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Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in Central Pennsylvania
Jameson Stone Law represents people struck by vehicles while walking. Ethan Stone leads the firm’s injury work, and the firm has litigated injury matters in both state and federal court. If you carry limited tort coverage on your own car, it does not restrict what you can claim here, and the driver’s insurer has no reason to point that out.
Your Right to Claim
Limited Tort Does Not Restrict a Pedestrian's Claim
Most Pennsylvania drivers carry limited tort, often without remembering they chose it, and it normally blocks any claim for pain and suffering unless the injury clears a statutory threshold. It does not apply to someone on foot. In L.S. v. Eschbach, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the limited tort provision makes no mention of pedestrians, and that a child struck while crossing the road was not restricted by the election her mother had made on the family policy.
The practical effect is large. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle keeps the full right to recover for pain, for the things they can no longer do, and for the lasting effects of the injury, whatever their own policy says. Adjusters do not always volunteer this. A limited tort notation sitting in a claim file is a reason to have the file looked at rather than to accept what it seems to imply.
Right of Way
Where the Right of Way Actually Sat
Fault in these cases usually turns on a handful of rules in the Vehicle Code, and three of them come as a surprise to the people they protect.
Worth knowing:
- Unmarked crosswalks count — § 3542 covers any intersection where a walkway meets the street, painted or not
Passing a stopped car is prohibited — § 3542 also bars overtaking a vehicle that has stopped to let someone cross
- Sidewalks outrank driveways — § 3547 requires a driver leaving a building, driveway, or private road to yield to anyone on the sidewalk
Paying for Treatment
Who Pays While the Claim Is Running
People struck while walking often assume no auto coverage reaches them, because none of their own vehicles was involved. Three sources usually do.
Where treatment gets paid from:
- First-party medical benefits — at least $5,000 under Pennsylvania policies, paid regardless of fault, from your own household policy or the striking vehicle’s
- Your health insurance — takes over past that limit, normally with a right to be repaid out of any settlement
- The at-fault driver’s liability coverage — settles at the end of the claim, not along the way
Cases We Take
Pedestrian Accident Claims We Handle
Crosswalk and Intersection Collisions
Drivers turning across a walk signal, rolling right turns, and failures to yield at marked and unmarked crossings.
Parking Lots and Driveways
Reversing vehicles, drivers pulling out across a sidewalk, and low-speed impacts that still break bones.
Hit and Run
Claims pursued through uninsured motorist coverage when the driver is never identified.
Children and School Zones
Pedestrians struck near bus stops, school crossings, and residential streets where drivers should be slowest.
Our Process
How We Build a Pedestrian Injury Claim
01
Fix the Scene
Signal timing, sight lines, vehicle speed, and the point of impact all matter, and all get harder to establish once the road is back to ordinary traffic.
Get the Record Straight
Police reports, any citation issued to the driver, dashcam and nearby business footage, and witness accounts, gathered before recollections settle into the driver's version.
Total the Losses and Negotiate
Medical records, lost income, and expected future care go into a written demand, with suit filed inside the two year deadline if the offer falls short.
Frequently Asked Questions !!
The answers here tend to run further in a pedestrian's favor than people expect, which is precisely why the driver's insurer is unlikely to be the one explaining them. Worth knowing where you stand before the first call rather than after it.
A limited tort notation sitting in a claim file is a reason to have a lawyer read the file rather than to accept what it seems to imply.
What if the driver fled or had no insurance?
A claim is still possible. Uninsured motorist coverage exists for this, and it can be claimed under your own household auto policy even though you were on foot and none of your vehicles was involved. Where the driver is identified but uninsured, the same coverage applies. Two things help considerably. Reporting the collision to police promptly, because uninsured motorist claims normally require it, and having someone canvass for camera footage early, because a partial plate off a nearby business’s recording has rescued cases that looked hopeless. How a tort election interacts with an uninsured motorist claim is less settled than it is for a claim against an identified driver, and it turns on the wording of your own coverage, which is worth having read properly.
Can I recover compensation if I was partially responsible?
Usually yes. Pennsylvania uses modified comparative negligence, so a share of fault reduces your recovery rather than ending it, provided your share does not pass half. Crossing outside a crosswalk is the most common reason people assume they have no case, and it is not the bar they take it for. Section 3543 requires a pedestrian crossing away from a crosswalk to yield, and failing to do so counts against you, but the driver still owed a duty of care and remains responsible for the share of fault that sits with them. Speed, distraction, and whether there was time to stop all pull the split back the other way.
My child was hit. Does anything work differently?
Yes, substantially. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5533(b)(1) the two year clock does not begin while the injured person is under 18, so a child generally has until their twentieth birthday to bring a claim. That is not a reason to wait. A parent’s own claim for medical costs they paid can run on a shorter timeline, evidence decays at the same rate whatever the child’s age, and if a school district or a public transit authority is involved the separate six month notice requirement still applies. Worth a conversation early even if the decision is to hold off.
Before You Talk to the Adjuster
The driver’s insurer will call, and the first offer usually arrives before anyone knows how the injury will settle. Ethan Stone handles the firm’s injury work and will tell you plainly what the claim looks like. The first conversation costs nothing.