Miami Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Miami Streets Are Dangerous for People on Foot

Wide, fast roads, long blocks, and drivers who are not looking for people: that is the reality of walking in Miami-Dade. National studies such as Smart Growth America's Dangerous by Design report have consistently ranked the Miami metro area among the most dangerous places in the country to be a pedestrian.

When a vehicle hits an unprotected human body, even at modest speed, the injuries are rarely minor: broken bones, head injuries, spinal damage, and long recoveries. At Leyva Law, your case is handled directly by attorney Daniela Leyva, not passed off to a call center. She deals with the adjusters and prepares every claim as if it will go to trial, because that is what makes the insurance company take it seriously.

Drivers Owe You a Duty of Care

Florida law spells out what drivers owe people on foot. Section 316.130, Florida Statutes requires drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians crossing in crosswalks and, more broadly, to exercise due care to avoid hitting any pedestrian on the roadway.

Even so, the first move in many pedestrian cases is to blame the person who got hit: they were jaywalking, wearing dark clothes, looking at a phone. Under Florida's modified comparative negligence rule (section 768.81(6), Florida Statutes), your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and you recover nothing if you are found more than 50 percent at fault.

That makes the fault fight the heart of a pedestrian case. We gather the evidence early: crosswalk markings, signal timing, camera video, witness statements, and the crash report, so the story that gets told is the true one.

Right of Way at a Crosswalk and Away From One

Most pedestrian claims turn into an argument about right of way, so it helps to know what section 316.130, Florida Statutes actually says. At an intersection with a traffic signal, the driver must stop before the crosswalk and stay stopped while a pedestrian with a permitted signal crosses the half of the road the vehicle is on, or approaches so closely from the other half as to be in danger. With no signal and no sign, the driver must yield the right of way, slowing or stopping if need be, to a pedestrian already crossing within a crosswalk. The statute also covers an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, so missing paint on the pavement does not by itself put you outside a crosswalk.

Away from a crosswalk the rules flip. A pedestrian crossing anywhere else must yield to vehicles on the roadway, crossing between adjacent signalized intersections is limited to a marked crosswalk, and no pedestrian may leave a curb into the path of a vehicle so close that the driver cannot yield.

None of that ends your case. Subsection (15) applies notwithstanding the rest of the chapter: every driver must exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian, give warning when necessary, and take extra precaution around a child or an obviously confused or incapacitated person.

Who Pays Your Medical Bills After a Pedestrian Accident

It surprises many people, but Florida's no-fault system covers pedestrians too. Even though you were on foot, you can claim Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits under your own auto policy. If you do not have one, you may claim under the policy of a relative who lives in your household. And if neither exists, the insurer of the vehicle that hit you generally must provide PIP benefits (section 627.736, Florida Statutes).

PIP typically covers 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost income, up to the policy limit (commonly $10,000), but generally only if you begin treatment within 14 days. So see a doctor promptly, even if you feel okay at first. Some serious injuries do not show symptoms right away.

PIP is only the starting point. When your injuries are serious, we pursue the at-fault driver directly for the full harm you suffered, including pain and suffering.

The $2,500 PIP Cap and Whose Policy Pays

PIP is usually described as $10,000 in benefits. That number is not automatic. Under section 627.736(1)(a)4, Florida Statutes, reimbursement is limited to $2,500 if a provider determines that you did not have an emergency medical condition. The full $10,000 requires a physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse to determine that you did. Being hit by a vehicle usually does produce an emergency medical condition, but somebody qualified has to make that call and write it down, or the insurance company pays the smaller number and the rest of the bills stay with you.

Which policy pays depends on your household. Your own auto policy pays first, even though you were on foot. If you do not have one, a relative living in the same household may cover you, provided that relative is domiciled there and you do not own a vehicle Florida requires you to insure. If nobody in the home carries a policy, the insurer of the vehicle that struck you generally pays PIP for a Florida resident pedestrian who does not own a vehicle. When no PIP applies at all, the case gets built on the at-fault driver's bodily injury coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, your health insurance, and treatment arranged on a letter of protection.

Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Drivers

Far too many Miami pedestrian crashes are hit-and-runs. If the driver fled, or stayed but carried no bodily injury coverage, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage can step in. UM on your own policy, or on the policy of a relative in your household, can compensate you as if the missing driver had insurance.

Report a hit-and-run to the police immediately, then call us. We move fast to find camera footage, canvass for witnesses, and identify every policy that could apply to your case.

When You Can Recover Pain and Suffering

PIP pays medical bills and part of your lost income. It does not pay for what the injury did to your life. Under section 627.737(2), Florida Statutes, damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience from a motor vehicle injury are recoverable only when the injury includes significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability other than scarring or disfigurement, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.

Pedestrian injuries often clear that threshold, because a person on foot absorbs the entire impact. Clearing it is still a medical question, proven with records, imaging, and a treating doctor willing to state the permanency opinion. That is why we push for the right specialists early, and why gaps in treatment do so much damage. An adjuster reading a chart with a six week hole in it will argue you had already healed.

How Long You Have to File a Pedestrian Accident Claim

For accidents after March 24, 2023, you generally have two years to file a negligence lawsuit (section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes). Older cases are usually governed by the prior four-year deadline, and insurance policies add their own, often much shorter, notice requirements.

Evidence disappears fast: camera footage gets overwritten, skid marks fade, and witnesses move on. The sooner we start, the more we can protect. There is no cost to have us review your case.

Pedestrian Accident Cases We Handle in Miami-Dade

• Crosswalk and Intersection Accidents
• Hit-and-Run Drivers
• Drunk and Distracted Driving
• Parking Lot Accidents
• Children Struck Near Schools
• Bus Stop and Sidewalk Accidents
• Uninsured Drivers
• Wrongful Death

Miami Pedestrian Accident FAQ

Sources

• Section 95.11, Florida Statutes (time limits on filing suit): official text. "WITHIN TWO YEARS ... An action founded on negligence."
• Section 316.130, Florida Statutes (pedestrian and driver right of way): official text. "every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian ... and give warning when necessary"
• Section 627.736, Florida Statutes (Personal Injury Protection): official text. "Reimbursement ... is limited to $2,500 if a provider ... determines that the injured person did not have an emergency medical condition."
• Section 627.737, Florida Statutes (limitation on the right to damages): official text. "a plaintiff may recover damages in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience ... only in the event that the injury ... consists in whole or in part of"
• Section 768.81, Florida Statutes (comparative fault): official text. "any party found to be greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm may not recover any damages."

Related: car accidents · Uber and Lyft accidents · brain injuries. This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.