[Transcript]
Hi, my name is Ken Berger, and I made this video to help people and families who've been impacted by a case where a car has hit a pedestrian. This is happening a lot. In fact, over the last ten years, pedestrian deaths have increased thirty-five percent, even though other traffic safety statistics have gone down. So we're seeing a spike in these things, and we want you to know what your rights are, what your family's rights are when these accidents occur.
The first thing to know is, in our experience, the police report almost always blames the pedestrian. But that report doesn't matter in a civil case. That report doesn't come into evidence in the civil case. That report doesn't prevent you from bringing a case. In fact, the only thing the officer can testify to is what he or she witnessed personally, and they almost never saw the actual collision. So even if the police report blames the pedestrian, let us worry about that.
The next thing to know is that a claim can, of course, be filed with the at-fault person's insurance company. Okay, so again, regardless of what the police report says, whoever the at-fault driver's insurance company is, you can file a claim with that company. And as part of that claim, it's all the damages that are related to the collision. If there's a loss of life, obviously, that loss of life. If someone survives, then medical bills, lost earnings, and the cost of future medical treatment are recoverable. And damages are also recoverable for what people commonly refer to as pain and suffering, and that includes a person's lost enjoyment of life due to their injuries.
Now, if the driver of the car that caused the accident doesn't have enough insurance coverage to fully compensate a person or their family, there are other avenues you can explore. There's what's known as underinsured motorist coverage that we can help identify, and there may be additional at-fault parties. For instance, the way that the roadway was designed or the pedestrian crosswalk was designed may have been insufficient. They may have been negligent roadway design by the contracting company, by the architectural company, or by the government entity.
Another thing we look at is that 17% of drivers in these pedestrian-car cases had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) greater than 0.08. In other words, almost 20 percent of the time, the at-fault driver is intoxicated. When that happens, we may be able to pursue an action against any bar or restaurant that served that driver alcohol.
So big picture, with an experienced South Carolina personal injury attorney who's handling it the way that we have, we'll help identify the true cause of the accident, be it roadway design, drunk driving, driver inattention in the form of texting, emailing, social media, and we can also work with different experts to create collision reconstruction. At the end of the day, our job is to make sure that every at-fault party is held accountable, all damages are accounted for, and we do everything in the law to make the situation right in a civil context.
If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to reach out to us right here on the website, to the live chat feature, or give us a call for a free consultation. Now that we look forward to helping you and answering your questions, you certainly don't have to take on any insurance company by yourself.
Values-Driven, Client-Focused – Contact My Columbia, SC Personal Injury Law Firm
To begin leveling the playing field and taking some of the burden off your own shoulders, call the Law Office of Kenneth Berger today at 803-790-2800. We serve injured people throughout the state of South Carolina, including Columbia, Lexington, Orangeburg, and Myrtle Beach.