Articles Posted in Pedestrian accident

Car accidents can come in many different types and varieties including truck accidents, drunk driving accidents, and distracted driving accidents. A particularly devastating type of collision, however, is a pedestrian accident. This involves situations in which a motor vehicle collides with a pedestrian usually resulting in devastating injuries or even fatalities in some severe situations. If you or a loved one was harmed as the result of a careless driver’s actions while walking as a pedestrian in a crosswalk, sidewalk, or another area, contact our Boston pedestrian accident lawyers as soon as possible to start learning about your potential right to recovery.

In a recent case, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal considered a plaintiff’s appeal from a lower court’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of defendants in a pedestrian accident where an 11-year-old boy was killed. The decedent was walking from a park when he attempted to cross a street to get to a local fast food restaurant. He was hit and killed by a car driven by a man who was then charged with criminal counts related to the death.

The decedent’s parents brought an action against a group of defendants who had contracted with the city to provide architectural services and to oversee the construction of a new school opposite from the park. The plans featured walkways leading to the street. The defendants retained a company to conduct a traffic analysis for the project. The plaintiffs alleged wrongful death, negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The lower court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment finding that the defendants were not liable for the decedent’s death.

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Pedestrians are at serious risk of suffering injuries from distracted and negligent motorists especially in a crowded and busy place like Boston. Although a car accident can be just as stressful and damaging, pedestrian accidents often result in catastrophic injuries simply because of the damage that a vehicle can cause to an unprotected person. At The Law Office of Michael O. Smith, we are ready to help you explore your legal rights following a sudden and avoidable Boston pedestrian injury accident.

Boston and Sommerville have experienced pedestrian accidents recently, with a van reportedly striking two pedestrians at an intersection causing one of the victims to later die from her injuries. The following day, a woman was severely injured after being allegedly struck by a garbage truck on McGrath Highway in Sommerville while using a marked crosswalk. There are countless questions that are being raised in the investigations for both accidents. City officials including Mayor Marty Walsh have already indicated that there will be changes coming to some of the most feared intersections.

This has been a serious problem according to a local news report, which identified that the traffic signal involved in the fatal pedestrian accident on Summer Street was providing pedestrians with the walk sign while also giving drivers on the intersecting street the green light to turn. Although a sign warned drivers that they must yield to pedestrians, businesses and residents argued that this was not enough to provide adequate protection.

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A man from the Texas area  alleges he was struck by a driver of a vehicle after exiting a school bus. The complaint was filed against the bus company alleging negligence as well as the operator of the vehicle that struck him.  He sustained substantial bodily injuries, medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.  He also alleges he sustained an ongoing permanent impairment.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he was exiting the bus and was injured when he was struck by the defendant’s vehicle, who carelessly attempted to pass the stopped bus. He alleges he suffered serious physical injuries that resulted in medical care expenses, pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of earnings and mental anguish.

The plaintiff is also alleging the bus driver and his employer is responsible because the bus driver allegedly failed to activate or properly operate the bus’s stop lights and negligently stopped the bus in an unsafe place to unload passengers.  Then the second defendant also acted negligently and failed to stop for the bus and struck the plaintiff pedestrian causing him substantial injuries, damages, medical treatment, lost wages and pain and suffering.