At the Scene: Safety and Evidence
Call 911 immediately. Even if the driver stops, a police report is essential — it documents vehicle positions, signal status, witness accounts, and any citations. Do not leave the scene before officers arrive unless you need emergency medical transport. If you are conscious and mobile, photograph the vehicle's front-end damage, your visible injuries, crosswalk markings, and the traffic signal from your direction of travel.
Collect contact and insurance information from the driver. Ask any witnesses for their names and phone numbers; write these down or enter them into your phone before the crowd disperses. If you cannot do this yourself due to injury, ask someone nearby to help. Witness testimony decays rapidly and becomes much harder to secure days later.
Within 24 Hours: Medical Evaluation
Go to a hospital or urgent-care facility the same day, regardless of how you feel. Adrenaline masks fractures, internal bleeding, and the early symptoms of traumatic brain injuries. An emergency-room visit creates a contemporaneous medical record that ties your condition directly to the accident date. Without it, the insurer will argue that your injuries came from somewhere else.
Tell the treating physician exactly how the accident happened and describe every symptom, even minor ones. "My left shoulder hurts when I lift my arm" is more useful in a claim than a vague "I feel sore." Request copies of all diagnostic imaging and discharge notes before you leave — some facilities charge for records requested later, and the delay can slow your claim.
Within 48 Hours: Preserve Digital and Physical Evidence
Send a written evidence-preservation request to every potential source of video footage: the local traffic-management department for intersection cameras, nearby businesses with exterior surveillance, and the transit authority if a bus was involved. Footage is overwritten on rolling schedules that vary from days to weeks; a written request creates a legal obligation to hold the recordings.
Save your clothing and shoes from the accident in a sealed bag without washing them. Scuff marks, tears, and embedded debris corroborate impact details. If you were carrying a bag, phone, or other personal item that was damaged, photograph the damage and store the item. These objects are physical evidence that supports your account of the collision's force and direction.
Within 72 Hours: Insurance Contact and Legal Consultation
Report the accident to your own auto or health insurer if you have coverage that applies to pedestrian injuries, such as personal-injury protection or medical-payments coverage. Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver's insurer without consulting an attorney first — that call is designed to gather admissions, not to help you.
Consult a personal-injury attorney within the first few days. Most offer free initial evaluations and work on a contingency-fee basis. An attorney can handle the evidence-preservation letters, manage insurer communications, and ensure you do not miss any administrative-notice deadlines — particularly if the vehicle was operated by a government entity, where notice windows are often far shorter than the standard statute of limitations.
This is general information, not legal advice — consult a licensed attorney in your state. pedestrianaccidentlawyer.us is an independent information site, not a law firm.
Before you rely on any number here
This page is general information, not legal advice. Nothing on pedestrianaccidentlawyer.us creates an attorney–client relationship, and no estimate produced by the calculator is a valuation, a prediction or an offer.
PedestrianAccidentLawyer.us is an independent informational website operated by Mustafa Bilgic, an individual who is not a licensed attorney and does not run a law firm. We do not accept cases, review documents, negotiate with insurers or refer you to a particular lawyer.
Deadlines, fault rules, damage caps and insurance requirements differ by state and change over time, and a missed deadline can end a valid claim permanently. Consult a licensed attorney in your state before you accept, reject or file anything. To find one independently, use your state bar’s referral service or the American Bar Association’s Find Legal Help directory.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What if I did not call the police at the scene?
You can still file a police report after the fact in most jurisdictions, though it will carry less weight than one created at the scene. Go to the local police station as soon as possible and provide all details you remember, including the driver's plate number if you have it.
Should I post about the accident on social media?
No. Insurance adjusters routinely monitor claimants' social-media accounts for posts that contradict injury claims. A photo of you walking your dog the day after the accident can be used to argue that your injuries are less severe than claimed. Avoid posting about the accident or your recovery entirely.
What if the driver offered to pay my medical bills directly?
Do not accept informal payment agreements. They are unenforceable if the driver stops paying, and they bypass the insurer's liability for your full damages including pain, lost wages, and future treatment. Report the accident through proper channels and let the claim process determine the full value.
Can I still file a claim if I waited weeks to see a doctor?
You can, but the delay weakens the causation argument. The insurer will point to the gap as evidence that your injuries were not caused by the accident or were less severe than claimed. The longer the gap, the harder this argument is to overcome.
- Sources: state comparative-fault statutes · Insurance Information Institute · Bureau of Labor Statistics · IRS Pub. 4345 · NHTSA
- Last reviewed 2026-08-25. Statutes, caps and fault rules change — re-check anything time-sensitive with a licensed attorney.