By Nicholas J. Rose, Esq. · NY Bar 2003

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Pedestrian Accident Law in NYC, What You Need to Know

By Nicholas J. Rose, Esq.

New York City has roughly 100 pedestrian deaths a year and several thousand pedestrian injuries serious enough to land someone in a hospital. Queens Boulevard, once known as the "Boulevard of Death," still produces collisions despite Vision Zero redesigns. The Belt Parkway crosswalks, the Northern Boulevard intersections in Jackson Heights and Flushing, the wide arterials in the Bronx, and almost every avenue in Manhattan above 60th Street produce pedestrian-struck cases week in and week out.

If you were hit by a car, a truck, an MTA bus, a sanitation truck, or a delivery van, or if a family member was, there are pieces of New York law that work in your favor and pieces that work against you. The first thirty days after the collision drive case value more than anything else. Most of what I'm about to tell you costs nothing and doesn't require a lawyer. Some of it will save your case from getting destroyed before we ever talk.

The basic legal framework

Pedestrian-struck cases in New York are negligence cases. The driver had a duty to operate the vehicle reasonably. The driver breached that duty. The breach caused the pedestrian's injury. The pedestrian was damaged. Standard negligence elements.

The fight in most pedestrian cases is comparative fault. Defense lawyers and insurance carriers almost always argue the pedestrian shares some percentage of fault, crossing against a signal, crossing mid-block, wearing dark clothing at night, looking at a phone. New York applies pure comparative negligence under CPLR §1411. That means even a 50% at-fault pedestrian can still recover 50% of damages. A 90% at-fault pedestrian can still recover 10%. Comparative fault reduces recovery proportionally; it doesn't bar recovery entirely.

That's why pedestrian cases get filed even when the pedestrian wasn't perfectly in the crosswalk on a green hand. The case isn't binary.

Right of way, the rules drivers actually have to follow

New York Vehicle and Traffic Law gives pedestrians significant right-of-way protection.

VTL §1146, Drivers must exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or bicyclist on the roadway and must give warning by sounding the horn when necessary. This is the catch-all rule. Even when a pedestrian isn't legally in a crosswalk, the driver still has a duty to avoid them.

VTL §1151, When traffic-control signals aren't in operation, vehicles must yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk on the same half of the roadway as the vehicle.

VTL §1111, Steady red signal: vehicles must stop. Pedestrians with a "walk" signal have right of way against turning vehicles.

NYC Administrative Code §19-190, The "Right of Way Law." A driver who fails to yield to a pedestrian who has the right of way and causes injury commits an unclassified misdemeanor. This is unique to New York City and gets used as evidence in civil cases.

The driver's duties are heavier than most drivers realize. The "I didn't see them" defense is not a defense.

Hit-and-run pedestrian cases

A pedestrian-struck case where the driver fled the scene is more common than people think. About 12% of NYC fatal pedestrian crashes involve a driver who left.

In a hit-and-run case, the recovery path runs through your own auto insurance policy's uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, even though you weren't in a car. Under Insurance Law §3420(f), if you have an auto policy with UM coverage, that coverage applies to you as a pedestrian struck by an unidentified hit-and-run driver. You don't need to have been in your car. The pedestrian-as-insured rule is broad.

If you don't have your own auto policy, but you live with a relative who does, the relative's policy may cover you under New York's "household resident" rules.

If neither applies, the New York Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) may cover the loss. MVAIC is a state-created entity that covers innocent victims of uninsured or hit-and-run drivers. The deadlines for MVAIC are tight: notice within 90 days of the accident.

In every hit-and-run case, the police report and the witness identification are gold. NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad investigates serious-injury pedestrian crashes. Get the report number at the scene if you're conscious. Family members should pull it within the first week if the injured person can't.

The "no-fault" wrinkle pedestrians often miss

Pedestrians struck by cars are covered by New York's no-fault system the same way drivers are. The auto policy of the vehicle that struck you, or in some cases, your own auto policy if you have one, pays your initial medical bills and a portion of lost wages under Personal Injury Protection (PIP).

The trap: you have 30 days to file the no-fault application (form NF-2) with the appropriate carrier under 11 NYCRR §65. Pedestrians often don't know which carrier they need to file with, the at-fault driver's? Their own? A relative's? MVAIC?, and the deadline runs while they figure it out.

