Accidents Involving Pedestrians On The Road Shoulder

The shoulder of the road is supposed to be a safe place where you can get your car out of the way of traffic where it is not operational and you are waiting for assistance.  While the true purpose of the road shoulder is to park disabled vehicles, rather than for pedestrians to walk, it is the best option you have if there is no sidewalk and no grassy area beside the paved road.  Walking or standing on the shoulder of the road is safer, for example, than walking or standing on the side of a road where mere inches separate the yellow line from the guardrail.  No matter the size and shape of the road shoulder, drivers must still use caution to avoid hitting any vehicles or pedestrians there.  If you got injured when a car struck you or your car while you were on the shoulder of the road, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.

Car Flips and Strikes People Standing on the Shoulder of the Road

One evening in December 2024, two cars collided on Highway 5 in York.  The impact caused one of the cars to flip and land on the shoulder of the road.  The overturned car hit two people who were standing on the shoulder of the road, working on a disabled vehicle.  One of the people who was standing on the shoulder died from the injuries he sustained in the collision.  The other person standing on the shoulder, the drivers of both vehicles that collided, and the passenger in one of the vehicles were injured seriously enough to require hospitalization.  As of two days after the accident, all four injured people were still in the hospital.

The accident is still under investigation.  News reports did not indicate why the vehicle was stopped on the shoulder, other than to say that it was disabled and the two people were trying to fix it.  It is not clear what caused one of the cars on the road to strike the other or whether any of the affected people were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  The news report did not mention anything about anyone getting criminal charges as a result of the accident.

Even if no criminal charges result from this accident, the injured people and the surviving family members of the person who died have the right to seek compensation in civil court.  The most likely defendant for a lawsuit would be the driver who caused the accident.  If the plaintiffs can prove that unsafe road design put the people beside the road too close to the flow of traffic, such as if the road shoulder was too narrow, the city could also be legally liable for the damages.  Likewise, if the accident was the result of a vehicle defect, the injured parties could have recourse to a product liability claim.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a complaint related to a car accident on the road shoulder.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

yahoo.com/news/south-carolina-highway-patrol-investigating-124051178.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ0zZEGAwA8zrcUZhwIY-8gVwtTh0eih24LpDmbFZe0Dt2KCzptz_e1hW63T_bCuz5Ybs5Cw8rQldLCaR4I1XWOJK6L2ugXBDnHZz5ZrB3Qr3TW4SrEUDBzFi_mGlk1kGgs-8P4gVkUQeQdkPKgRFn6c2Uf8Zk_Y7GNaB8QSRANW