No Win, No FeeAs pedestrians are at a high risk of receiving serious injuries if hit by a vehicle, rules exist to protect them from harm including new rules about who has the right of way when a pedestrian is crossing the road. If you have been hit by a vehicle or cyclist whilst using a zebra crossing and suffered personal injuries, you might be entitled to lodge a zebra crossing injury claim for compensation.
You can contact us if you need help with the claims process as we offer a no-obligation case review. During the call, free legal advice will be offered and you can ask any questions you think of. If there’s a decent chance that you should be compensated, a solicitor from our panel may represent you on a No Win, No Fee basis. That means there are no upfront legal fees to pay whatsoever.
To learn more about zebra crossing injury claims, please read on or call 0800 652 1345 today.
The hierarchy of road users 2022
In January 2022, the Highway Code was updated to add 3 new rules about the hierarchy of road users. This was designed to improve the safety of cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians.
The specific rule that affects pedestrians crossing the road is rule H2. This rule means that all road users including drivers, cyclists, horse riders, motorcyclists and horse-drawn vehicles must give way:
- At a junction before turning if a pedestrian is crossing or waiting to cross.
- If a pedestrian is on a zebra crossing or parallel crossing.
- If a pedestrian is waiting to cross a zebra crossing.
Another type of road user that you could claim against is the rider of an electric scooter. If they were riding a hired scooter, it will be insured by the operator which means your claim could be made against them if the rider failed to follow the rules of the road.
If you’ve been injured while crossing the road on a zebra crossing and believe you are entitled to claim compensation, please call our team for further information about your options.
Types of pedestrian crossings
In addition to unmarked crossings, some other types of pedestrian crossings where accidents can occur include:
- Zebra crossings – road crossing with black and white road markings with flashing lights on either side of the road.
- Pelican crossings – where a push button system is used by pedestrians and a green or red man indicates whether it’s safe to cross.
- Puffin crossings – similar to pelican crossings but the red and green man indicator is on the same side of the road as the push button.
- Toucan crossings – designed to allow both pedestrians and cyclists to safely cross a junction.
Whatever type of crossing you were injured on, please let us know so that we can check your chances of being compensated for free.
Can I claim compensation for a zebra crossing injury?
Before offering to help you claim for a zebra crossing injury, your solicitor will need to assess the chances that you’ll be compensated. Specifically, they’ll look to assess whether:
- The party you blame (the defendant) breached their legal duty of care towards your well-being; and
- You were involved in an accident while using a zebra crossing as a result; and
- You were injured because of the accident.
Most claims are made against some sort of insurance policy which means you’ll need to convince the insurer about how their client caused your accident and injuries. As such, we’ll review the types of proof that could be used to support your zebra crossing injury claim a little later on.
Who is responsible for a zebra crossing accident?
It’s important to point out that while other road users could be to blame for accidents on zebra crossings, pedestrians also have a duty of care to use crossings correctly.
For example, if you ran over a zebra crossing without looking first, you might be found to have caused the accident. However, in some cases, both parties could be apportioned a share of the blame. If this happens, the claim could proceed on a split liability basis. For example, if you were said to have been 25 per cent to blame because you failed to look before crossing, a zebra crossing injury claim could still proceed but you’d only be paid 75 per cent of any compensation due.
Examples of a negligent driver causing a zebra crossing accident
Again, it’s important to stress that you must prove negligence if you’re to win compensation for injuries sustained in a zebra crossing accident. Some examples of when pedestrians could claim compensation for injuries at a pedestrian crossing include those caused by:
- Careless driving – i.e. being distracted by a satnav system, radio or mobile phone.
- Speeding and reckless driving.
- Road rage and aggressive driving.
- Drink or drug driving.
- Failure to give way to pedestrians at a zebra crossing.
These and other forms of negligence could mean you’re entitled to compensation if you were hit by a vehicle at a zebra crossing. If you believe that you should receive compensation for your suffering, please call us today.
Types of injuries compensation could be claimed for
Other than the most minor injuries from accidents on zebra crossings, you could seek compensation for various injuries caused by someone else’s negligence, including:
- Internal bleeding.
- Psychological injuries.
- Wrongful death.
- Damaged teeth.
- Spleen damage.
Whatever injury you’ve sustained at a zebra crossing, please contact our team so we can assess whether you should be compensated for your suffering.
Fatal injury
If you have been affected by the loss of a loved one who died on a zebra crossing, we could help you seek justice on their behalf. We could also help you claim if you were dependent on the deceased’s income or if you had to pay for their funeral.
We won’t spend too long discussing this type of claim in this guide but you are free to call us at any time on 0800 652 1345 if you’d like to know more.
