A Rash of Austin Auto-Pedestrian Crashes

In the last week of 2010, Austin had two fatal auto-pedestrian crashes along I35.  On December 30, 2010, Luis Ascencio-Sanchez was run over and killed along the access road IH 35 in North Austin.     On the other end of town, Robin Waitt was walking across the southbound lanes of I35 on December 21, 2010 when she was hit by multiple vehicles and killed.  This comes on the heels of another pedestrian fatality on I35 this fall.

This rise of auto-pedestrian cases seems to mirror what we’re seeing in our firm.  While we haven’t had any cases involving pedestrians on I35, we recently settled an auto-pedestrian case involving a pedestrian hit by a Capital Metro bus.  And we are currently working on cases involving pedestrians hit by a tow truck and a valet, among others.

Why the sudden increase in auto-pedestrian wrecks?  Is the economy forcing more people to walk places?  As more people move to urban areas (particularly dowtown) is there just more pedestrian traffic? 

I’m not sure, but I don’t like seeing it.  Because of the “car v. person” nature of these wrecks, the injuries sustained are almost always serious and debilitating to our clients.

If you’re in one of these wrecks, you also need to be aware of potential sources of recovery.  It’s obvious that you my have a claim against the person that hit you.  But if you have your own vehicle and carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, that may be an additional source of a recovery.