Park City Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Park City asks visitors to leave the car behind. Park City Transit has run fare-free buses since 1975, and today its nine routes and the Historic Main Street Trolley move skiers, workers and diners around town. That puts a lot of people on foot on steep, narrow streets, often after dark and on ice, beside drivers who are hunting for parking, a trailhead or the right resort lot.

When a driver hits someone walking, the insurer's story tends to be the same: you stepped out, you wore dark clothes, you were not in a crosswalk. Utah law gives people on foot more protection than that story allows.

Your Right of Way on Foot

Under Utah Code § 41-6a-1002, a driver must slow or stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk on the driver's half of the road, must come to a full stop at an occupied school crosswalk, and may not pass a vehicle that has stopped at a marked crosswalk, or an unmarked one at an intersection, to let someone cross. That last rule matters on any street with more than one lane in each direction, where one lane stops and the next may not.

Crossing away from a marked crosswalk or an intersection is different: there, the person on foot must yield to vehicles (§ 41-6a-1003). That can shift part of the fault, but it does not erase the driver's duty to watch the road. Our pedestrian guide explains how the split works. For statewide crash figures and Utah crosswalk law, see our Utah pedestrian accident lawyer page.

Insurance That Can Pay

One pedestrian injury can involve more than one policy:

• The driver's liability coverage, which pays for losses beyond your first medical bills. Utah's minimum on policies issued since January 1, 2025 is $30,000 per person (§ 31A-22-304).
• Personal injury protection from your own auto policy, which provides at least $3,000 for medical care and part of lost wages (85%, up to $250 a week) under § 31A-22-307, and may apply even though you were walking, depending on who your policy covers. Our no-fault guide explains PIP.

When the driver carried too little insurance, had none or drove away, your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may apply. After a hit-and-run, read what to do next.

Shared Fault and Deadlines

Utah reduces a recovery by the injured person's percentage of fault and bars it when that share is 50% or more (§ 78B-5-818). Most injury suits must be filed within four years, but if a Park City Transit bus, another city or county vehicle, or a public walkway is involved, a written notice of claim is due within one year. See our deadlines page.

Where People on Foot Get Hit in Park City

Main Street and Old Town, where a steep, narrow street lined with parking puts people crossing between cars, often at night. Kearns Boulevard (SR-248), past the high school and middle school, where students cross near turning traffic. Kimball Junction, where shoppers and bus riders cross wide lanes near the I-80 interchange. Resort base areas and parking lots at Park City Mountain and Deer Valley, where people in ski boots walk behind cars that are backing out.

Who responds: Park City Police (435-615-5500) inside city limits, the Summit County Sheriff's Office at Kimball Junction and elsewhere in the Snyderville Basin, and the Utah Highway Patrol on I-80 and US-40.

Why Drivers Hit Pedestrians Here

Drivers turning through a crosswalk while watching for a gap in traffic, early winter darkness and low sun, ice that keeps a car from stopping, visitors who do not know the streets, snowbanks that hide someone waiting at the curb, and drivers backing out of angled stalls.

The Injuries

Leg and pelvic fractures at bumper height, head injuries from the hood or frozen pavement, spinal injuries, and broken wrists and shoulders from the fall. For a person covered by Utah PIP, a bone fracture is one of the injuries that opens a full claim against the driver for pain and suffering (§ 31A-22-309). Park City Hospital, at 900 Round Valley Drive, is a state-designated Level IV trauma center, and the most serious cases may be transferred to a higher-level center in the Salt Lake Valley.

What You Can Recover

• Economic losses: medical bills now and in the future, missed paychecks and reduced earning capacity.
• Non-economic losses: pain, emotional distress and the activities an injury has taken from you.
• Long-term care: when an injury will not fully heal.
• Wrongful death damages: when a family has lost someone. Our wrongful death guide explains who can bring that claim.

The Insurer's Playbook

Expect lines like “stepped out from between parked cars” or “wearing dark clothes,” followed by an early offer. Crosswalk markings, street lighting, signal timing and video from nearby businesses or vehicles often answer those claims, but only if someone asks for them before they are recorded over. Our Park City personal injury page covers the town's other injury cases, and our Salt Lake City car accident page covers crashes between vehicles.