sure the ambulance is called to the scene, the fire department also 'cause they can provide medical aid, or clean up the scene of the accident. Get witnesses. If you have a phone available on yourself, like most people do carry an iPhone or Samsung now, it has the ability to take photos. I would take photos of the scene to make sure that this is where I was, 'cause a lot of the insurance companies now will argue, "Well, were you really in the crosswalk? Were you not in the crosswalk?"

Steve Grover: 

Crosswalks are clearly marked in North America, but the insurance company for the vehicle that hit you obviously wants to find some contributory negligence. Typically, they try and even argue, "Hey, you were running across the street, not walking." So if you have the ability to be cognitive and be able to take photos, get witnesses, make sure the police show up, and tell your story to the police. That is a privileged statement you give to the police here in Alberta, so there's no worry about having that disclosed to the other side, unless you choose to do so.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And what about once the person is at the hospital. Should they use their own health insurance? Are there any car insurance policies that they can actually use that'll help protect them?

Steve Grover: 

Well, in Canada, we do have government healthcare. I know in America you call it socialist medicine, but we do have Alberta Healthcare here in Alberta. It doesn't cover a lot, but if you have private medical benefits, too, like Manulife Financial, I'd recommend accessing them. Also, if you're hit by a car, you're entitled to access that car's insurance through their section B benefits to pay for physiotherapy, chiropractor. Also, if you're off work, they'll pay you total disability benefits. Also, they'll pay you for your prescription medications. So there's a lot of access to medical treatment, and I always tell people if you're in an accident, and you're injured, you've got all this access to treatment through the healthcare system, through the section B auto insurance coverage, use the treatment to get better because when your case is closed, you can't go back for treatment and you wanna get fully recovered if you're unfortunately hit as a pedestrian in a crosswalk by a vehicle.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And what about in an unfortunate case of a hit and run? What does a person do in that situation?

Steve Grover: 

Well, I mean, in a hit and run claim, I'd advise a pedestrian to contact the police again, right away, contact the ambulance, call 911. If it's a hit and run claim, you should reach out to a lawyer like our firm in Calgary, and because you can make a claim in Alberta through the Motor Vehicle Administration fund, you have 90 days from the day of the accident to notify the fund here in Alberta. If you don't, your claim could be statutory bar. You should also contact your insurance company 'cause if you do have a car, you may be entitled to access underinsured coverage through your family endorsement coverage. It's sort of like an UMP coverage. Underinsured coverage we have here in Alberta, and you should be able to access that also if your injuries are more than $200,000, which the fund covers on bodily injury claim here in Alberta.

Molly Hendrickson: 

You spoke about what somebody should do if they're hit while in a crosswalk. What about in cases where somebody is jaywalking, who's at fault in those situations? How is that determined?

Steve Grover: 

Well, first of all, as a public policy reason, I'd advise people not to jaywalk. It's not in your best interest, but unfortunately, if you are jaywalking, that could be a factor in assessing if you are contributory negligent for causing the accidents. There's a lot of factors that go on in those kind of cases. I've handled a lot of pedestrian claims where the pedestrian was jaywalking, hit by a vehicle, and was severely injured. In one case I could think of, I know the driver of the vehicle was drunk, so that was a big factor in pointing negligence to the driver of the vehicle, even though our client was jaywalking, but it could be a factor in you causing your injuries and contributory negligent causing the vehicle to hitting you.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today.

Steve Grover: 

Thank you. Have a great day.

Molly Hendrickson: 

You too. And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been Steve Grover. If you wanna ask him about your situation, you can call the number on your screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

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