When you head out to attend a community gathering, expo or another festival, you’re just out to have a good time. You’re looking forward to spending time with those closest to you, enjoying the local arts, dining, and entertainment culture and just being out and about. Then the unthinkable happens — you’re crossing the street and you get hit by a car.

You know you deserve compensation for your injuries, and you wonder what you could’ve done to avoid the accident. Learn the steps you can take to stay safe at festivals, and how an Oklahoma City car accident attorney can help you get compensation for car accident injuries.

Staying Safe at Festivals

There are a lot of potential dangers at a public event, and many are related to automobiles. Drivers in these areas can be distracted for a variety of reasons — there’s a lot going on around them. They might be talking on a cell phone. They could be intoxicated. They could just be confused and not be paying attention.

Regardless, staying safe at festivals requires you as a pedestrian to keep your wits about you at all times. Know what’s going on, where everyone is, and stay clear of areas of heavy traffic when possible. Always assume if there’s a car there, that the driver will make the wrong choice. That way you can react when it happens.

Even still, sometimes there’s nothing you can do to avoid a bad decision by an irresponsible driver.

Determining Fault

The first step in a pedestrian accident is to determine fault. The driver must have been negligent; that is, acting irresponsibly in such a way as to have not only placed you in unreasonable danger but to have actually caused you harm. This means you must have been acting appropriately.

If for example, you were jaywalking while texting on your phone, you may have a more difficult time collecting damages than if you were crossing with the light at a crosswalk while looking both ways. That’s why it’s important to stay alert and aware, and obey all relevant laws when crossing the street.

Collecting Damages

If you are hit by a driver, you can be open to a range of damages, including having all of your medical expenses paid, from doctor’s office to major procedures, medications, physical therapy and even transportation, to lost earnings and wages, to loss of your ability to enjoy life and pain and suffering. In extreme cases (usually where drunk drivers are involved) punitive damages may enter into the picture.

Call an Oklahoma City Car Accident Attorney

Besides proving negligence, it can be hard to put a value on your injury. While lost wages and medical bills are pretty clear, how do you value loss of quality of life or emotional trauma? That’s why you need the help of a qualified Oklahoma City car accident attorney. Your lawyer knows not only how to value your case, but how to fight the insurance companies’ efforts to reduce what they pay out.

For years, the attorneys at Parrish DeVaughn have helped people get compensated for the injuries they’ve suffered due to someone else’s negligence. Give us a call to discuss your case at no cost, today.