Date: July 26, 2011By: Atlanta Pedestrian Accident Lawyers

The tragic case of Raquel Nelson, who lost her 4-year-old son A.J. in an alcohol-related hit-and-run accident, illustrates the significant risks faced by pedestrians in Georgia. Nelson’s son was killed in April 2010 when she and her three children were crossing a busy street in Marietta, Georgia. The driver, Jerry Guy, left the scene of the accident, but was found and later admitted that he had been taking painkillers and drinking the night of the accident. The driver served six months in jail for the crime, but Raquel Nelson was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to a year of probation and community service for allegedly putting her children in danger by jaywalking. She is now exercising her right to a new trial.

In this case, the jury ruled that Nelson should have used a crosswalk to cross the street, but the nearest one was reportedly nearly half of a mile away. Nelson and her children were crossing Austell Road after getting off a Cobb Community Transit bus and were “trying to hurry up and get home so we wouldn’t have to be in the dark,” according to an AJC news article. Many have argued that the road design and location of bus stops contributed to this crash and many others that occur on Georgia roads. Sally Flocks, president and CEO of the Atlanta-based nonprofit pedestrian advocacy group PEDS, stressed that the relevant agencies should revisit the placement of bus stops and crosswalks. Furthermore, recent reports have shown that even crossing on crosswalks in metro Atlanta is a dangerous practice, illustrating the broader problem for pedestrians in the United States.

In a recent report by Washington-based Transportation for America (T4A), Georgia is cited as the tenth most dangerous state for pedestrians. Between 2000 and 2009, Georgia’s 1,545 pedestrian fatalities make up 9.8% of the total traffic fatalities in the state. Furthermore, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metro area holds the distinction as being the eleventh most dangerous metro area in the United States. In this area alone, 798 pedestrians were killed between 2000 and 2009, representing a death rate of 1.4% of all residents walking to work. In fact, Atlanta’s annual pedestrian fatalities actually increased in the last ten years, from a low of 71 in 2000 to a high of 94 in 2004 and a decade finish of 77 annual pedestrian deaths per year.

When a pedestrian is struck by a car, it is often-times a result of the poor design or the state of streets, roads, and sidewalks, or the carelessness of the driver. If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Contact an experienced Georgia pedestrian accident lawyer to find out if you have legal recourse. 

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Keywords: pedestrian accident, hit and run accident