Girl walking across crosswalk

Pedestrian accidents: The FAQs

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration defines a pedestrian accident as “any person on foot, walking, running, jogging, sitting or lying down who is involved in a motor vehicle traffic crash.”

It defines a traffic crash as “an incident that involved one or more motor vehicles where at least one vehicle was in transport, and the crash originated on a public traffic way, such as a road or highway.”

How many fatal pedestrian accidents are there annually?

Pedestrian accident statistics cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are remarkable. In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians died as a result of traffic crashes across the nation. That translates into a pedestrian death from a motor vehicle crash every 1.6 hours.

How many pedestrians are injured in crashes?

Along with those fatalities, nearly 129,000 pedestrians were injured and treated in emergency rooms for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes in 2015. As per the CDC, one out of every five children under the age of 15 who died in motor vehicle crashes were pedestrians.

What percentage were attributable to alcohol use?
Nearly half of all pedestrian fatalities involved alcohol use by either the pedestrian or a driver. Most pedestrian fatalities occurred where there was no intersection, and 74 percent of them occurred after sundown. The services of a bail bond agent will be needed if you’ve seriously injured or killed a pedestrian after consuming alcohol, drugs or any combination of the two.

Can I be charged with a felony?
Hit-and-run accidents with pedestrians are very serious. There’s nothing around pedestrians to protect them. They have no steel bodies with crumple zones. The only things that crumple are tissue, cartilage and bones. In most states, whether a driver is charged with a misdemeanor or a felony for leaving the scene of an accident depends on how seriously a victim was hurt.

Why avoid a bail bond hearing?
In a hit-and-run with serious personal injuries, a driver will want to post a bail bond as soon as possible before a hearing on that issue. Having a hearing before a judge only increases the risk of a high bond being set and the inability to post the appropriate amount.

What if a judge sets a high bail bond?
A high bail bond leaves a defendant with two options. He or she can bring a motion sometime in the future to lower the amount, or that defendant can simply sit in jail until such time as there is a plea agreement or a trial.

Why do people charged with a crime need a bail bond?
A bail bond operates to secure the presence of a person in court who is charged with a crime. It’s unlikely that a felony defendant will be released from jail without posting a bail bond. Posting that bond allows a defendant to get back to his or her family and job in short order.

How does the process work with a bail bond agent?
After an arrest, the arrestee, a friend or a family member should contact us for a free consultation. We obtain all necessary information from the contact person, and we prepare all appropriate documents for signature. In some cases, collateral might be required. Within a matter of hours after a bail bond agent posts a bond, that friend or family member is released from jail.

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