February 22, 2022
Earlier this month, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a semi-truck in Littleton, New Hampshire. According to a recent news report, the collision occurred around 4 p.m., on Main Street. At this point, little else is known about the fatal pedestrian accident and authorities are asking for anyone who witnessed the accident to come forward with information.
This report illustrates one of the challenges when bringing either a personal injury or wrongful death case following an accident. More specifically, the lack of evidence indicating who was at fault for a collision.
While injured pedestrians and their families can pursue a personal injury or wrongful death claim following an accident, to bring a case successfully, they must establish that the driver was negligent. Of course, in situations where the driver was drunk or admits to being distracted, this can be straightforward. However, in cases involving less obvious mistakes, or a pedestrian who may also have shared some blame for the accident, proving that a driver was negligent can be difficult.
A personal injury lawyer can help pedestrian accident victims identify the potential causes of an accident that police officers may not have picked up on. For example, law enforcement rarely looks for evidence of anything other than a criminal offense, such as drunk driving. Thus, if a driver committed a traffic violation, the responding police officer may write the other driver a ticket and call it a day, without looking into whether they were distracted because they were on their phone. In other cases, a law enforcement investigation is woefully lacking, and it may fail to uncover any evidence of the other driver’s negligence.
Importantly, this does not preclude an accident victim from bringing a personal injury lawsuit against the other driver. An experienced attorney can conduct their own independent investigation into an accident, hoping to locate evidence of a driver’s negligence.
The other thing to keep in mind about police officer investigations is that, even if they result in criminal charges being filed against another driver, a criminal case does little for accident victims. This is because criminal cases are focused on punishing a driver for violating the law, not on compensating an accident victim for what they’ve been through. Thus, accident victims and grieving family members must pursue a personal injury or wrongful death case to obtain meaningful compensation in the wake of a New Hampshire pedestrian accident.
Have You Been Injured in a New Hampshire Pedestrian Accident?If you or a loved one recently suffered serious injuries in a New Hampshire pedestrian accident, reach out to Peter Thompson & Associates. At our personal injury law firm, we represent injury victims and their family members, helping them hold negligent drivers accountable for their actions. We have decades of combined experience negotiating and litigating pedestrian accident lawsuits, and know what it takes to succeed in even the toughest cases. To learn more, and to schedule a free consultation today, call 800-804-2004 today. You can also reach us through our online contact form.