Peachtree Corners pedestrian accident lawyer

Every drive in Peachtree Corners starts and ends on foot. You cross a parking lot at The Forum, walk from a deck to an office on Technology Parkway, or wait with your kids at a school bus stop off Spalding Drive. A driver doesn't need much speed to badly hurt someone in those moments.

If it happened to you or someone in your family, a Peachtree Corners pedestrian accident lawyer can deal with the insurer, protect the evidence and explain how Georgia law treats your case. Gary Huggins, the attorney behind Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer, represents people hit on foot and will come to you. Call (240) 421-5511, day or night.

If you were hit while walking: the first 48 hours

If you're admitted, hand this list to whoever is helping you.

• Keep every follow-up appointment. Some injuries, like a concussion, aren't obvious on day one.
• Get the report number from the Gwinnett County Police officer, or have someone call the department for it.
• Set aside the clothes and shoes you were wearing, unwashed. Paint or glass on them can help identify a car.
• Photograph the spot at the same time of day if you can: the crosswalk, signals, streetlights and any parked cars that blocked the view.
• Write down witnesses' names and numbers.
• Decline a recorded statement to the driver's insurer. Georgia law doesn't require one.

Where people on foot get hurt in Peachtree Corners

Crossing Peachtree Parkway. The city built a pedestrian bridge over Peachtree Parkway linking Town Center and The Forum. It helps at one spot. Elsewhere along the parkway, people still cross several lanes at street level while turning drivers watch for cars, not people.

Parking lots and garage exits. Shopping-center lots and office decks put people and cars inches apart. Drivers back out without looking, cut diagonally across aisles and nose out of garages across the sidewalk. Georgia requires a driver coming out of a driveway, alley or building to yield to people on the sidewalk (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-144).

Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. On a road this broad, the distance between signals tempts people to cross mid-block, and drivers moving at commuter speed have little time to react.

Neighborhood streets and bus stops. Children walking to and from school bus stops share residential streets with drivers in a hurry. Georgia requires drivers to take extra care around children (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-93).

After dark. Office parks and shopping centers empty out in the evening, and lighting varies from block to block. Darkness is no excuse for a driver who wasn't watching. When a pedestrian crash is fatal, see our page on wrongful death claims in Peachtree Corners.

Hit in a parking lot or a crosswalk? Call (240) 421-5511 and Gary will explain who may be responsible, including, in some cases, the property owner.

Does the driver always have to stop for you?

In a crosswalk, yes. A driver has to stop, and remain stopped, while you're in a crosswalk on the driver's half of the road or close to it coming from the other side (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-91). Outside a crosswalk, you're the one who must yield to vehicles (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-92).

Wherever you cross, Georgia law requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with you (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-93). Crossing outside the lines may cost you a share of the fault. It never gives a driver the right to run you down. Our Atlanta pedestrian accident attorney page covers the right-of-way rules in more depth.

What if the insurer says it was your fault?

Expect it. Georgia's comparative fault rule (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) bars recovery at 50% or more, and below that it reduces your award by your share. So the driver's insurer will look for reasons to raise your percentage. Common ones, and what answers them:

• “You came out of nowhere.” Store, office-park and doorbell cameras can show exactly where you were standing and when you stepped off the curb.
• “It was dark.” A scene visit at the same hour, plus the driver's speed, can show what a careful driver would have seen.
• “You were looking at your phone.” Even if so, a jury weighs how much each person's choices led to the crash, and a driver holding a phone is breaking Georgia's Hands-Free law (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241).
• “You weren't in the crosswalk.” See the due-care rule above.

Keep these arguments off a recorded line. Talk with Gary first.

Can your own car insurance pay when you were walking?

Often, yes. The driver's liability insurer is first in line, since Georgia assigns payment by fault, but a policy can legally be as small as $25,000 per injured person. Many people don't realize their car insurance follows them when they walk. Georgia's UM statute covers the policyholder and resident relatives “while in a motor vehicle or otherwise” (O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11). No car of your own? A parent's, spouse's or other relative's policy in the same home may still reach you.

Added-on UM, the default since 2009 unless the policyholder rejected it in writing, pays in addition to the driver's coverage. Medical payments coverage, if bought, pays bills regardless of fault. The difference between added-on and reduced-by UM is laid out in our UM coverage guide.

If the driver drove off, report it right away. Leaving an injury crash breaks Georgia's hit-and-run law (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-270). Your UM may treat the unknown driver as uninsured, but the law has reporting and corroboration requirements, so get witnesses' names.

Call (240) 421-5511 before you assume your case depends on finding the driver. Your own policy may already cover you.

Which deadlines apply?

• Two years for most injury lawsuits (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33).
• For a child's own claim, the two-year clock generally doesn't start until age 18 (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90). What parents spend on the child's medical care is a separate claim on a separate schedule.
• Written notice for government claims: six months for the City of Peachtree Corners or any other city (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5); 12 months for Gwinnett County (O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1) or the State, including GDOT (O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26). These apply when a public vehicle, signal or road condition played a part.
• If the driver faces criminal charges, the deadline might be extended while that case is pending (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99). That's fact-specific, so don't plan around it.

How Gary helps after a pedestrian crash

• Meets you or your family at the hospital or at home. If a child was badly hurt and taken to a Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospital, Gary can meet parents there.
• Goes to the crash site at the hour it happened, to see what the driver could see.
• Asks nearby stores, office parks and homeowners to keep their camera footage, and requests 911 audio.
• Requests the Gwinnett County Police report.
• Checks every possible policy: the driver's, the car owner's, the driver's employer if it was a work trip, and each UM policy in your household.
• Keeps a running file of your medical bills and watches for hospital liens.

If a property owner's poor upkeep, like a dark lot or a blocked walkway, contributed, Gary also looks at a premises liability claim. Our page on injury claims in Peachtree Corners explains how Gwinnett cases move through the courts.

Talk to a Peachtree Corners pedestrian accident lawyer today

Many people hit while walking can't drive for weeks. That's fine; Gary comes to you, at home, in a hospital room or over video. If you'd like to see the office, it's at 1050 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30338, a short hop from the I-285 and GA-400 interchange. Gary speaks Spanish too; you can read about pedestrian accidents in Spanish.

Call (240) 421-5511 day or night to set up a free consultation. With our firm, there's no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation for you.