Miami Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Hit by a Vehicle While Walking in Miami?

A pedestrian accident can change your life in seconds. Unlike someone inside a car or truck, a person walking has little protection from the force of a moving vehicle. Even a crash at a lower speed can cause broken bones, head injuries, internal injuries, and other serious harm.

If you were hit by a car, truck, motorcycle, rideshare vehicle, delivery vehicle, or commercial vehicle, Gimenez & Carrillo, LLC can review what happened and explain your legal options.

Our Miami pedestrian accident lawyers represent injured pedestrians and families throughout Miami and Miami-Dade County. We can investigate the accident, deal with insurance companies, and help you understand what options may be available under Florida law.

Contact Gimenez & Carrillo for a free initial consultation.

Call (305) 444-3000 or Request a Free Initial Consultation. Hablamos Español.

Visit our Miami law office to learn more about our local services.

Free Initial Consultation

Talk through what happened at no cost.

Serving Miami-Dade County

Main office at Waterford District Dr.

Hablamos Español

Consultas en español, sin costo.

Over 30 Years of Experience

Florida injury claims since 2010.

Why Pedestrian Accidents
in Miami Can Be Serious

People walk throughout Miami every day to reach work, schools, stores, restaurants, apartments, parking areas, public transportation, and entertainment districts.

That means pedestrians regularly share busy areas with cars, trucks, motorcycles, rideshare vehicles, delivery vans, buses, and other traffic.

Pedestrian activity is common throughout Downtown Miami, Brickell, Little Havana, Wynwood, Edgewater, Midtown Miami, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Kendall, Doral, Hialeah, and other parts of Miami-Dade County.

Pedestrians may also face heavy traffic near school zones, crosswalks, shopping areas, apartment complexes, and busy roads such as US 1, Biscayne Boulevard, Flagler Street, Calle Ocho, NW 36th Street, Kendall Drive, and Bird Road.

When a vehicle strikes a pedestrian, the person may hit the hood or windshield before falling onto the roadway. In other cases, the impact may throw the pedestrian into another vehicle, curb, sign, or other hard surface.

As a result, injuries may involve several parts of the body at the same time.

Serious pedestrian injuries can lead to emergency treatment, surgery, rehabilitation, missed work, lasting pain, reduced mobility, or permanent disability. Tragically, some pedestrian crashes result in death.

Because the effects can continue long after the accident, it is important to understand your legal options before accepting an insurance settlement or signing documents related to your claim.

Common Causes of
Pedestrian Accidents in Miami

Pedestrian crashes can happen almost anywhere vehicles and people walking come into contact. However, some driving behaviors and locations create a greater risk.

Distracted driving: A driver looking at a phone, navigation system, passenger, or another distraction may fail to notice someone entering a crosswalk or walking near the roadway.
Failure to yield: Drivers may fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections, crosswalks, parking lot exits, driveways, or other crossing points.
Speeding: A speeding vehicle gives the driver less time to see a pedestrian and stop. Greater speed may also increase the force of the impact.
Unsafe turns: Drivers making left or right turns may focus on other vehicles and fail to check for pedestrians crossing the street.
Parking lot crashes: Pedestrians may be struck when drivers back out of parking spaces, drive through shopping centers, or move through apartment and parking garage areas without watching for people walking.
School zone accidents: Children and parents may face danger when drivers speed, ignore crossing guards, fail to stop, or drive carelessly near schools.
Impaired driving: Alcohol, drugs, or certain medications may affect a driver’s judgment, vision, coordination, and reaction time.
Rideshare and commercial vehicle crashes: Uber, Lyft, delivery, work van, truck, and other commercial drivers may strike pedestrians while turning, backing up, stopping for passengers, or looking for an address.
Poor visibility or road conditions: Darkness, heavy rain, blocked views, poor lighting, construction, damaged sidewalks, or faded markings may contribute to a pedestrian crash.

Other causes may include running red lights, ignoring stop signs, aggressive driving, driving through occupied crosswalks, or failing to check for pedestrians before pulling out of a driveway.

If the crash involved a passenger vehicle, you can also learn more from our Miami Car Accident Lawyer page.