If you were the family member of an injured pedestrian and you're reading this in the first week or two after the accident, the NF-2 deadline is the most urgent piece of paperwork. The hospital social worker may help. A lawyer will absolutely help.

The serious injury threshold

To recover beyond the no-fault PIP benefits, meaning, to recover for pain and suffering, future medical care above the cap, or lost earnings beyond the wage limit, you have to clear the serious injury threshold under Insurance Law §5102(d). The threshold has nine categories. In serious pedestrian-struck cases, fractures, surgeries, and significant disfigurement usually clear the threshold easily. The fights are usually about the limit-of-use categories and the 90/180 category.

In severe pedestrian-struck cases, fractures, head injuries, multiple surgeries, the threshold is usually not the issue. The fight is about how much, not whether.

MTA bus, sanitation truck, and government-vehicle pedestrian cases

If a pedestrian is struck by an MTA bus, an NYC sanitation truck, an NYPD vehicle, or any other government vehicle, the case has a 90-day Notice of Claim deadline under GML §50-e. Lawsuit must be filed within 1 year and 90 days of the accident. This is a hard deadline.

The MTA bus pedestrian-struck case is one of the most common government-vehicle pedestrian cases. M15 routes in Manhattan, Q44 in Queens, B46 in Brooklyn, BX6 in the Bronx, all produce regular pedestrian collisions. The MTA's defense playbook for these cases is well-developed and the carriers are aggressive.

If your pedestrian-struck case might involve a government vehicle, the 90-day clock is the most urgent thing in your case. Read more in our piece on statute of limitations in New York personal injury.

Evidence that wins pedestrian cases

Pedestrian-struck cases are won and lost on documentary evidence. In rough order:

Police report. NYPD's MV-104 collision report is the foundation document. Get the report number at the scene if possible. The report is available through NYPD's online portal a few weeks after.
Witness names and phone numbers. Pedestrians at the corner, drivers stopped behind, store employees who saw the impact. Get their information at the scene if you're conscious. If not, ask anyone who was there.
Surveillance video. Many NYC street corners have cameras, bodega cameras, ATM cameras, building security cameras, NYPD ARGUS cameras at major intersections. Footage is often only kept for 7 to 30 days. A preservation letter from a lawyer in the first week is the difference between having the video and never seeing it.
Phone records. If the driver was on the phone at the time of the impact, those records are subpoenable. Defense lawyers fight subpoenas. Plaintiffs' lawyers issue them anyway.
Vehicle damage and crash dynamics. Body damage on the vehicle, point of impact on the pedestrian, debris pattern at the scene. An accident reconstructionist can build a timeline from these pieces.
Contemporaneous medical records. ER notes, EMS run sheets, ambulance call reports. The closer the documentation is to the moment of the impact, the harder it is for the defense to argue the injuries were pre-existing.
311 and Vision Zero data. If the intersection has a history of pedestrian crashes, that history is in NYC Open Data. A pattern of complaints at the same crosswalk supports a notice argument against the City if road design is at issue.

What pedestrian cases are typically worth

Every case is different. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. That said, here's how value tends to build:

Soft tissue injury, full recovery. Mid-five figures or below, depending on lost wages and medical bills.
Fracture without surgery. Mid-five to low-six figures.
Fracture with surgery (orthopedic hardware). Mid-six figures.
Multiple surgeries, disability. Mid-six to seven figures.
Catastrophic injury, life care plan, lost career. Seven figures and up.
Death. Wrongful death damages, governed by separate analysis.

The variables are: severity, completeness of treatment, lost earnings, future medical needs, available insurance limits, comparative fault apportionment, and venue. Brooklyn and Bronx juries tend to be more plaintiff-favorable than Richmond County (Staten Island), and that affects settlement value at mediation.

What this means for you

If you or a family member was hit by a vehicle in New York City, the 30-day no-fault deadline and the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline (for government vehicles) are running while you read this. The medical evidence and surveillance video that will decide the case are perishable. The defense's playbook is fast and well-developed. The faster you call a lawyer, the more options you have.

When to talk to a personal injury lawyer

For a free consultation in English or Spanish, call 718-261-0546 or contact me through the intake form. I've handled pedestrian-struck cases across all five boroughs for 22 years. We come to the hospital, we come to the home, we come to wherever the client can meet.

Pedestrian Accidents in NYC: What to Do Before You Talk to Anyone