A person on foot is the most exposed road user there is. When a two-ton vehicle strikes a pedestrian, the injuries are almost always severe — and, as with cyclists and motorcyclists, the driver's first move is often to blame the victim: "They stepped out." "They weren't in the crosswalk." "I never saw them."

Utah law doesn't work that way. Drivers have a clear duty to watch for and yield to people on foot, and when they fail, they're responsible for the harm they cause. At West Injury Law, we make sure a pedestrian's injuries aren't treated as their own fault.

Pedestrians Have the Right of Way

Under Utah law, drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks — and that includes unmarked crosswalks at intersections, not just the painted ones. Drivers also have a general duty to exercise due care to avoid hitting anyone on foot. When a driver rolls through a crosswalk, turns without looking, or is distracted behind the wheel, the responsibility for the resulting crash is theirs.

Pedestrians have some duties too — using crosswalks where required and obeying signals — and insurers will seize on any misstep to shift blame. But even when a pedestrian wasn't perfect, that rarely tells the whole story, and it rarely excuses a driver who wasn't paying attention.

Where Your Compensation Comes From

Many people struck while walking don't realize how much coverage may apply:

• The at-fault driver's auto insurance is the primary source of recovery.
• Your own auto insurance may help too — Utah's Personal Injury Protection (PIP) can cover you even when you're injured as a pedestrian rather than in your car, and your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage may apply if the driver fled or wasn't adequately insured.

Because hit-and-runs are especially common in pedestrian cases, that uninsured-motorist coverage can be critical. Finding every available policy is one of the first things we do.

Utah Law and Your Deadline

Utah's modified comparative-fault rule (a 50% bar) applies: your recovery is reduced by your share of fault and barred if you're 50% or more responsible — which is exactly why insurers push the "they darted out" narrative so hard. You generally have four years from the crash to file a personal injury claim (two years for wrongful death). Acting early lets us preserve video, scene evidence, and witness accounts before they're gone.

Utah Pedestrian Accident Statistics

People on foot are strikingly overrepresented in Utah's traffic deaths. According to UDOT and Utah Department of Public Safety data, 43 pedestrians were killed on Utah roads in 2024 — part of a group of vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists) who together accounted for roughly a third of all Utah traffic deaths that year. And for every fatality, many more pedestrians suffer serious, life-changing injuries.

Source: UDOT and Utah Department of Public Safety, 2024 traffic-fatality data.

Common Causes of Pedestrian Accidents

Most pedestrian crashes come down to a driver who wasn't watching: failure to yield at crosswalks, drivers turning left or right without looking for people on foot, distracted driving, speeding, impaired driving, poor visibility at night, and drivers backing out of driveways and parking spots. In each of these, the pedestrian did nothing to deserve being hit.

Common Pedestrian Accident Injuries

With no protection at all, pedestrians tend to suffer catastrophic harm: traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and paralysis, broken bones and pelvic fractures, internal injuries, and severe lacerations and scarring. These frequently mean surgery, long recoveries, and permanent effects — costs the at-fault driver should bear in full.

Compensation You Can Recover

• Economic damages: medical bills, future medical and rehabilitative care, lost wages, and lost earning capacity.
• Non-economic damages: pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Long-term and life-care costs: for catastrophic or permanent injuries.
• Wrongful death damages: for families who have lost a loved one.

How Insurance Companies Try to Pay You Less

The playbook is predictable: claim the pedestrian "came out of nowhere," wasn't in a crosswalk, was distracted by a phone, or was wearing dark clothing — then offer a fast, low settlement before the full injury is known. We answer with the facts: the driver's duty to yield, any traffic-camera or surveillance video, the scene evidence, and witness statements — and we hold the insurer to the true value of your injuries.

Why Choose West Injury Law

• We deal with the insurance companies — so you can focus on getting better.
• No attorney fees unless we win — free consultation, nothing up front.
• We beat the blame game — showing what really happened instead of what the driver assumed.
• Local roots — a Salt Lake City firm that knows Utah's crosswalk and right-of-way laws.
• Hablamos Español.