Seattle injury car accident with pedestrian

Who is at fault in a situations where someone is hit while they are walking across an area of a street that does not have a cross walk or and is not an unmarked crosswalk? There are plenty of areas in Seattle where pedestrians decide to cross the street between cross walks, whether it is to cross to their car, get to a movie theatre, get to a sho, etc. 

If someone is hit as a pedestrian by a car at a non crosswalk area, they can still recover damages from the driver of the other car. Washington State is a comparative fault state so the jury would weigh what percentage of fault each person had for the pedestrian being hit. The pedestrian could be at fault for jumping in front of the car and the car could be at fault for speeding or not paying attention to the road ahead of them. Additionally, the pedestrian would then recover for the personal injury damages they suffered due to the car accident, offset by the percentage they were at fault and the damages they caused to the driver of the car.

In Seattle, pedestrians are required by law to cross the street in a cross walk or at an unmarked cross walk. They are generally not allowed to cross the street in between blocks. This is for the safety of pedestrians and drivers because cars are more likely to see pedestrians at cross walks and at the end of a block.

In addition to being required to cross the street at crosswalks, pedestrians are also not allowed to jump out into the street. They are to wait at the cross walk until a car stops for them before entering the street. This again is for the safety of pedestrians and cars to prevent car accidents. While the pedestrian has the right of way and cars are to yield the right of way to pedestrians, pedestrians cannot jump blindly out into the street and possibly cause a car accident by being hit by the car or causing the car to slam on their brakes and then be rear ended in another car accident.