Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in Cottonwood, AZ

1. Get emergency medical care; head, spine and internal injuries are common in pedestrian impacts and not always obvious.
2. Make sure police respond and record the driver's identity and insurance. Hit-and-run drivers are often identified later through camera footage.
3. Photograph the crosswalk, signals, lighting, the vehicle and your injuries.
4. Get witness contact information. Drivers frequently claim the pedestrian "darted out," and witnesses rebut that.
5. Ask a lawyer to secure traffic and business camera footage before it is overwritten.
6. Do not give the driver's insurer a recorded statement; comparative fault arguments against pedestrians are routine.

Arizona generally gives injured people two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in the Yavapai County Superior Court. Miss that window and the court will almost always dismiss the case no matter how strong it is. Claims against a city, county or state agency usually have much shorter notice deadlines, sometimes only a few months.

Arizona follows pure comparative negligence, which means you can recover damages even if you were mostly at fault, but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. Insurance adjusters know this rule well and routinely try to shift blame onto the injured person, so what you say in the first days after an accident in Cottonwood matters.

Arizona uses a traditional fault-based auto insurance system. The at-fault driver's liability coverage is the primary source of compensation, and drivers are only required to carry minimum limits of 25/50/15 (bodily injury per person / per accident / property damage, in thousands). Serious injuries routinely exceed those limits, which is why underinsured motorist coverage and a careful search for every liable party matter so much.

Cases that cannot be settled are filed in the Yavapai County Superior Court. Most pedestrian accidents in Yavapai County resolve through negotiation with the insurer, but the credible ability to try the case locally is what produces fair offers.

• Drivers who fail to yield in crosswalks, run red lights or stop signs, speed, drive distracted or impaired, or back up without looking.
• Employers of drivers who were working at the time of the crash.
• Property owners whose parking lot design, lighting or signage created a hazard.
• Government bodies responsible for missing crosswalks, broken signals or dangerous road design in Cottonwood.
• Your own auto policy's uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, which often covers you as a pedestrian.

• Police report, citations and any DUI investigation.
• Traffic signal timing records and camera video.
• Vehicle damage and event data recorder downloads.
• Scene measurements showing sight lines and lighting.
• Medical records establishing the nature and permanence of injuries.

Pedestrian accident compensation in Arizona covers emergency and ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, lost income, diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering, and in fatal cases the family's wrongful death claim. The driver's liability policy (minimum 25/50/15) pays first; your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage often applies when you are hit as a pedestrian.

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See also: Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation, the pedestrian accident practice area overview, the Yavapai County injury guide and the Arizona personal injury guide.