Pedestrian and Bicycle Accident in Birmingham: Your Rights After Being Hit by a Car

If you are hit by a car while walking or cycling in Birmingham, call 911 immediately or ask someone nearby to call. If you have a spinal injury, neck pain, or cannot feel your extremities, do not move — wait for paramedics. Moving after a spinal injury can cause permanent damage.

If you can safely move to the sidewalk or shoulder, do so to avoid being struck again. Turn on your phone's location services so the dispatcher knows exactly where you are. If the driver stops, get their name, phone number, insurance information, and license plate. If the driver flees, note the vehicle's make, model, color, and plate number and relay it to 911.

Wait for Birmingham PD to arrive and create an accident report. Tell the officer exactly where you were walking or cycling when you were hit — in a crosswalk, on the sidewalk, in a bike lane, on the road. This establishes your right of way and is critical evidence under Alabama's contributory negligence rule.

Under Alabama's contributory negligence rule, the single most important fact in your case is whether you had the right of way when you were hit. Photograph the crosswalk, the walk signal (if applicable), the bike lane, or wherever you were at the time of the crash. Photograph the intersection layout, traffic signals, and any signage. If there was no crosswalk and you were crossing mid-block, the insurer will use this against you.

Photograph the vehicle that hit you, including the damage pattern (the location of the impact on the vehicle often shows where you were in relation to the road). Photograph your injuries — road rash, bruising, swelling, blood. If you were cycling, photograph your bicycle's damage and the gear you were wearing (helmet, reflective vest, lights).

Get witness names and phone numbers. Independent witnesses who saw the driver run a red light, fail to yield at a crosswalk, or strike you while you were legally in the road are the strongest evidence you can have. In pedestrian and bicycle cases, the crash often comes down to the driver's word against yours — witnesses tip the balance.

Pedestrians and cyclists have no vehicle structure to protect them. When a 4,000-pound car strikes a person, the injuries are severe. Common pedestrian and bicycle crash injuries include traumatic brain injuries (even with a helmet, the forces involved can cause concussion or worse), facial fractures, broken arms and legs, pelvic fractures, spinal cord injuries, road rash requiring skin grafts, and internal organ damage.

Go to UAB Hospital for serious trauma — it is a Level I Trauma Center with surgical, orthopedic, and neurosurgical teams on site 24/7. For less severe injuries, any Birmingham ER or urgent care facility can evaluate you. If paramedics recommend transport, do not refuse — the ambulance trip is documented evidence that your injuries were serious enough to require emergency transport.

Tell the doctor every symptom, including those that seem minor. Head injuries from being struck by a vehicle can cause slow-developing brain bleeds that become life-threatening hours later. Follow all treatment recommendations, attend all follow-ups, and keep every record and bill.

Alabama's pure contributory negligence rule (Ala. Code § 6-5-178) hits pedestrian and bicycle accident victims especially hard. Insurance companies will investigate every detail of what you were doing at the time of the crash. Were you jaywalking? Crossing against a 'Don't Walk' signal? Walking while looking at your phone? Wearing dark clothing at night? Cycling without lights after dark (required by Alabama law)? Cycling on the wrong side of the road? Any of these can be used to argue you were partially at fault — and in Alabama, any partial fault bars all recovery.

Drivers in Alabama have a statutory duty to exercise due care toward pedestrians (Ala. Code § 32-5A-210), and drivers approaching a crosswalk must yield to pedestrians (Ala. Code § 32-5A-211). But the insurance company will focus entirely on what you did wrong, not what the driver did. This is the reality of contributory negligence.

The wanton misconduct exception is your best defense if the insurer raises contributory negligence. If the driver was DUI, texting while driving, speeding significantly above the limit, or otherwise driving with reckless disregard for safety, the wanton misconduct doctrine may allow recovery even if you were partially at fault. The last clear chance doctrine may also apply if the driver saw you and had time to stop but failed to do so.

Alabama law treats bicycles as vehicles with the same rights and duties as cars (Ala. Code § 32-5A-260). Cyclists must ride in the same direction as traffic, obey traffic signals and signs, use lights and reflectors at night, and signal turns. Failure to comply with these rules gives the insurer a contributory negligence argument.

Alabama does not have a statewide safe passing law with a minimum distance requirement for overtaking bicycles, though some Alabama cities have local ordinances. In Birmingham, drivers must pass bicycles at a safe distance. If a driver passed you too closely and struck you or forced you off the road, the driver violated their duty of care.

If you were wearing a helmet, that fact does not affect your legal claim (Alabama does not require adult cyclists to wear helmets), but it may reduce the severity of your head injuries. If you were not wearing a helmet, the insurer cannot use it to reduce your damages in Alabama — there is no helmet defense for adult cyclists. However, for child cyclists, helmet laws and parental supervision come into play.

Hit by a car while walking or cycling in Birmingham? Take our free 2-minute assessment. Answer a few questions about where you were, what happened, your injuries, and your insurance coverage. We will provide a personalized report covering your right of way, how contributory negligence affects your case, and your potential claim value. We will connect you with a Birmingham attorney experienced in pedestrian and bicycle accident cases.

Pedestrian and bicycle accidents produce life-changing injuries. Alabama's contributory negligence rule makes recovering compensation harder than in any other state. But if you had the right of way — or if the driver was driving recklessly — you have a viable claim. Do not let the insurance company convince you otherwise. Start with the assessment. It is free, confidential, and takes two minutes.