Murray Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Murray is full of places people walk to: the Murray Central, Murray North and Fashion Place West TRAX stations, bus stops along State Street, the Intermountain Medical Center campus, Murray Park and the Jordan River Parkway. Plenty of those walks end at a crossing of a wide, busy arterial, where a driver hunting for a gap in traffic is not looking at the person already in the crosswalk.

After a pedestrian crash, the driver's insurer tends to reach for a short list of explanations. Utah law gives people on foot more protection than that list suggests, and in a city with this many stations and storefronts, the video that shows what happened often exists if someone asks for it quickly.

Your Right-of-Way on Foot

A driver must slow down or stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk on the driver's half of the road, or one approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger; must come to a full stop at an occupied school crosswalk; and may not pass a vehicle stopped to let someone cross (Utah Code § 41-6a-1002). At an intersection, the crosswalk is the space between the sidewalk lines even where nothing is painted (§ 41-6a-102).

Away from an intersection crosswalk the duty flips: the pedestrian must yield, and between two signalized intersections a person may cross only in a marked crosswalk (§ 41-6a-1003). That can shift part of the fault to you, but it seldom ends a claim. Our pedestrian guide explains how juries divide responsibility. For statewide crash figures and Utah crosswalk law, see our Utah pedestrian accident lawyer page.

Which Insurance Pays

Several policies can be in play after a Murray pedestrian crash:

• The driver's bodily injury liability coverage, which carries the claim for pain, lost earning capacity and future care once your injuries qualify.
• Your own auto policy's PIP, which can pay at least $3,000 in medical expenses and 85% of lost gross income, capped at $250 a week for up to 52 weeks, even though you were walking, depending on who the policy covers. Our no-fault guide has the details.

Not enough coverage, or a driver who never stopped? Your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may apply, and if the car never touched you, Utah requires clear and convincing proof beyond your own testimony that it existed, so call police and gather witness names. See what to do after a hit-and-run.

Shared Fault and Filing Deadlines

Under § 78B-5-818, your damages shrink by your percentage of fault and are barred at 50% or more. An injury suit generally has four years, but a crash involving a UTA bus or train, a Murray City vehicle or a dangerous public road needs a notice of claim within one year (§ 63G-7-402). Our deadlines page lists each one.

Murray Crossings Where Pedestrians Get Hit

State Street, where people cross between bus stops and storefronts while drivers turn in and out of dozens of driveways. Murray Central station at 5144 South Cottonwood Street, where TRAX and FrontRunner riders head toward the hospital campus and parking. 5300 South and Vine Street, commuter routes that pass schools and parks. The Fashion Place area, where shoppers walk through large lots and toward the Fashion Place West station at 222 West Winchester Street. The crash counts at each Murray traffic signal are ranked on our Murray dangerous intersections page.

Who investigates: the Murray City Police Department on city streets and the Utah Highway Patrol on I-15 and I-215. If a UTA train or bus was involved, the claim runs against a government entity and the one-year notice rule applies.

How These Crashes Happen

A left-turning driver watching oncoming cars instead of the crosswalk, a right turn on red with no glance to the right, a car reversing out of a retail stall, a driver exiting a lot across the sidewalk, speed on wide arterials, phones, and poorly lit crossings after the evening commute.

Pedestrian Injuries

Leg and pelvic fractures at bumper height, head injuries from the hood or the pavement, spinal injuries, and broken wrists and shoulders from the fall. A single broken bone meets Utah's threshold for a full claim against the driver. Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, a Level I trauma center on the state's designation list, treats many of the area's most seriously hurt pedestrians.

Damages You Can Claim

• Economic losses: emergency and follow-up care, therapy, the wages you missed, and earning capacity you may not get back.
• Non-economic losses: pain, fear of crossing a street again, and the ordinary routines the injury interrupted.
• Future care: surgery, therapy and equipment for injuries that will not fully heal.
• Wrongful death damages: when a family has lost someone. Our wrongful death guide explains who can bring that claim.

What the Insurer Will Say

The usual lines are that you darted out, crossed outside the lines, were looking at a screen or were dressed too dark to see, followed by an early offer to close the file. Signal timing, crosswalk markings, streetlights and video from stations, buses and State Street businesses often tell it differently, but only if they are requested before being recorded over. Our Murray car accident page covers local crash reports, and the Murray personal injury page covers other claims in the city.