What if the driver didn’t stop after the zebra crossing accident?
It is an offence for a driver to leave the scene of an accident without swapping details with anyone else involved. However, hit-and-run accidents do occur. You might think that you wouldn’t be able to claim for your injuries in this situation but the Motors Insurers’ Bureau can compensate pedestrians injured by untraced drivers on a zebra crossing.
To see if a solicitor from our panel could help you in this situation, please call today.
How much compensation for a zebra crossing accident?
If you make a successful claim after being hit while using a zebra crossing, you could claim compensation to cover:
- Physical pain and suffering.
- Loss of amenities.
- Psychiatric damage.
- Medical expenses including private hospital treatment.
- Lost income (to cover now and in the future).
- Care costs.
- Property damage i.e. damaged clothes, phone or jewellery.
- Travel expenses.
- Home modifications that will help you to deal with any ongoing symptoms or disabilities.
It is important to consider exactly how your injuries from the zebra crossing accident have affected you physically, psychologically and financially before filing your claim. As such, your solicitor will go through everything with you in detail.
Providing proof for zebra crossing injury compensation claims
It is quite important to try and secure proof to support your zebra crossing injury claim if you are to be awarded compensation. While your solicitor will help with this if the claim is taken on, to help with the process, you should also try to provide as much proof as realistically possible. This could include:
- Photographic proof. If it is safe to do so and your injuries allow you to, try to take pictures of the zebra crossing accident scene. This can help to establish the reason the accident occurred.
- Speak to witnesses. It is helpful if independent witnesses can corroborate what happened when you were injured while crossing the road. So, ask anybody who stopped for their contact details in case your solicitor needs to contact them.
- Get the driver’s details. You are entitled to ask the driver for their contact and insurance details. They are legally obliged to provide it. You should also note details about their vehicle.
- Report the incident. You should report the zebra crossing accident to the police and ask for a reference number. If the emergency services attended the scene, this will happen automatically.
- Secure video footage. If your accident on the zebra crossing was captured by CCTV or a dashcam, ask the owner to forward you a copy of the relevant data.
- Write everything down. As soon as you can, write down as much as you can about what happened. Include the date, time, location and road conditions so that you can explain what happened when your solicitor asks.
As part of our initial free consultation, we’ll review any proof you’ve managed to get thus far. If you’ve already obtained enough to proceed, we’ll let you know. Otherwise, we’ll explain what else you might need to strengthen the claim.
Zebra crossing injury claim time limits
Legally, personal injury claims in the United Kingdom, have a 3-year time limit. For most zebra crossing injury claims, this will start on the day it occurred. However, some claims have different limitation periods including:
- Child personal injury claims: no time limit applies until the child’s 18th birthday so, parents can claim before then on the child’s behalf.
- Lack of mental capacity: if the claimant doesn’t have the mental capacity to claim, no time limit will apply until their mental capacity returns. However, a litigation friend could claim on their behalf while they are incapacitated.
Please call today if you’d like to check how long you’ve got left to start a zebra crossing injury claim.
No Win, No Fee claims
One of the main reasons people don’t make a personal injury claim is because of the fear they’ll end up paying legal fees even if they lose the claim. However, the solicitors we have on our panel all offer a No Win, No Fee service for all zebra crossing injury claims they take on to reduce the financial risks for claimants.
To clarify, No Win, No Fee means that:
- You won’t need to pay your solicitor for their work upfront.
- If the claim fails, you don’t pay your solicitor.
- If compensation is awarded to you, a percentage will be deducted to cover your solicitor’s time and expenses (a success fee).
When using a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) to fund your claim (as you will if you work with a solicitor on our panel), the success fee is legally capped at 25 per cent of your settlement.
Once you have signed the CFA, work on your case can begin. Your solicitor will have several roles including:
- Gathering proof and medical information to support your allegations.
- Contacting the defendant about your intention to claim compensation.
- Liaising with the defendant’s insurers to shield you from awkward medical or legal arguments.
- Making sure you are kept up to date about the progress of your claim.
- Trying to win the highest possible amount of compensation for your injuries.
To see if you could be represented by a No Win, No Fee solicitor from our panel, please call today.
Start a zebra crossing injury claim today
One conversation with one of our friendly advisors might be all it takes to start a claim. If you call 0800 652 1345, your claim will be assessed and you’ll be given free legal advice about your next actions.
While there’s no obligation to take legal action after your free consultation, we could partner you with one of our personal injury solicitors if your claim appears strong enough. If that happens, you won’t pay legal fees upfront because of their No Win, No Fee service.
Please use live chat to connect with us if you have any further questions on zebra crossing injury claims, or claim your free consultation here.
