Pedestrian Crashes: Your Rights in a Crosswalk Under Ohio Law

Published June 10, 2014 · Injury Law Basics

A car has a steel frame, airbags, and a seat belt. A person crossing Far Hills Avenue or Main Street in Centerville has none of those things. When the two meet, the pedestrian is the one who goes to Miami Valley Hospital with a shattered leg, a brain injury, or worse. And almost without exception, the driver's insurance company will say the pedestrian "came out of nowhere."

Summer brings more people on foot to Dayton's streets, so this is a good time to explain what Ohio law actually requires of drivers at crosswalks, what it asks of people on foot, how fault is divided when both made mistakes, and where the money comes from when a pedestrian is seriously hurt.

The driver's duty at a crosswalk

Ohio's basic crosswalk statute is R.C. 4511.46. Where there is no traffic signal, or the signal is not working or not clearly assigning the right-of-way, a driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk, slowing or stopping if necessary, when the pedestrian is on the driver's half of the road or is approaching closely enough from the other half to be in danger. The statute also forbids a driver from overtaking and passing a vehicle that has stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross, which is how many of the worst crosswalk injuries happen: one driver stops, the driver behind swings around, and the pedestrian is struck in the second lane.

Two points deserve emphasis. First, a crosswalk does not have to be painted. Ohio recognizes unmarked crosswalks at intersections, the natural extension of the sidewalk across the street, and R.C. 4511.46 and R.C. 4511.48 both refer to them. If you were crossing at a corner, you were very likely in a crosswalk even if there were no white lines. Second, where a working signal controls the intersection, the signal governs who may proceed, and a driver turning on a green light still has to yield to a pedestrian lawfully in the crosswalk on a walk signal.

The pedestrian's duties, and the limit on them

Ohio does not give pedestrians a free pass. Under R.C. 4511.48, a person crossing outside a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to vehicles. Between two adjacent signalized intersections, pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. R.C. 4511.46 adds that a pedestrian may not suddenly leave the curb and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close that it cannot stop.

Insurers lean hard on those provisions. What they leave out is division (E) of R.C. 4511.48, which says that nothing in the section relieves a driver from "exercising due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway." The duty of care never disappears. A driver who sees, or should see, a person in the road has to slow down and avoid her, whether or not she is in a crosswalk. A driver who was speeding, looking at a phone, or driving impaired cannot hide behind the fact that the pedestrian was a few feet outside the painted lines.

Comparative fault: a pedestrian who was partly at fault still recovers

Many pedestrian cases involve some fault on both sides. The pedestrian crossed mid-block; the driver was going fifteen over and never braked. Ohio handles that under R.C. 2315.33, its comparative-fault statute. An injured person recovers as long as her share of the fault is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else, and her award is reduced by her percentage. A pedestrian a jury finds thirty percent responsible still collects seventy percent of her damages. We explained how that math works in our post on comparative negligence when you are partly at fault.

Because pedestrian injuries are so severe, seventy percent of a large number is still a large number. The insurer's goal in these cases is to push the pedestrian's share over fifty percent, which bars recovery entirely. Our goal is to prove, with evidence, what the driver was doing.

Proving the driver's fault

Pedestrian cases are decided by physical evidence and independent witnesses, because the pedestrian is often unconscious or in surgery and the driver is the only one telling the story to the police. The evidence we gather in the first days includes:

• The point of impact, the resting positions, and any skid or scuff marks, which show speed and whether the driver braked at all.
• The crosswalk, the signal timing, and the sight lines, photographed at the same time of day and in the same light.
• Damage to the vehicle, including the hood, windshield, and roof, which a reconstructionist can use to estimate speed.
• Surveillance video from nearby businesses and buses, which is overwritten within days.
• The driver's phone records, where distraction is suspected, obtained through the lawsuit.
• Witnesses, including other drivers who stopped.

Where the money comes from

The at-fault driver's liability policy is the first source, and if the driver carried only the state minimum, it will not come close to covering a hospitalization and surgery. The second source surprises many clients: your own auto insurance. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on a policy covering you or a relative you live with generally applies when you are hit as a pedestrian, not just when you are in your car. If the driver was uninsured, or had limits too low for your injuries, your own UM/UIM coverage can pay the difference. We explain how that coverage works on our UM/UIM claims page.

MedPay on your own policy can cover the first several thousand dollars of medical bills regardless of fault, as we described in our MedPay post. And if the driver fled, which happens in a disturbing share of pedestrian crashes, your uninsured motorist coverage is often the only source of recovery; our post on hit-and-run and uninsured motorist coverage explains the proof that is required.

Health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid will pay the hospital in the meantime and will expect reimbursement from any settlement, which is one more reason the claim needs to be large enough and handled well enough to cover the liens and still compensate the person who was hurt.

What this means for you

If you or a family member was struck while walking, the driver's insurer will tell a story in which the pedestrian is to blame. Ohio law tells a different one: drivers must yield in crosswalks, marked or not, must never pass a stopped car at a crosswalk, and must always use due care to avoid a person in the road. Even a pedestrian who shares some fault recovers. Proving the driver's conduct, finding every available policy, and managing the medical liens is what our pedestrian and crosswalk injury practice does.