Hit by a Car While Walking in Birmingham?

If you've been hit by a car, your first priority is getting out of the travel lane if you can move safely. Birmingham's high-volume corridors — University Boulevard, US-280, Bessemer Super Highway, 3rd Avenue North downtown — carry fast-moving traffic, and a person on foot in the roadway is at extreme risk of a secondary collision.

Call 911 immediately. If the driver who hit you is still at the scene, do not let them leave before police arrive. If the driver fled, give the dispatcher every detail you can: vehicle make, model, color, direction of travel, and any part of the license plate number.

Even if you feel functional, request an ambulance. Adrenaline masks pain for hours. Pedestrian impacts cause broken bones, head trauma, spinal injuries, and internal bleeding — injuries that may not produce immediate symptoms but can be life-threatening. Under Alabama law (Ala. Code § 32-10-1), the driver is required to stop, provide information, and render reasonable assistance. If they left, that's a criminal offense.

Alabama recorded 120 pedestrian fatalities statewide in 2024. Jefferson County accounts for a disproportionate share of those deaths. You are not alone, and there is a clear path forward.

When a multi-thousand-pound vehicle strikes an unprotected human body, the result is almost never minor. Broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, internal organ injuries, and severe road rash are common in pedestrian collisions. You may feel okay at the scene — that doesn't mean you are okay.

Go to the emergency room. UAB Hospital (University of Alabama at Birmingham) at 619 19th Street South is the only ACS-verified Level I trauma center in the entire state of Alabama, treating over 6,500 trauma patients annually with a survival rate exceeding 96%. For children struck by vehicles, Children's of Alabama — the state's only freestanding pediatric hospital — is co-located nearby. Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital, Grandview Medical Center, and St. Vincent's Birmingham (Ascension) also have 24/7 emergency departments.

A same-day medical visit does two things: it gets you treated, and it creates a documented connection between the crash and your injuries. If you wait days or weeks to see a doctor, the insurance company will argue your injuries weren't caused by the accident or aren't as serious as you claim. In a contributory negligence state, that argument is even more dangerous — any gap in treatment becomes potential evidence that you contributed to your own harm.

If you're physically able, pull out your phone before you leave the scene. Photograph the vehicle that hit you from multiple angles — front end, bumper, hood, windshield. Pedestrian impacts leave distinctive damage patterns on vehicles: dented hoods, cracked windshields, broken headlights. Those marks are evidence.

Photograph the road where you were hit. Capture crosswalk markings (or the absence of them), traffic signals, sight lines, lighting conditions, speed limit signs, and any road hazards. Take wide shots showing the full scene and close-ups of specific details.

If witnesses saw what happened, get their names and phone numbers before they leave. Witness testimony can be the deciding factor in pedestrian cases, especially when the driver claims they didn't see you or that you stepped into the road suddenly. Look for security cameras on nearby buildings and businesses — many Birmingham intersections also have traffic cameras.

Write down exactly where you were when you were hit. Were you in a crosswalk? At an intersection? Midblock? Which direction were you walking? Where was the vehicle coming from? These details determine right-of-way under Alabama law — and in a contributory negligence state, they matter enormously.

Alabama law (Ala. Code § 32-5A-210 through § 32-5A-215) governs pedestrian right-of-way. At intersections controlled by traffic signals, pedestrians must obey the pedestrian signal or, if none exists, the traffic signal. When you have a walk signal or a green light, you have the right-of-way and drivers must yield to you.

At intersections without traffic signals, drivers must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. Alabama law also requires pedestrians crossing outside a crosswalk to yield to vehicles — but this does not make crossing midblock automatically illegal, and it does not relieve drivers of their duty of care.

Regardless of where you were crossing, every driver in Alabama has a duty to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian (Ala. Code § 32-5A-214). A driver who sees a pedestrian — or should have seen one — and fails to slow down, stop, or take evasive action is negligent. This is true even if the pedestrian was technically jaywalking.

