I recently read with great sadness multiple local media reports about two young pedestrians who were hit by a car on Alafaya Trail, near UCF. Apparently, the girls were sisters — the 11-year old tragically died, while her 17-year old sister was very seriously injured.
Media reports were somewhat confusing about exactly what happened — first indicating that the girls were crossing “against” the traffic light (I assume this means that they were crossing toward a Do Not Walk sign), but also stating that the girls were not near an intersection at all when they crossed.
The girls were apparently both hit by a Jeep SUV, then sometime after the first impact the younger sister was run over and killed by a Toyota Solara.
This story sounds remarkably similar to the case of Kason Bailey, a Winter Park High School student who was hit while crossing Aloma Avenue. Kason was originally hit by one driver and was knocked down and injured. While a friend was trying to help him clear the road, he was hit by a second vehicle and killed.
As an Orlando accident attorney, it will be interesting in the sisters’ case to discover how long the younger girl was down in the street before the second vehicle came along. Even if the girls unexpectedly stepped into traffic (which is almost always the position taken by drivers in car vs. pedestrian accidents), the second driver still has a duty to keep a lookout and not follow so closely as to not be able to avoid a body lying in the road. If the second driver was following too closely, traveling too fast, or not paying close enough attention, he could face liability for the accident.
Also, I would be curious to know how many lanes of travel the girls made it across before they were hit. It makes sense to me that the more lanes of travel they safely made it across, the more time these other drivers would have had to see them — regardless of whether they were crossing in a crosswalk.
For answers to questions involving pedestrian versus automobile accidents, call FL accident attorney Kim Cullen at 407-644-4444.
