Davis Law Group, P.S.

Children in Pedestrian Accidents

When it comes to pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents, children are a special case. All parents have that moment of panic when their child starts to cross the road without a guiding hand to keep her safe. From an early age, we drill our children on how dangerous cars can be, we remind them of the importance of staying safe, and we work to make looking both ways into an unbreakable habit. However, despite all our efforts, children lack the same perspective as adults about the hazards of motor vehicles and roads in general. Never having operated a motor vehicle, children haven't yet developed an understanding of the weight and power of a motor car, the damage that one can do, and how long it takes to bring one to a full stop. Children frequently play near or even on roads in residential neighborhoods. Roads and cars are so familiar to children that they accept their existence as natural as the sun coming up in the morning. Children will also often fail to see roadways as something potentially hazardous. Children also live in a simple and ordered world where rules are rules. They believe a car can't hurt them because all drivers are supposed to stop-when in fact many do not. Children are also small and difficult to see and they often dart into the road suddenly and without warning. Add to this the fragility of children's still-growing bones and you have a particularly vulnerable group.

Then there is the question of responsibility. Under the law, the degree to which a child is responsible or partly responsible for an accident will depend on the child's age (in addition to the particular facts of the incident). The law states that children below the age of six cannot be held negligent because they are too young to understand what may be appropriate and careful behavior. Children age six and older can be held negligent, but only if they act in a manner that is careless when compared to another reasonable child of the same age.

By the same token, the degree to which parents are responsible for their children's actions depends on the circumstances and the acts involved. In many cases, parents may be immune from liability for their child's injuries, even if a parent negligently helped to cause those injuries. Known as the doctrine of "parental immunity," a parent cannot be held legally responsible for certain types of negligent acts toward the child, like the failure to supervise a child adequately. The law also states that a parent's liability for a child's dangerous acts is limited to "reckless" behavior, which is more egregious than simple negligence. The term "recklessness" is defined as behavior that is considered willful and wanton behavior, whereas "negligence" is defined as the mere failure to exercise ordinary care.

These are additional reasons why the advice of a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney is so important in pedestrian accidents. Cases involving children are not only far more tragic and distressing than those involving adults, but they can usually become extremely complicated and enter into gray areas of the law that are impossible for the non-expert to untangle.