Hit as a Pedestrian in New York: What the Law Expects You to Do
Pedestrians Carry Less Protection, Not Less Right
A person on foot has no bumper, no airbag, and no seatbelt. When a driver fails to yield, runs a light, or doesn't see someone in a crosswalk, the injuries tend to be serious: fractures, head trauma, torn ligaments, spinal injury. New York law holds drivers to a duty of ordinary care toward pedestrians, and that duty doesn't disappear just because the person struck was jaywalking or stepped off the curb a beat early.
Fault in these cases usually comes down to specific facts: who had the signal, how fast the car was going, whether the driver was looking at a phone, whether a turn was made without checking for people crossing. New York courts have long recognized that negligence cases can be decided without a trial when the facts aren't genuinely in dispute — that principle goes back to Andre v Pomeroy, 35 NY2d 361. But getting to that point requires solid proof, not just an accident report that says a crash happened.
The Clock Starts the Day You're Hit
In most pedestrian cases against a private driver, New York gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under CPLR 214. That sounds like a long time. It isn't, once you account for gathering records, dealing with recovery, and the reality that insurance companies slow down the longer they can.
If the vehicle that hit you was owned or operated by the City of New York, the MTA, a city bus, a sanitation truck, or another public entity, the timeline is much shorter. You generally must file a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident under General Municipal Law 50-e, and the lawsuit itself typically must begin within one year and ninety days under General Municipal Law 50-i. Miss that 90-day window and a claim against a city or transit vehicle can be over before it starts, regardless of how clear the driver's fault was.
A wrongful death claim arising from a pedestrian crash has its own two-year clock, counted from the date of death, which is not always the date of the crash.
What Proof Actually Decides the Case
Immediately after a crash, a few pieces of evidence matter more than anything else. Call 911 so a police accident report (MV-104) gets filed — it records the officer's observations, statements, and often a fault assessment. Get the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it happen; witnesses move on and memories fade fast. Photograph the vehicle, the intersection, any skid marks, and the crosswalk signal if you can.
Medical treatment starting the same day matters just as much. Insurance adjusters look for gaps between the crash and the first doctor visit as a reason to argue the injury wasn't serious or wasn't caused by the crash. If you were struck by a motor vehicle, New York's No-Fault law covers certain medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault, but to pursue a case for pain and suffering you generally have to show a "serious injury" as defined in Insurance Law §5102(d). The New York Court of Appeals set out how that threshold gets evaluated in Perl v Meher, 18 NY3d 208, including what kind of medical proof is enough to get a case in front of a jury.
Why the Insurance Company Pushes Back Hard
Once a claim is filed, the driver's insurer will often argue that the pedestrian was partly or entirely at fault — crossing mid-block, wearing dark clothing, stepping out late. New York follows comparative negligence, meaning a pedestrian can still recover even if partly at fault, with the award reduced by that percentage. But insurers use the comparative-fault argument to try to minimize or deny a claim outright.
When a case heads toward a dismissal motion, the defense has to do more than raise doubt. New York's summary judgment standard, described in Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, requires the party asking for dismissal to come forward with actual evidence, not speculation, and then requires the other side to show real factual disputes exist. That standard is exactly why documentation from the first minutes after a crash — the photos, the witness names, the police report — ends up deciding cases filed years later.
What to Do From Here
If you were hit as a pedestrian anywhere in New York — a Brooklyn crosswalk, a Long Island intersection, a Buffalo side street — the steps are the same: get medical care, preserve what evidence you can, and find out which deadline applies to your situation before it passes. Have you already been contacted by an insurance adjuster asking for a statement?
Josh Mak Law offers a free case review for injured New Yorkers across the state, from the five boroughs to Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and upstate. There's no fee unless we win. Call or text 917-277-3775, or visit joshmaklaw.com to get started. Se habla español.
Call 911 to get a police report filed and start medical treatment the same day — those two records carry more weight later than anything you can say after the fact.
Authorities
- Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557
- Andre v Pomeroy, 35 NY2d 361
- Perl v Meher, 18 NY3d 208
Attorney Advertising. This article is general information about New York law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Deadlines in injury cases are short and fact-specific — speak to a lawyer about your own situation.