Pedestrian collisions produce a different injury pattern from car crashes: head injuries, pelvic and leg fractures, and the second impact when a person lands. The recovery is long and the medical record is complicated, which insurers use.
The legal problem arrives before the medical one. In Maryland, an insurer that can convince a jury you were even slightly careless — crossing outside a crosswalk, stepping off a curb against a signal, wearing dark clothing — can defeat your claim entirely rather than merely reducing it. Nowhere is that rule harsher than here.
Why the fault rule matters more on foot
Most states reduce your compensation by your share of blame. Maryland is one of the few that still applies contributory negligence, where any meaningful share of fault on your part can bar recovery outright.
Against a pedestrian, the insurer’s script is predictable:
- "They crossed outside the crosswalk."
- "They stepped out from between parked cars."
- "They were against the signal."
- "They were on their phone."
- "They were wearing dark clothing at night."
None of these is automatically decisive, and several are not what the law actually requires. Drivers owe duties regardless of where a pedestrian is: to keep a proper lookout, to drive at a speed reasonable for the conditions, and to exercise care toward people they can see. The last clear chance doctrine can also apply where a driver had a real opportunity to avoid the collision and did not take it.
Crosswalks, signals and right of way
Maryland requires drivers to yield to pedestrians lawfully within a crosswalk, and crosswalks exist at intersections whether or not anyone painted lines on the road — a point that decides a surprising number of these cases.
Pedestrians crossing elsewhere generally must yield to traffic, but that does not license a driver to hit them. Signals, turning traffic and school and work zones each change the analysis, and so does a driver turning across a crosswalk on a green light, which is one of the most common ways people are struck while doing everything right.
The evidence that decides these cases
Because fault is so often disputed and the pedestrian is frequently the only person who cannot give a clear account at the scene, evidence gathered early matters more here than in most claims:
- Camera footage from nearby businesses, buses, doorbells and traffic cameras, most of which is overwritten within days
- The vehicle’s own data, including speed and braking
- Scene measurements: where the impact happened, where the person landed, sight lines and lighting
- Independent witnesses, whose accounts are worth far more than the two parties’ own
- The police report, which is a starting point rather than a verdict, and which is sometimes wrong
This is the work that has to happen in the first days, while an injured person is still in hospital. It is the main practical reason to have someone acting for you early.
Which insurance actually pays
The driver’s liability coverage is the starting point, but rarely the whole answer:
- Your own personal injury protection may pay toward medical bills and lost wages even though you were on foot, because PIP follows the person as well as the vehicle.
- Your own uninsured motorist coverage applies if the driver had no insurance, too little, or never stopped. Pedestrian hit-and-runs are common.
- A commercial policy, where the vehicle was a work vehicle, a delivery driver or a rideshare vehicle.
- A government claim, where a county or state vehicle was involved — which carries much shorter notice deadlines.
Children and older pedestrians
Very young children are not held to an adult standard of care, so the "they ran out" defense carries much less weight than an insurer will suggest. Claims on behalf of a child also follow their own timing rules, and a settlement for a child generally requires court approval, which protects the money until adulthood.
Older pedestrians face the opposite tactic: existing conditions blamed for injuries the collision caused, or recovery described as complete when it is not. Both are answered with the medical record and with the treating doctors, not with argument.
Deadlines
Maryland generally allows three years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit, and claims for a death follow the wrongful death rules instead. A collision involving a government vehicle can require written notice far sooner.
Waiting is costly here for a separate reason: the camera footage that proves what happened is usually gone long before any deadline approaches.
