Utah Law Talk

This morning, February 26, 2009, a boy was crossing the street on his way to school in Salt Lake City, Utah, when he was hit by a car while in the crosswalk. According to KSL News, the 8-year old child was crossing 700 East in a marked crosswalk near 600 South. According to witness Shawn Owen, the driver of the car was turning from 600 South to go north on 700 East and didn’t see the child. The boy was said to have wrist and ankle injuries.
While it’s sad that this boy was hurt as he was, I think the parents should be very thankful that his injuries are not worse. Pedestrians can receive all manner of injuries in a crosswalk when they are struck by a car, with a percentage of these suffering severe brain injuries and orthopedic injuries. Some of these pedestrian-auto accidents prove fatal.
I think the witness got it right when he told the press: “Crosswalks should be the sanctuaries. That should be the safe place to be. It should be the responsibility of the driver to who’s crossing and from what direction.” I feel exactly the same way.
The parents may want to talk with a personal injury attorney and explore their legal options in what sounds like a completely preventable accident. The driver’s insurance will have at least $3,000 to pay for the boy’s medical bills and should hopefully have sufficient coverage so the boy’s parents can make a claim for their son. It sounds like this case is worth more than $10,000. If so, a judge will need to approve the settlement, if there is one. All my best to this boy as he recovers from his injuries.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Childrens Injuries, Cycling Injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.