If a commercial truck was involved, visit our Miami Truck Accident Lawyer page.

Common Pedestrian Injuries

Pedestrians have no seat belt, airbag, or vehicle frame protecting them during a collision. Therefore, even one impact can cause multiple injuries.

Head and brain injuries: A pedestrian may suffer a concussion, skull fracture, brain bleed, or traumatic brain injury after hitting a vehicle, pavement, or another object.
Broken bones: Fractures may affect the arms, wrists, ribs, pelvis, hips, legs, ankles, feet, or other areas of the body.
Neck, back, and spine injuries: The force of a collision may damage muscles, discs, nerves, vertebrae, or the spinal cord.
Leg and foot injuries: Because many vehicles first strike a pedestrian’s lower body, crashes can cause knee injuries, fractures, ligament tears, nerve damage, or difficulty walking.
Internal injuries: A pedestrian may suffer internal bleeding or damage to organs that is not immediately visible at the scene.
Soft tissue injuries: Sprains, strains, bruises, torn muscles, and ligament injuries may cause significant pain and limit movement.
Facial and dental injuries: A pedestrian who strikes a vehicle or pavement may suffer facial fractures, cuts, scarring, eye injuries, or damaged teeth.
Emotional trauma: A serious pedestrian crash may lead to anxiety, fear of traffic, sleep problems, depression, or other emotional effects.
Fatal injuries: Some pedestrian accidents result in death. Depending on the circumstances, the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim for the benefit of eligible survivors and the estate.

Because some injuries may not be obvious immediately after a crash, getting medical attention is important even if you believe you can walk away from the accident.

What to Do After
Being Hit by a Vehicle in Miami

What you do after a pedestrian accident may affect both your health and the evidence available for your claim.

Call 911: Report the crash and request emergency medical assistance. A law enforcement response may also result in an official crash report.
Get medical care: Allow emergency personnel to examine you. Seek follow-up care if needed, especially if you experience pain, dizziness, confusion, weakness, numbness, or other symptoms.
Get the driver’s information: If you are able, obtain the driver’s name, contact information, driver’s license information, license plate number, and insurance information.
Take photos and videos: Document your injuries, the vehicle, crosswalk, traffic signals, road markings, debris, skid marks, lighting, weather, and surrounding area.
Look for witnesses: Ask anyone who saw the crash for their name and contact information. Independent witnesses may help establish what happened.
Save your records: Keep medical bills, treatment instructions, prescription information, work records, receipts, photographs, insurance letters, and other accident-related documents.
Be careful with insurance companies: An insurance representative may request a recorded statement or ask you to sign documents. Consider speaking with an attorney before providing a detailed statement or accepting a settlement.
Avoid posting about the accident on social media: Photos, videos, comments, and check-ins may be taken out of context and used to question your injuries or version of events.
Call a pedestrian accident lawyer: An attorney can review the accident, preserve available evidence, explain the claims process, and communicate with insurance companies on your behalf.

These steps can help protect your health while preserving information about the crash and your injuries. However, serious injuries may make it impossible to collect evidence yourself. If that happened, a lawyer may still be able to investigate the accident and look for additional evidence.

Request a Free Initial Consultation

How Fault May Be
Evaluated in a Pedestrian Accident

Insurance companies do not always accept responsibility simply because a vehicle struck a pedestrian.

Instead, they may dispute where the pedestrian was walking, whether a traffic signal was followed, whether the driver had enough time to stop, or whether other conditions contributed to the accident.

Factors that may help determine fault include:

Driver behavior: Investigators may examine whether the driver was speeding, distracted, impaired, driving aggressively, or otherwise failing to use reasonable care.
Failure to yield: The investigation may consider whether the driver should have stopped or yielded at an intersection, crosswalk, driveway, parking area, or other pedestrian crossing point.
Where the pedestrian was walking: Investigators may consider whether the pedestrian was in a marked crosswalk, an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, on a sidewalk, along a roadway, or crossing somewhere else.
Traffic signs and signals: Walk signals, traffic lights, stop signs, yield signs, school zone signs, and other traffic controls can help establish what each person was expected to do.
Visibility: Lighting, rain, parked vehicles, landscaping, buildings, construction barriers, and other conditions may affect what the driver or pedestrian could see.
Road and property conditions: Broken signals, poor lighting, faded crosswalks, damaged sidewalks, blocked views, or unsafe property conditions may contribute to some accidents.
Witness statements: People who saw the crash may provide information about vehicle speed, signals, the pedestrian’s location, and the driver’s actions.
Photos, videos, and reports: Police reports, surveillance footage, dashcam video, traffic cameras, photographs, vehicle damage, and other records may help establish how the accident happened.

