Hit by a Car as a Pedestrian in Georgia: What to Do Next

What to Do If You're Hit by a Car as a Pedestrian in Atlanta

If you can, take these steps in roughly this order:

1. Get out of the road if it's safe to move. If you feel dizzy or hurt, stay still and wait for help instead of trying to walk far.
2. Call 911, even if your injuries seem minor. Georgia law requires drivers in a crash that causes injury to report it (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-273), and the police report becomes an early record of what happened.
3. Get the driver's information. Ask for their name, phone number, insurance company, and license plate. If the driver leaves, try to note the plate, the car's make and color, and which way it went.
4. Get medical care right away. Adrenaline can hide pain, and the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury or a spinal cord injury can take hours or days to show up. The most seriously injured are often taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, a Level I trauma center.
5. Photograph the scene. Capture the vehicles, crosswalk markings, traffic signals, the road surface, and your injuries, or ask someone nearby to take the photos for you.
6. Collect witness names and phone numbers. People who saw the crash can confirm your account if the driver tells a different story.

How Georgia Law Protects Pedestrians

Georgia's crosswalk law, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-91, says a driver must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The duty applies when the pedestrian is on the driver's half of the road or within one lane of it. That rule covers marked crosswalks and the unmarked crosswalks at intersections. Pedestrians have duties, too: the same law bars stepping off a curb into the path of a car that's too close to stop.

Georgia also uses modified comparative fault, which means fault can be shared. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, you can recover damages if you were less than 50% at fault, but your award drops by your share. At 50% or more, you recover nothing. Insurers in pedestrian cases often argue that the person on foot shares the blame: for example, for crossing mid-block or looking at a phone.

Pedestrian claims are usually paid through insurance. Georgia drivers only have to carry $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury coverage, which may not cover a serious injury. Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage can make up the difference. UM/UIM is part of your auto policy, and under O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11 it can cover you even though you were on foot. A policy held by a relative you live with may also apply.

What Compensation Can You Recover After a Pedestrian Accident?

A Georgia pedestrian claim can include several kinds of damages:

• Medical expenses: emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, and the treatment you'll need in the future.
• Lost income: wages you missed while recovering, plus lost earning ability if your injuries limit the work you can do.
• Pain and suffering: physical pain and the emotional toll of the crash. Georgia doesn't cap these damages in typical injury cases.
• Loss of enjoyment of life: hobbies, activities, and parts of daily life you can no longer take part in.
• Personal property: a phone, glasses, clothing, or anything else damaged in the impact.
• Loss of consortium: a separate claim belonging to your spouse for the harm your injuries cause to the marriage.
• Wrongful death: when a crash is fatal, the family can claim the full value of the life lost, and the estate can recover medical and funeral costs.

Which categories apply depends on your injuries, so keep every bill, receipt, and medical record from the start.

Common Pedestrian Accident Scenarios in Atlanta

Many cases involving a pedestrian hit by a car in Atlanta fall into one of these situations:

• Crosswalk collisions: a driver turning at an intersection strikes someone crossing legally. Crossings on Peachtree Street, Ponce de Leon Avenue, and where the Atlanta BeltLine meets city streets have heavy foot and car traffic.
• Intersections without signals: with no light to follow, fault turns on who had to yield, and the unmarked-crosswalk rule often decides it.
• Parking lots and driveways: drivers backing out of spaces or pulling out of driveways may not check for people on foot.
• Hit-and-run crashes: when a driver flees, a quick police report and any nearby camera footage give you a better chance of finding them. If the driver is never identified, your UM coverage can still apply. Georgia requires physical contact or an eyewitness for these claims, and being struck counts as contact.
• City or county vehicles: claims against a government come with special notice rules and much shorter deadlines than a typical injury claim, so contact a lawyer quickly.

Mistakes That Can Hurt a Pedestrian Accident Claim

Insurers use these common mistakes to reduce or deny claims:

• Apologizing or guessing at the scene. Under comparative fault, a casual “I didn't see it coming” can be used to shift blame onto you.
• Giving the driver's insurer a recorded statement. Adjusters ask questions designed to build a fault argument. Talk to a lawyer first.
• Waiting to see a doctor. A gap between the crash and your first visit lets the insurer argue something else caused your injuries.
• Accepting a fast offer. Early offers rarely account for future treatment, and once you sign a release, the claim is closed for good.
• Posting about the crash online. Insurers look for photos and comments they can use to downplay your injuries.
• Treating the police report as the final word. It's one piece of evidence, and insurers conduct their own investigations.
• Putting off a call to a lawyer. Camera footage gets overwritten, and witnesses get harder to reach long before any filing deadline.

How a Lawyer Builds a Pedestrian Accident Case

Once you hire a lawyer, the legal team takes on this work:

• Handling the insurers. Every call and letter goes through your lawyer, which ends adjuster pressure and protects you from saying something that's used against you.
• Preserving evidence. Your lawyer sends preservation letters to nearby businesses for camera footage and requests 911 recordings and dispatch records. The team also gathers data from the car's event data recorder (its “black box”). Traffic camera video may come from the City of Atlanta or the Georgia Department of Transportation.
• Finding every source of coverage. Beyond the driver's policy and your UM/UIM coverage, that can include an employer's policy if the driver was working. Under Georgia's dram shop law (O.C.G.A. § 51-1-40), a business that knowingly served alcohol to a noticeably intoxicated person, or to someone underage, knowing they would soon drive, can also share responsibility.
• Documenting your injuries. Your lawyer works with your doctors, gathers imaging, and, in serious cases, brings in neurologists, biomechanical experts, or life-care planners.
• Reconstructing the crash. When fault is disputed, accident reconstruction experts can show how and where the impact happened.
• Reducing medical liens. Hospitals and health plans that paid for your care may claim part of the settlement, and negotiating those claims down increases what you keep.
• Filing suit when needed. If the insurer won't pay fairly, your lawyer files a lawsuit before the deadline and prepares the case for trial.

Why Atlanta Pedestrian Accident Victims Choose The McPhillip Firm

The McPhillip Firm is a team of Atlanta pedestrian accident lawyers that prepares every case from day one as if it will go to trial. When an insurer knows a firm is prepared for court, it has more reason to make a fair offer.

• We work on a contingency fee basis: you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. Clients may still be responsible for case costs and expenses regardless of outcome.
• Atlanta-area clients have given us a 4.9-star Google rating.
• Our office is in Midtown Atlanta at 730 Peachtree Street NE, and we represent people throughout metro Atlanta.

Contact The McPhillip Firm today for a free case evaluation. Call (866) TMF-WINS.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pedestrian Accidents in Georgia