Pedestrian Accident Attorney in Indianapolis

If you live in or have ever visited Indianapolis, you know it is a wonderful city to walk around. The downtown area is extremely well structured so that you can easily find your way around the city. And it has several pedestrian-friendly intersections and structures that allow you to walk around safely.

Beyond the downtown area, there are plenty of broad vistas that make an ideal background for a walk or run. But while downtown is filled with wide sidewalks, roads in the surrounding area are much less likely to have pedestrian-safe edges.

This means if you are walking in the Indianapolis outskirts, you should be wary of traffic on nearby roads. While drivers are supposed to respect your right to walk along the edge of a road, not all drivers are as careful as they should be. And when a driver is careless, that may result in a pedestrian accident.

If you have been hit by a car, you likely have been badly injured. This horrifying situation is often made worse when an insurance company fights against you receiving the money you need to recover. And that happens all too often.

Don’t let an insurance company deprive you of your rights. Contact a pedestrian accident lawyer in Indianapolis from Morgan & Morgan today to schedule a free case evaluation and learn more about your rights.

Avoiding Pedestrian Accidents in Indianapolis

If you have been seriously injured in a car accident while on foot, a pedestrian accident lawyer in Indianapolis from our law firm will always be happy to help. But we would prefer that you never get into the accident in the first place. The following advice will help you avoid harm.

Always Cross at Corners and Obey Traffic Lights

Indianapolis has a traditional city design. It has square blocks with multi-story buildings. This makes it easy to navigate but also limits visibility in some directions. While you can usually see down the street you are on, you usually can see nothing just around the corner unless you are at an intersection.

Thus, you should avoid crossing at any location other than an intersection. When you cross elsewhere, you risk a car turning a corner unexpectedly while you are in the middle of the road. And while Indianapolis has strict speed limits, not everybody follows them.

Furthermore, when crossing at an intersection, be respectful of the traffic lights. Most drivers are probably paying more attention to other vehicles and traffic lights than they are to you. If you walk when the light is red, there is a good chance you will be involved in an accident with an unobservant driver.

Take Advantage of the Circle Centre Mall and Convention Center

If your path takes you anywhere near the convention center or the Circle Centre Mall, you can take advantage of the unique architecture of these buildings to avoid crossing city streets or walking on sidewalks.

The mall is built above street level and has multiple skyways that cross streets. You can easily walk multiple blocks without ever stepping on a city street. The mall also has connections to the convention center and attached block.

Just by staying within the blocks connected to the mall and walkways, you can access almost anything you need in downtown Indianapolis, including:

• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Shopping
• Parking
• Indiana Convention Center
• Amtrak and Indianapolis bus station
• Some government buildings

Even if the mall complex won’t take you directly where you are going, you can often avoid several blocks of street-level walking by using it. And there is no cost to walking through the mall.

Indianapolis Parks

If you want to go for a walk or a run but don’t have a specific errand in mind, take advantage of the many parks in the downtown area. Both University Park and Veterans Memorial Plaza are the sizes of an entire city block, which is quite large.

And if you want even more walking area, visit the nearby Military Park. This park is roughly the size of four blocks and runs along a canal as well. No cars are allowed in any of these parks, which means you don’t need to worry about vehicular traffic on your walk or run.

Walk Against the Direction of Traffic

Most of the roads in downtown Indianapolis are one-way streets. When walking on a one-way street, it is safer to walk against the flow of traffic than with it. By walking against the flow, you can see cars as they come toward you and avoid them if they are driving dangerously.

This is particularly wise if you are walking on any street that doesn’t have an adjacent sidewalk. When walking next to that type of road, drivers may not be paying close attention to pedestrians.

Wear Bright Colors at Night

Indianapolis has businesses that are open all night long. This means you might have plenty of reasons to walk around the city at night.

But if you are going to do so, make sure to wear bright colors. Even on city streets that have lights, if you are wearing dark colors, you might be invisible to drivers. By wearing bright-colored clothing, preferably with reflectors, you will be visible to anyone driving.

How a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in Indianapolis Can Help You

The moments after a pedestrian accident are terrifying. Typically, you will be seriously injured and probably very disoriented. Hopefully, the driver of the car followed the law, stopped to check on you, and contacted emergency services. If they didn’t, you need to make that phone call as quickly as possible.

The next phone call you want to make is to a pedestrian accident lawyer in Indianapolis from Morgan and Morgan. The sooner you make this call, the more likely you will get the money you need to recover from your injuries.

As soon as you hire us, we will work to get you the maximum compensation possible for your case. This starts with us guiding you through the claim process.

If you have ever been involved in a car accident before, you probably know the claim process can be quite complicated. It is even more complicated when you don’t have a car and are relying entirely on someone else’s insurance company. That company has no goodwill toward you and no reason to pay you any more than the minimum.

However, we won’t let it get away with undervaluing your claim. Before agreeing to anything or starting negotiations, our team will fully investigate the accident. Between witness interviews and other collected evidence, we will prove that the other driver was responsible and that you deserve full compensation for the accident.

Furthermore, we will also collect evidence that proves the value of your case. Just because the insurance company agrees to pay you compensation, that doesn’t mean it will pay you as much as you deserve.

Our attorneys will communicate with your doctors to determine how badly you were hurt and estimate the total value of your treatment, both now and in the future. Once again, we will provide the insurance company with evidence until it is unable to undervalue your claim.

Only then will we begin negotiations. Your pedestrian accident lawyer in Indianapolis has years of experience negotiating with insurance companies. We know the procedures of all major insurance companies and probably have even directly interacted with the claims adjuster assigned to the case in the past.

This gives us an advantage in negotiations and increases the likelihood that we can get you the money you deserve.

Insurance companies don’t care that you are suffering and need money quickly. Usually, they will fight against every dollar and try to delay the process as much as possible. We care about your well-being and won’t let the insurance company increase your suffering with unnecessary bureaucracy or unreasonable compensation.