What this means for your claim: if you were in a crosswalk with a walk signal, the driver almost certainly violated Alabama's right-of-way statute. If you were crossing midblock, the analysis is more complex — but being outside a crosswalk does not automatically make you at fault. Speed, distraction, impairment, and visibility conditions all factor into the driver's duty of care.

Alabama is one of only four states (plus Washington, D.C.) that uses pure contributory negligence. If you are found even 1% at fault for the accident, you recover nothing. Not reduced damages — nothing. This is the harshest negligence standard in the country.

Insurance companies use this rule aggressively in pedestrian cases. They'll argue you were distracted by your phone, wearing dark clothing at night, crossing outside a crosswalk, not looking both ways, or stepping into the road too quickly. They will search for any argument — however thin — to assign you a share of fault, because under contributory negligence, even 1% eliminates your entire claim.

There are limited but important exceptions. The 'last clear chance' doctrine may allow recovery if the driver had the last clear opportunity to avoid hitting you and failed to act — for example, if they saw you in the road and had time to stop or swerve but didn't. Children under 14 and persons with mental incapacity cannot be found contributorily negligent. And notably, Jefferson County Coroner Bill Yates has noted that approximately 30% of pedestrian deaths involve impaired or distracted driving — a driver who was intoxicated or texting bears the fault regardless of what the pedestrian was doing.

This is why what you say at the scene, what you tell the insurance adjuster, and how your claim is presented all matter enormously. Do not admit fault. Do not speculate about what happened. Let your attorney handle the narrative.

The other driver's insurance adjuster will call you, sometimes within hours. They sound helpful. Their job is to gather information they can use to deny your claim.

In Alabama, this is devastating. The adjuster doesn't need to prove you were mostly at fault. They just need to show you were at fault at all — even 1%. Every word you say in a recorded statement is potential ammunition. A casual comment like 'I didn't see the car coming' or 'I was trying to cross quickly' can be twisted into evidence of contributory negligence that eliminates your entire claim.

You are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company. Politely decline and say, 'I'll have my attorney contact you.' If they pressure you, hang up.

Early settlement offers are almost always far below the true value of your injuries. Pedestrian crashes cause catastrophic injuries — TBIs, spinal cord damage, multiple fractures — with long-term medical costs and lost earning capacity. The insurance company wants you to accept before you understand the full scope of what you're facing.

If Birmingham Police responded to the scene, they'll generate a crash report automatically. If they didn't respond, or if you need to file a supplemental report, contact the Birmingham Police Department.

To obtain a copy of your crash report, visit the Birmingham Police Department Records Division at 1710 1st Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203, or call (205) 254-6308. Reports cost $10 per copy. You can obtain them in person or by mail with a certified check or money order payable to BPD. Hours are 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

If the accident happened outside Birmingham city limits — in Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, or Homewood — contact that city's police department. For accidents on Alabama highways, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) handles the report.

The police report is your single most important document. It establishes the official record of what happened, captures witness information, and may contain the officer's assessment of fault. In pedestrian cases, the report often notes whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk, whether the driver was cited, and what the road and lighting conditions were.

Alabama's contributory negligence rule makes professional legal help more important in pedestrian cases than in nearly any other type of claim. The insurance company's entire strategy will be to argue you were partially at fault — you crossed midblock, you were distracted, you wore dark clothing — because any fault on your part eliminates your entire claim.

An experienced Birmingham pedestrian accident attorney knows how to preempt contributory negligence arguments, obtain and preserve surveillance footage and witness statements, work with accident reconstruction experts, calculate your full damages (including future medical needs, rehabilitation, and lost earning capacity), and negotiate from a position of knowledge.

Most personal injury attorneys in Birmingham handle pedestrian cases on contingency — no upfront cost, and they only get paid if you recover money. A free consultation costs you nothing and tells you whether your case has value. Cases are filed in the Jefferson County Circuit Court, 10th Judicial Circuit, at 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd North in downtown Birmingham.

Pedestrian injuries are among the most severe of any personal injury category. If you were hit by a car while walking, this is not a case to handle on your own — especially in a contributory negligence state where the stakes are all-or-nothing.