The accident happened in October 2018 when our client, Mr M, was crossing a road in Sheffield.  Unfortunately, he did not make it to the other side of the road in time and was hit by the defendant driver.  Mr M’s head hit the driver’s windscreen.

Mr M has little memory of the actual accident as he was unconscious immediately afterwards, but he understands that a cyclist stopped and helped with CPR before the paramedics arrived.  There were no other witnesses.

An ambulance took Mr M to Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, where he underwent a CT scan and remained for one day.  He was diagnosed with multiple injuries, including:

• A head and brain injury, with a scalp laceration that required gluing.
• Spinal fractures.
• Soft tissue injuries to his left knee and left shoulder, with a full-thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon that required surgery and six months off work for recovery.

Following the accident, Mr M suffered severe headaches and short-term memory issues as well as anxiety as a pedestrian.

Mr M contacted Graysons to see if he could claim personal injury compensation for his injuries and losses.  We took up his case and contacted the defendant claiming that, amongst other issues, he:

• had failed to see Mr M in time to stop
• was driving too fast
• had failed to stop
• had failed to slow down or give notice of his approach

The defendant’s solicitor said that Mr M had crossed the road, without warning, at an unsafe point.  The difficulty with our evidence was that Mr M could not remember the accident at all and was even vague as to the accident site.  However, the fact is that Mr M was there to be seen and had almost got to the other side of the road, so the driver had plenty of time to slow down or stop before hitting him.

We obtained expert evidence from an accident reconstruction engineer, an orthopaedic expert, a psychiatrist and a neurologist and were able to negotiate a five-figure settlement for Mr M before a court hearing.

Government figures show that there were almost 15,000 casualties involving pedestrians on Great Britain’s roads in 2020 – a year during which there were far fewer people using the roads due to COVID lockdowns.

Pedestrians are owed a duty of care by drivers and other road users. The courts expect drivers to be aware of the presence of pedestrians because of the likelihood of potentially serious injuries arising from a car hitting a pedestrian, such as in Mr M’s case. If you have had an accident on the roads as a pedestrian and want to know if you can claim compensation, contact our personal injury experts now.

Pedestrian accidents are exempt from the road traffic accident provisions within the Civil Liability Act 2018 that was implemented in May 2021. We will look at your case and advise what your next step should be, and, if we can take it on, we will offer you a no-win, no-fee arrangement.

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Author: Jane Cooper, personal injury solicitor