Pedestrians and Auto Accidents
I’m Ed Smith, a Vallejo auto accident attorney. Different people can prefer different forms of transportation. Some drive motorcycles, some trucks, some cars, some use public transportation, and still, others ride bikes to get where they need to go. However, one form of transportation is common to all; everybody, at some point during their day, is a pedestrian.
New Pedestrian Injury Statistics
This means that information recently released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is relevant to all of us. Unfortunately, they’ve found that pedestrian travelers were one of the very few groups of those using the roads to see an increase in fatal accidents in the U.S. during 2015. The total number of deaths reported for the year was 5,376.
NHTSA reported that the average number of pedestrians killed in accidents nationally could be calculated at two fatalities for every hour that passes. The statistic for pedestrians suffering non-fatal injuries is perhaps even more sobering, being calculated at the rate of an injury happening every seven minutes. Their data also shows that fourteen percent of deaths and three percent of injuries due to traffic accidents involved pedestrians.
Advice from the DOT
The Department of Transportation of the United States, which includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has stated that safety is its top priority and has issued advice to the public so that they can stay safe while walking on public roads.
The advice from the Department of Transportation includes a resident’s guide to help citizens create communities that are safer for pedestrians. The guide informs residents of neighborhoods on how to petition their local governments for street signs cautioning drivers with attention-grabbing slogans like “ Keep Kids Alive: Drive 25.” The guide also details effective ways to educate residents of a community on proper safety behaviors for pedestrians that the agency hopes will reduce the increasing number of fatalities.
Local Examples
Additionally, the guide includes examples of communities around the nation that have led successful projects to improve the safety of pedestrians on their roads. The Department of Transportation, however, does note that these projects often happen over longer periods of time and require cooperation from many individuals and agencies to be successful.
Vallejo Pedestrian and Auto Accident Lawyers
I’m Ed Smith, a Vallejo auto accident lawyer. If you, a member of your family, or a loved one has been hurt in a car accident as a pedestrian, driver, or passenger, call me at my office’s phone number, (707) 564-1900 to receive free, friendly advice. It costs nothing for a phone consultation where you can learn valuable information. I can also be contacted toll-free at (800) 404-5400.
For more than 34 years, I have been hard at work helping residents of the Vallejo area attain the full compensation they deserve in motor vehicle accident cases involving wrongful death and personal injury.
To learn more about our legal practice, you can visit this web page.
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See our history of success at the Past Verdicts and Settlements page of our site.
I’m proud to call myself a member of the forum for attorneys who have been successful in winning million and multiple-million settlements and/or verdicts for their clients, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
I have founded the top-rated website with info on personal injury and auto accidents in North California, AutoAccident.com.
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