Pedestrian Accident Settlement Calculator, from your losses, your share of fault and your state's rules.
Estimate a pedestrian accident settlement after a pedestrian is hit by a car, then read your state's right-of-way laws, each quoted from its official code.
How pedestrian accident settlements are calculated
This calculator adds up the losses you enter, multiplies the injury losses for pain and suffering, and then applies your share of fault, your state's rules and any policy limit you give it. Here's what each step actually does to your number.
What the formula returns at these inputs
These are outputs of the calculator on this page, not settlements anyone received. Each row feeds the inputs described into the same formula the calculator runs, and the last column is the number it returns. We hold no dataset of closed cases, so we publish the formula working instead of figures we cannot source.
Every row is run in Arizona with no share of fault assigned to the claimant. No coverage ceiling is applied, because we would be inventing the at-fault party's policy. Arizona is used because our state-law data records it as a pure comparative fault jurisdiction with no damages cap of any kind, so nothing here is clipped by a state limit and you can see the formula itself. Pick your own state in the calculator above and the number moves.
The right-of-way rules for a pedestrian hit by car
Each state's traffic code sets who yields to whom, and the panel below quotes it.
The panel on this page quotes 34 jurisdictions' traffic codes, read from their official code sites: a driver's duty to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk where it was read (31), a pedestrian's duty when crossing outside a crosswalk or against a signal (32), and a driver's duty of care toward a pedestrian (30).
In the provisions quoted, the rules share a shape and their words differ. A driver must yield in a crosswalk in the conditions the statute names; a pedestrian crossing elsewhere must yield to traffic; a pedestrian must not step suddenly into the path of a vehicle too close to stop. A driver also owes a duty of care that does not end because a pedestrian broke a rule.
For the jurisdictions the panel does not yet quote, it says so plainly: their code sites could not be read for this page. That is not a statement that they have no such rule.
Shared fault in a pedestrian accident settlement
A pedestrian's own conduct can reduce a claim, under the state's fault rule.
Fault is a central question in a pedestrian claim: whether the driver yielded when the code required it, and whether the pedestrian crossed where and when the code allowed. The calculator asks for your share of fault and applies your state's rule to it, which can reduce a recovery or, in some states past a set share, bar it.
Some codes also say what a violation means in a lawsuit, and the panel quotes those provisions where they were read (eight jurisdictions). Each speaks only to the cases its words name, and none of them is a ruling on a particular crash.
Enter the share of fault you think a court or an insurer would assign, and compare the figure at different shares. It moves with the share, which shows how much of the claim the fault question decides.
Insurance after a pedestrian is hit by a car
Whose policy answers depends on the state's insurance law.
A claim can be made against the driver's liability coverage, within its limits. In a no-fault state, the law can also name a policy that pays some costs first, and it can limit a suit for pain and suffering against the driver. Whether that limit reaches a pedestrian was not researched for this page, so the result says so beside the figure where the state has one.
Where a state limits what a claimant who drove or owned an uninsured vehicle can recover, the result prints that line too, worded for a claimant on foot. The car accident page on this site quotes each state's insurance provisions in full.
Documenting a pedestrian accident
A pedestrian claim is built on records made at the time.
Keep the police report, and ask whether it records the signal and where you were crossing. Photograph the crosswalk, the signals, the sight lines and your injuries, and write down the names of witnesses.
Ask nearby businesses whether a camera covered the crossing, and ask soon: recordings can be overwritten. Keep every medical record and bill, and a short daily record of pain and of the work you missed.
When the clock starts on a pedestrian accident settlement
The filing period is the one your state sets for a motor-vehicle injury claim, as on the car accident page.
The calculator counts from the date of the crash and shows the period for a motor-vehicle injury claim in the state you pick, with the disclosures that go with it where a state's provision sets its own period.
A no-fault state can also set deadlines for a claim on a policy, and those can be shorter than the period to sue. If a government vehicle hit you, a claim against a public body can have its own notice deadline; the Federal Tort Claims Act page on this site covers a federal vehicle.
Talking to a pedestrian accident lawyer
This site is not a law firm, does not refer anyone to a lawyer, and cannot say what a lawyer would recover.
A settlement is final. Before you sign a release, make sure the treatment has run its course or that the costs still ahead are in the figure, and that the fault question has been looked at against your state's code.
A lawyer who handles pedestrian claims in your state can say what the right-of-way rules mean for your crossing, what the driver's coverage is, and whether an offer reflects the claim. Bring your records, your notes, the police report, the insurers' letters, the provisions the panel quotes for your state, and the figure this calculator shows.
The right-of-way rules behind a pedestrian hit by car claim, state by state
Pick a state to see what its traffic code says about a driver's duty to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, a pedestrian's duty when crossing elsewhere or against a signal, and a driver's duty of care, each in the provision's own words, read from the state's official code site, with the section named.
Choose a state to see the provisions read for this page.
What actually moves your settlement
Two cases with the same medical bills can settle for very different amounts. These are the variables that pull them apart.
Pedestrian accident settlement: filing deadlines by state
Once this deadline passes, your case is gone, regardless of how strong it was. The calculator counts each period from the date of the incident, and a lawyer in your state can confirm when yours began.
Do you need a lawyer?
- Minor injury only, no lasting impact
- Clear liability, soft-tissue injury with a fast recovery
- Insurer's first offer meets your documented damages
- You're comfortable negotiating and have time to document
- Any surgery, hospitalization, or permanent impairment
- Disputed liability, multiple parties, or commercial defendant
- Insurer is delaying, denying, or lowballing
- Policy limits exceeded or underinsured issues
- You're unsure what your case is worth, which is what this tool is for