Pedestrian Accident Lawyers in Columbus

Where Columbus pedestrians are getting struck

The pattern in Columbus is not someone darting across a highway. It is a driver turning off Broadway into a parking space or a side street, a car rolling a right turn on red, or a driver leaving an event at the RiverCenter or the Civic Center who never looks for the person in the crosswalk. Add the RiverWalk crossings and the students moving around Columbus State's downtown campus, and Uptown becomes a place where a moment of driver inattention seriously hurts someone on foot. We know these intersections and how these crashes happen.

Georgia law puts the duty on the driver

For a crash in Georgia, a driver must yield to a pedestrian who is lawfully in a crosswalk under O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-91, and even away from a marked crossing a driver still has to exercise due care to avoid hitting someone walking. We build the case around what the driver failed to do rather than second-guessing the person on foot, because in most of these crashes the driver simply was not looking for anyone outside a car.

Downtown cameras and witnesses decide fault

Uptown Columbus is covered by cameras, from traffic signals to the businesses and parking areas along Broadway and the riverfront. When a driver claims you stepped out or crossed against the light, that footage often shows otherwise. We move quickly to identify and request the video and to reach witnesses before it is overwritten or they move on, because that objective proof usually settles who had the right of way.

A person on foot absorbs the entire crash

With nothing between a person and a vehicle, these crashes cause broken bones, internal injuries, and traumatic brain injuries, and serious cases in the area are treated at Piedmont Columbus Regional. Recovery can take months or longer. We work with your doctors to document not only the care you have already received but the surgeries, therapy, and long-term treatment the injury will still require, so the claim reflects the full arc of the harm.

What a Columbus pedestrian claim can recover

The recovery covers your economic losses, meaning the medical bills, the future care, and the wages you miss while unable to work, and your non-economic losses, meaning the pain, the trauma of being struck, and the independence a serious injury can take. Because pedestrian injuries tend to be severe, valuing the future correctly is often where the real difference is made in these cases.

Georgia's deadline, and the Alabama line

A pedestrian injury claim for a crash in Georgia generally must be filed within two years (O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-33), and Georgia reduces or bars recovery based on your share of fault under O.C.G.A. Section 51-12-33, with a fifty percent cutoff. Because Columbus sits on the state line, where the crash actually happened decides whether Georgia or Alabama law controls, and the two are very different. We confirm that early so the correct rule and deadline apply to your case.

Serving injured pedestrians across the Columbus area

From our downtown office at 18 9th St, Suite 410, we represent people struck while walking across Muscogee, Harris, Chattahoochee, Marion, and Talbot counties, and in the communities around Columbus including Midland, Fortson, Cataula, Upatoi, and the Fort Moore area. Wherever you were hit in the Columbus area, we can help.

Talk to a Columbus pedestrian accident lawyer

If a car struck you or someone you love while you were walking in the Columbus area, we will stand between your family and the insurance company. Call (706) 608-5231 for a free case review, or reach us through our contact page. Nothing is owed to us unless we recover for you.

Speak with a Columbus pedestrian accident attorney

Being hit by a car while walking can change everything in an instant. If it happened in or around Columbus, call our office at (706) 608-5231 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we recover for you, and we can start protecting the evidence right away.

Common questions

A driver turning into a parking spot or side street hit me while I was crossing. Who is at fault?

Usually the driver. A motorist turning across a crosswalk has to yield to a pedestrian already crossing, and a right turn on red requires the same. We use the intersection cameras, the driver's account, and witnesses to show the turn cut you off, which places the fault on the driver.

There are cameras all over Uptown Columbus. Can you get that footage?

Often, yes, if we act quickly. Downtown corners usually have traffic cameras, business cameras, and parking-area cameras covering the same spot. We move fast to identify and request that video, because most systems record over it within days.

The insurance company says I share the blame for the crash. How does that affect my claim?

Under Georgia's comparative fault rule, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault and barred only if you are fifty percent or more responsible. Insurers push that argument to pay less, so we use the video and the physical evidence to keep the responsibility on the driver who failed to yield.