Philadelphia Pedestrian Accident Attorneys

As one of the largest cities in the country, and with one of the most active downtowns in the United States, Philadelphia might sound like a safe place to walk. With everything so close together, the sheer number of pedestrians on the city’s streets and sidewalks should make walking safe. However, this is not necessarily the case.

Unfortunately, every time a pedestrian gets hit by a car in Philadelphia, the injuries that the pedestrian suffers are often extensive. After all, they are not protected during a car accident like drivers are. Because of the severity of the injuries that you can suffer as a pedestrian, it is crucial to have a Philadelphia personal injury attorney, like those at the law office of Gilman & Bedigian, on your side if you are ever hit as a pedestrian.

Pedestrian Safety

The death and injury toll for pedestrians is not small. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 4,735 pedestrians were hit and killed in the United States in 2013 alone. That is an average of one death every two hours. An additional 150,000 pedestrians were hurt and treated in emergency rooms after being hit by a vehicle in the U.S. The injuries suffered by each one of these pedestrians has the potential to be life-changing, requiring extensive medical attention and long recovery times.

Philadelphia is no exception. Our city was ranked as the 4th Best Walking City in America by Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association, largely on the basis of how many people walk in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the number of people who walk in Philadelphia does not make it one of the safest for pedestrians. In fact, according to City Data, out of the 97 people who died in car accidents in Philadelphia in 2014, 49 were pedestrians.

Additional figures on pedestrian safety in Philadelphia, provided by the Bicycle Coalition, are especially sobering. According to the Bicycle Coalition, 40% of the city’s traffic fatalities in 2013 were from vehicles hitting pedestrians. That does not mean that these types of accidents are uncommon, either. On average, a Philadelphia pedestrian is involved in a car accident once every five hours. This has left our city with one of the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities of similarly-sized cities in the U.S.

These pedestrian accidents are not equally spread out through the city, either. Instead, a handful of intersections are the location of a staggering number of Philadelphia’s pedestrian accidents between 2009 and 2013. The worst intersections in Philadelphia, along with the number of accidents in them that involved pedestrians, are:

Fifth Street & Olney Avenue: 19
Broad Street & Race Street: 17
Broad Street & Girard Avenue: 16
Cottman Avenue & Roosevelt Boulevard: 16
Broad Street & Olney Avenue: 16
Broad Street & Lehigh Avenue: 16

Pedestrian Injuries

People who get hit by a car while walking on the sidewalk or in the street often suffer some serious injuries. This is even true in downtown areas of large cities, like Philadelphia, where cars and other vehicles are only moving slowly. Even the smallest cars weigh multiple thousands of pounds. When they hit a pedestrian, they can do significant damage, even if they are traveling under 25 miles per hour. Pedestrians, after all, have no protection to shield them from the impact.

Because of this, pedestrians who are involved in a car accident typically suffer serious injuries like broken bones from the impact, as well as bruises, lacerations and road rash from the fall after the accident. Head injuries are also possible if the pedestrian does not see the vehicle coming and is not able to prepare or brace for the collision. Spinal and back injuries are also possible if the crash happened at a significant speed.