How Lighting Affects Car, Pedestrian or Bike Accident Cases

Pedestrian crossing street late at night

A car may hit a pedestrian at night. If this happens, then the lighting and the pedestrian’s clothing may affect whether a pedestrian has a case.

A pedestrian could be someone walking, on a bicycle or many other scenarios. I wrote a separate article on how lighting affects general accident cases.

Here, I focus on car accident claims.

At Fault Driver May Try To Dismiss the Case

The at fault driver, or any other potentially liable parties, may argue that the case should be dismissed if the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing and placed himself in danger.

For example, the driver may argue that the pedestrian was totally at fault for walking on the right side of the roadway with his back turned to oncoming traffic while talking on his mobile phone.

Pedestrian’s case is better if body is illuminated

If the pedestrian’s body was illuminated by the car’s headlights for a period of seconds before impact, then the pedestrian has a better case. The settlement value may be higher.

The pedestrian’s case is tougher if his or her body wasn’t illuminated. This is because it’s tougher for the driver to see the pedestrian. In this instance, the settlement value may be lower.

Shadows Help Pedestrian’s Case

If there are no street lights in the area, a pedestrian may know that his body was illuminated by a car’s headlights if he can see the shadow on the ground before him.

He or she is allowed to testify to this. This can help get a pedestrian’s case to trial, and survive dismissal. An injured pedestrian’s goal is to get his case to a jury.

If the insurance company knows that is possible, they will likely offer money to settle the case.

Bicyclist gets $100,000 after truck hits her at night

I settled a case for $100,000 for a bicyclist after a truck hit her. The police investigated the case as a possible fatality.

Since the case was investigated as a possible death, the detective wrote a long report. In the report, he said that the bike rider was wearing a dark brown shirt and dark blue sweatpants.

The driver could argue that it was difficult to see the bike rider because of her dark clothing. This may decrease the value of a pedestrian’s case.

Using a flashlight may help a bicyclist’s case

Bike flashlight — Not actual bike from the case.

In the above case, a police officer wrote in the investigative report that he observed a flashlight near the bicycle at the accident scene. The flashlight was not activated.

By saying this, an inference can be made that the flashlight wasn’t on at the time of the crash. This would put less blame on the truck driver.

More blame would be placed on the bike rider. It may reduce the full value of the case.

Pedestrian’s case is better if accident occurs during daylight

If the crash happens in daylight, the pedestrian can argue that he or she was visible to the driver. More blame may be placed on the driver in this instance. This may result in a higher settlement value.

Pedestrian gets $110,000 after car hits her in daylight

I settled a case $110,000 where a car hit a pedestrian in Homestead, Miami-Dade County, Florida. She suffered a facial fracture.

The incident occurred during daylight hours so the full value of the case was not reduced due to lighting.

The case settled quickly before a lawsuit. If I would have sued the driver, I would have argued that he should have seen the pedestrian because it was the middle of the day.