Fault can become one of the most disputed parts of a pedestrian injury claim.

Florida applies comparative fault rules to negligence cases. Therefore, a pedestrian’s actions may affect a claim if evidence shows that the pedestrian also contributed to the accident. Under current Florida law, a person found more than 50% responsible for their own harm generally cannot recover damages in an ordinary negligence action.

That makes evidence especially important when fault is disputed.

What If You Were Hit Outside a Crosswalk?

Being outside a marked crosswalk does not automatically mean the driver bears no responsibility. However, the location where you crossed can be an important factor.

Florida law generally requires pedestrians crossing a roadway outside a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to yield the right of way to vehicles.

At the same time, drivers still have a duty to exercise due care to avoid colliding with pedestrians.

Therefore, an investigation may need to consider:

Where the pedestrian entered the road
How far away the vehicle was
The vehicle’s speed
Whether the driver was distracted
Lighting and visibility
Traffic signals and signs
Whether the driver had time to react
Available witness or video evidence

Do not assume you have no case simply because the crash happened outside a marked crosswalk. A Miami pedestrian injury lawyer can review the complete circumstances and explain how Florida law may apply.

How Gimenez & Carrillo Can Help
With Your Pedestrian Accident Case

A serious injury can make it difficult to manage medical appointments, missed work, family responsibilities, and insurance calls at the same time.

Gimenez & Carrillo can help you understand the legal process and manage the claim while you focus on your recovery.

Review the accident: We can listen to what happened, examine the available information, and explain possible legal options based on the facts.
Investigate the crash: Our legal team can gather crash reports, photographs, videos, witness information, medical documentation, and other available evidence.
Identify responsible parties: Depending on the facts, responsibility may involve a driver, vehicle owner, employer, commercial company, property owner, government entity, or another party.
Handle insurance communication: We can communicate with insurers and respond to requests involving the pedestrian injury claim.
Review medical treatment and damages: We can examine medical records, bills, lost income, future treatment needs, physical limitations, and other ways the accident affected your life.
Handle serious injury and wrongful death cases: Our firm represents people facing severe injuries and families dealing with fatal pedestrian accidents.
Guide you through each step: We can explain the process, discuss important decisions, and help you understand what may happen next.

Insurance companies may dispute who caused the crash, question the seriousness of an injury, argue that medical treatment was unnecessary, or disagree about the value of the claim.

Legal representation can help ensure that the available evidence and the full impact of the pedestrian’s injuries receive careful consideration.

Our Miami team includes Angel L. Gimenez, Esq. and Jose I. Carrillo, Esq..

You can also learn more about our broader Florida Personal Injury practice.

Compensation That May Be
Available After a Pedestrian Accident

The damages available after a pedestrian accident depend on the injuries, fault, available insurance coverage, medical treatment, evidence, and other facts.

Depending on the case, a claim may include:

Medical expenses: This may include ambulance transportation, emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, doctor visits, physical therapy, prescriptions, medical equipment, and future treatment.
Lost income: An injured pedestrian may seek compensation for income lost while recovering from the accident.
Reduced earning ability: Serious injuries may affect a person’s ability to return to the same job or earn the same income in the future.
Pain and suffering: Depending on the circumstances, damages may address physical pain, emotional suffering, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Disability or disfigurement: Severe pedestrian injuries can cause permanent physical limitations, scarring, amputation, or other lasting changes.
Accident-related expenses: Certain documented expenses caused by the injury may also be considered.
Wrongful death damages: When a pedestrian accident is fatal, Florida law provides certain remedies for eligible survivors and the estate through a wrongful death action.

No attorney can guarantee how much a pedestrian accident claim will be worth. The value depends on the specific facts and evidence.

