A pedestrian has no seatbelt, no airbag, no steel frame — nothing between them and thousands of pounds of moving metal. That is why a crash that might leave a driver shaken can leave a person on foot with broken bones, a brain injury, or worse. If this happened to you, the fear and confusion are real: you may be unable to work, watching medical bills pile up, and wondering how you will keep your life together while you heal.
You did not choose this. You were walking to your car, crossing at a light, jogging through your neighborhood, or standing at a bus stop — and someone else's carelessness changed everything. At Taft Trial Law, we believe the driver who caused your injuries, and their insurance company, should be the ones held accountable. Not you. Our job is to carry that fight so you can focus on getting better — and you never pay an attorney fee unless we win money for you.
Why crashes happen
Common causes of pedestrian accidents in Georgia.
Most pedestrian crashes are not accidents in the true sense — they are the predictable result of a driver failing to do what the law requires. The causes tend to repeat:
- Distracted driving — a driver looking at a phone, a screen, or a passenger instead of the road ahead may never see the person in the crosswalk until it is too late.
- Speeding — higher speed means less time to react and a far more violent impact. Even a few miles per hour over the limit can be the difference between a near miss and a catastrophe.
- Failure to yield at crosswalks — drivers who roll through crosswalks, ignore signals, or treat a marked crossing as optional put pedestrians directly in harm's way.
- Turning drivers — a driver turning left or right often watches for oncoming cars while forgetting to check for people crossing the street they are turning into.
- Poor visibility and dangerous conditions — dusk, darkness, rain, glare, and poorly lit intersections make pedestrians harder to see, but the law still requires drivers to slow down and use due care.
- Backing up — parking lots, driveways, and garages are common sites for back-over crashes, especially involving large vehicles with wide blind spots.
- Impaired driving — a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs has slowed reactions and impaired judgment, and may be responsible for punitive damages on top of everything else.
The right of way
Do drivers have to stop for pedestrians in Georgia crosswalks?
Generally, yes. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-91, drivers in Georgia generally must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk on the driver's half of the roadway, or approaching closely enough from the other half to be in danger. Georgia law also generally requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid hitting pedestrians anywhere on the road. Pedestrians have responsibilities too — for example, to use crossings and signals where they are provided. But the fact that a crash happened somewhere other than a marked crosswalk does not automatically end your case. Georgia still expects drivers to keep a proper lookout and to take reasonable care to avoid hurting someone on foot.
These rules can be nuanced, and how they apply depends heavily on the specific facts — where you were, what the signals showed, how fast the driver was going, and what each person could reasonably see. That is exactly the kind of detail we investigate for you. Many of the same right-of-way and visibility issues arise when a driver strikes someone on a bike, which is why we handle bicycle accident cases as well.
This is general information, not legal advice. Right-of-way rules and how they apply vary with the facts of each case — contact us to talk through yours.
The injuries
The injuries pedestrians suffer are severe.
Because there is nothing to protect a person on foot, pedestrian crashes tend to cause some of the most serious injuries we handle. Even a low-speed impact can throw a person to the pavement or under a vehicle. The injuries we frequently see include:
- Traumatic brain injuries and concussions — including lasting cognitive and memory problems.
- Spinal cord injuries — including partial or complete paralysis.
- Broken bones — often multiple fractures to the legs, hips, pelvis, arms, and ribs.
- Internal organ damage — and internal bleeding that can be life-threatening.
- Serious lacerations, road rash, and permanent scarring — including injuries that leave lasting disfigurement.
- Knee, shoulder, and joint injuries — often requiring surgery.
- Emotional trauma — anxiety and post-traumatic stress that follow you long after the wounds close.
These injuries can mean multiple surgeries, long rehabilitation, time away from work, and in the hardest cases, a lifetime of care. Many of them are the kind of life-altering harm we handle as catastrophic injury cases, and we build your case around the full picture of what this has cost you — not just the bills that have already arrived.
When a pedestrian crash takes a life, surviving family members may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim on their loved one's behalf. It is a conversation no family wants to have, and we approach it with the care and patience it deserves.