I was crossing a crosswalk early this morning on my way to the bus stop for work, while the walk sign was on, and the driver turned left onto a main road from a stop light and smashed into my left side. I was later told that I “flew up into the air”.
It was all very much a blur and I was pretty dizzy and out of it at first, but no head trauma. Some kind lady who said she was a nurse ran to help me up and to the side of the road, and the cops and ambulance came pretty fast (I think, at least).
I was taken to the hospital and was told that I fractured my humerus head (left shoulder). They told me I may not need surgery, but we’ll see what the orthopedic surgeon says during my follow-up appointment in a few days. Other than that, I just have a bunch of scrapes and bruises.
Overall, while I’m in quite a bit of pain, I’m grateful because it could’ve been way worse. My SO and parents are pushing to sue for pain/suffering, which I was hesitant to do until I read (online) that I wouldn’t be suing the person who hit me, but their insurance company), so I guess that’ll probably happen. They already found me a lawyer.
I truly have no ill-will toward that person because shit happens, it was dark, and they got out of the car immediately to call 911, so it’s not like they didn’t do what was right when it came down to it. I’m sure they’re traumatized, and that their insurance payment will go way up… which I feel a little bad about given the state of the US rn. But I guess I don’t have any control over that.
Honestly, while the whole thing was obviously pretty traumatic for me, too—and I keep replaying that moment in my head—I think I’d rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
As someone who knows someone who was killed as a pedestrian crossing the road…it is not your fault. Don’t forget that fact. Trauma does weird things to our brains even without head injury. Don’t feel guilty about pursuing a lawsuit either. It was the other person’s responsibility to be watchful and follow traffic laws…and they failed. Repercussions are normal in such circumstances even if it is an honest mistake. Hope that you don’t feel any more pain or have more unseen issues. Sometimes these things take time to surface. If you feel unexplainably sleepy at any point, don’t hesitate to see a doctor. Sometimes head trauma isn’t obvious. Wish you the best and hope you recover quickly and thoroughly.
I have a feeling I’m going to be much sorer tomorrow, for sure. Thank you for the advice and well wishes!
If you weren’t prescribed pain meds, ibuprofen and Tylenol taken together have synergistic effects comparable to a moderate dose of codeine. Make sure you stay on top of the swelling too, humeral fractures are no joke. I hope your recovery goes well!
Thank you! Thankfully, they gave me something a little stronger, but I’ll definitely need that advice when my script runs out, which’ll be in just a few days unless the orthopedic surgeon gives me a refill.
Do you need someone to come advocate for you? Is there anyone in your life who’s going to push you to sue even when you feel like stopping?
I’m an uber driver and make my own schedule. I could come to where you are an act as patient advocate if you want.
That’s such a sweet offer. Thank you so much! But no. My parents and SO will definitely pushing me to continue if I start having doubts. Both parents are retired, so they can invest as much time as they want into helping me.
Lawyer here. Bud, your shoulder will never recover fully from this. Shoulders are terrible joints. The bones are just sort of there, not really attached to the rest of your skeleto. Talk with your Ortho about the probability that you will need a total shoulder replacement at some point in your life because of not just the broken bone and the healing processes to come, but also the damage to the surrounding soft tissue.
Plus the ambulance ride, hospital visit, and ensuing treatment, is going to take up time and money and it should not be yours. As you noted, it’s really just insurance paperwork, at the end of the day. Call a good lawyer.
Not a lawyer but a guy with shoulder problems from teenage antics. I just want to add that you really need to aggressively pursue treatment for that shoulder. The better you handle it now, the more you’ll thank yourself.
You seem like a really kind and thoughtful person. I hope you make a full recovery and go on to a wonderful life.
Awww…🥺 that honestly made me feel a little better. Thank you so much! 💜💜💜
Honestly you seem like you’re too nice. I hope you find it in your heart to sue this person. Someone hitting you with their car is not okay. They don’t deserve forgiveness. They deserve to pay your hospital bills, and they need to do whatever it takes to not hit another pedestrian with their car.
I do plan on suing now, but more out of protecting myself than anger or resentment.
It’ll really suck for them, but it’s an important lesson and a natural consequence of that kind of carelessness. It’s not my fault that most US residents are financially struggling (including myself, which is why I should sue).
I think I’d rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
Banger.
Glad to hear the driver stopped. I hope your recovery is smooth and there are no long lasting problems.
My daughter was struck by a car last week, while on a pedestrian crossing. The driver (after being chased down by another teenager) stopped, talked to my daughter, and then drove off. She collapsed once the adrenaline wore off, and we spent the evening in the hospital while they checked her over.
Driver deserves a few slaps for stopping after being chased down, and then making the decision a second time to drive off instead of calling emergency services.
It’s the responsibility of driving a car to make sure the space the car is going into is empty. They didn’t do that and caused you bodily harm. I got hit by a careless driver last year, and have successfully filed a personal injury claim and have pressed for a criminal case. Don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.
So you trying to ruin someone over this or what?
People need to learn that there are consequences to dangerous and irresponsible driving.
It’s not okay to hit someone with your car.
