There are various reasons why you might suffer an injury while walking across a street. A distracted driver who fails to see you collides with you or the road may have a surprise obstruction that hampers your ability to get away from a moving vehicle in time. Studies have found that some factors increase the likelihood of a pedestrian accident.
The CDC describes different risk factors, identifying personal characteristics of pedestrians and also locations that make it more probable to suffer injury from a moving automobile.
The age of the pedestrians
Being a child or an older person can increase the chances of a pedestrian accident. The CDC identifies a 2017 study that found one out of five children younger than 15 that died in a traffic accident was a pedestrian. In that same year, 10% of pedestrian injuries happened to senior citizens. Also, 20% of pedestrian deaths happened to people older than 65.
The locations of the accident
The CDC discovered that pedestrian accidents were more likely to happen at non-intersections. This is because intersections tend to have crosswalks and stop lights to guide vehicular and pedestrian traffic. A lack of crosswalks may cause motorists to be lax in looking for pedestrians crossing the street.
Also, most pedestrian fatalities happen in urban locations. This is due to the increased traffic you find in cities and suburbs. In addition, pedestrian deaths tend to happen more often at night than during the day.
Alcohol consumption
Drinking and driving is a bad combination and can do great harm to pedestrians. In fact, nearly half of traffic crashes that killed a pedestrian involved either the driver or the pedestrian ingesting too much alcohol, or sometimes both parties were at fault.
You should take control of your circumstances by abstaining from alcohol and not allowing your phone or earbuds to distract you before crossing the street. Even so, in spite of your best efforts you might not be able to avoid an auto collision. If a driver strikes you and you are not at fault, the driver cannot blame you for your injuries and stands a strong chance that a court will find him or her liable for the accident.