Fatal Pedestrian Accidents in Miami

Pedestrians face a high risk of fatal injury because there is little separating their bodies from a moving vehicle and the roadway.

When a pedestrian accident results in death, the surviving family may face both emotional loss and sudden financial concerns.

Florida’s Wrongful Death Act allows the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate to bring an action for the benefit of eligible survivors and the estate when the legal requirements are met.

Depending on the circumstances, damages may include certain losses involving support, services, funeral or medical expenses, and other damages permitted under Florida law.

Learn more about these cases on our Wrongful Death page.

Areas We Serve Near Miami

Gimenez & Carrillo represents injured pedestrians throughout Miami and surrounding Miami-Dade County communities.

Miami Neighborhoods

We assist clients injured while walking in areas such as Downtown Miami, Brickell, Little Havana, Wynwood, Edgewater, Midtown Miami, and Coconut Grove.

Central and Western Miami-Dade

Our service area also includes Coral Gables, Kendall, Doral, Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Sweetwater, Westchester, and nearby communities.

Northern Miami-Dade

We serve injured pedestrians in Miami Beach, North Miami, Aventura, and surrounding areas.

Southern Miami-Dade

Our attorneys also assist clients in Homestead, Cutler Bay, and nearby South Florida communities.

Whether you were hit in a crosswalk, near a school, outside an apartment complex, in a shopping center parking area, at an intersection, or along a busy Miami roadway, our firm can review the circumstances.

Our Miami office is located at:

Gimenez & Carrillo, LLC
5775 Waterford District Dr. Suite 300
Miami, FL 33126-2579
(305) 444-3000

Learn more about our services and Miami office on our Miami location page.

Frequently Asked Questions
About Miami Pedestrian Accidents

What should I do after being hit by a car in Miami?

Call 911 and seek medical attention. If you are able, get the driver’s information, photograph the scene, identify witnesses, and save records related to your medical treatment and expenses.

You should also be careful when speaking with insurance companies. Before giving a detailed recorded statement or accepting a settlement, you may want to speak with a pedestrian accident attorney in Miami about your legal options.

Do I need a lawyer for a pedestrian accident claim?

Florida law does not require you to hire a lawyer simply because you were injured in a pedestrian accident.

However, legal representation may be helpful when injuries are serious, fault is disputed, several parties may be responsible, or an insurance company is questioning your injuries or damages.
A pedestrian accident lawyer in Miami-Dade County can investigate the crash, evaluate the available evidence, communicate with insurers, and explain your legal options.

What if I was hit while crossing outside a crosswalk?

Crossing outside a crosswalk may affect how fault is evaluated, but it does not automatically determine the outcome of the claim.

Florida law generally requires pedestrians crossing outside a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to yield to vehicles. However, drivers must also exercise due care to avoid hitting pedestrians.

Factors such as the driver’s speed, distraction, visibility, traffic conditions, distance, and available reaction time may also matter.

Because Florida uses a modified comparative fault system, the percentage of responsibility assigned to each person may significantly affect the claim.

What compensation may be available after a pedestrian accident?

Depending on the facts, compensation may be available for medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning ability, future medical treatment, pain and suffering, disability, scarring, and certain other accident-related losses.

The amount and types of compensation available depend on the injuries, insurance coverage, fault, evidence, and other circumstances.

What if a loved one died in a pedestrian accident?

When a pedestrian accident causes a death, the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim for the benefit of eligible survivors and the estate.

Florida law controls who may recover specific types of wrongful death damages.

If your family lost someone in a pedestrian crash, our attorneys can review what happened and explain the legal options that may be available.

Learn more on our Wrongful Death page.

Speak With a Miami Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

After being hit by a vehicle, you may be dealing with painful injuries, medical treatment, missed work, insurance calls, and questions about what happens next.

Gimenez & Carrillo, represents pedestrians injured by cars, trucks, motorcycles, rideshare vehicles, delivery vehicles, commercial vehicles, and other vehicles throughout Miami and Miami-Dade County.

We can review the accident, explain your legal options, and help you understand the next steps.

Call (305) 444-3000 or Request a Free Initial Consultation. Hablamos Español.