And the alternative is what, the dude gets away with it and kills someone next time? You used to justifying hitting people with your car or something? Let me guess, the way he was dressed meant he was “asking for it”
I was T-boned on my motorcycle. Like you, the driver had no malicious intent and I felt kind of bad for her as well because hitting someone is traumatic too. I tumbled about 60’ down the road and spent half a day in the trauma unit in the hospital getting tests and images. Her insurance was not enough to cover all my medical. After about 6 months of care which hit around $200k her insurance was tapped out. I did sue her insurance company but there wasn’t a lot there to get due to Michigan insurance laws. I didn’t sue her but I did get what I could from insurance. She may be screwed trying to get car insurance in the future but I’ll never walk normal again and may never be able to work in my field again. Don’t leave yourself short. The future issues may be worse than expected.
My son had a similar accident to yours. His shoulder and elbow were pretty mashed up and he is pretty much back to normal now. Hopefully your recovery is as good as his was. Being young helps healing a lot.I don’t know if i’d rather be hit than hit someone, but not wanting to find out is definitely one of the reasons I don’t want a license.
I have a license, but my sense of direction is absolutely horrible and I tend do stupid things when I’m really stressed while driving, so I rely on public transport as much as possible.
I have had two work place injuries, one still affects (effects?) me today 20+ years later (I am slowly going blind because of an eye injury). I wish I had not blown it off when it happened. I was encouraged to sue, but it seemed like a lot of trouble for not a big deal back then. If I knew how bad my eye sight was going to be I would have sued for sure.
I was struck by a truck in April last year when they turned into a bike path instead of turning into their lane.
I was completely fine at the time, just banged up, I went to a private GP clinic and they did a full assessment and billed it under the transport accident commission (a public fund in Victoria Australia for people injured in transport accidents)
Almost one year on, and what was just a bruise on my shin is still just a bruise on my shin. The blood vessels never healed, the discolouration never went away, the odema still causes pain and I can’t kneel or wear boots, and my shin pads for soccer cause pain (and when I take a tackle shin to shin, the pain is so bad it prevents me from weight bearing for an hour or so, and I walked around on a dislocated hip for 3 months, I have a congenital hip deformity, I’m not a stranger to leg pain)
It’s literally just a bruise, my regular GP has been keeping an eye on it because it’s baffling that it hasn’t healed, but it’s not dangerous and it’s not impacting my life enough that I wish I’d done more at the time of the accident.
But it is annoying, and because I was totally fine after the accident, my TAC claim was open-and-close just to cover the cost of the initial “all clear, just some bruising” private GP appointment. And now I have no way of getting reimbursed for the subsequent “it’s been 10 months doc, why is my leg still bruised like I banged it yesterday? Let’s get a CT to rule out issues” appointments.
Hindsight is 20-20, if you have any way of keeping your options open as a traffic accident victim to allow your body time to show the true long term impact, take action to leave that door open, just in case.
There’s a chance, like me, you will be 100% fine and at most just have a strange new body quirk. But there’s also a chance things don’t heal the way you expect and it becomes a lifelong issue.
Thank you for sharing your experience… I’m so sorry it went down that way for you.
Sorry to hear.
Small consolation but you did use affects correctly. Something affects you, while something can cause an effect.
sue that fucker for my friend rosalie who got hit in a crosswalk by an old rich guy in maryland and the cops refused to do anything about it
Glad you’re alright! I’m lucky to have driven for years and never done harmed anyone in a collision. If the person’s insurance goes up, well, there’s a reason they do that.
I was lightly struck by a guy at a crosswalk in a busy commercial district… walking on the sidewalk, saw this car apparently coming to a stop and walked out into the crosswalk, but he went a little far. He barely tapped me and I sort of fell o to his hood. It was this old black dude. Not much to say so I just waved and kept going.
I’m glad you didn’t get hurt! I’m sure he was relieved, too.
This terrifies me lol. My work is only a mile away, basically down the street but I hate walking there. I have to cross multiple busy roads that are like 40mph, but people frequently speed around 60mph. The pedestrian stop signals are super slow and the one time I used them it took 15 minutes, no shit, I timed it.
So I would have to jay walk, three 4 lane roads, all 40mph everyday, just to walk a mile to work.
There is a faster route but there’s no sidewalk, and there’s A bridge that forces you onto the road. Safe to say I don’t walk that either.
The walkability is so bad, you have to drive somewhere to walk and exercise.
I’ve had similarly unsafe commutes; it can definitely be scary. I expect to be even more afraid to cross the road now, even at crosswalks. Ugh, I hate how stupidly hostile streets can be for pedestrians.
Also a 15-minute wait for a walk signal is absurd!!! Wtf, it seems like the people who design cities/roadways hate pedestrians.
If you have a case you should sue. Someone totally fucked you up due to their own carelessness whole driving a dangerous vehicle. Sue them if you have a case and let the court decide what’s fair.
Obligatory /c/fuckcars
Glad you’re OK, but definitely get as much as you can from the insurance. Drivers are REQUIRED to pay them hundreds each month for this reason. So make them pay up now that they are needed.
When it comes to deciding what to do, try to think about what advice you’d give a best friend in your situation and consider following that yourself. You can work with your lawyer to figure what’s reasonable to expect, but don’t feel bad about making sure any future treatment is covered. Be kind to yourself while you recover, and take medical advice seriously. As someone with a few traumatic head injuries, I’m glad to hear you won’t have to deal with that at least. Best wishes for your recovery.
You’re right; I can’t know how this will actually affect me in the future, so I should protect myself. Thank you for your advice!
