New Jersey Pedestrian Accidents are a weekly part of our practice at Sammarro & Zalarick. The first question we hear after a crash is simple: “Do I still have a case if I was partly at fault?” In New Jersey, the answer is often yes. Our comparative negligence rules don’t expect perfection from either person—the driver or the pedestrian. They look at what was reasonable under the circumstances and then assign percentages of fault.
This article is how we explain it to clients in Bergen County. We’ll cover how New Jersey assigns fault between a pedestrian and a driver, what that does to your compensation, how your medical bills get paid, what deadlines matter (including special rules when a public entity is involved), and how we build and protect your claim from day one.
How Comparative Negligence Shapes New Jersey Pedestrian Accidents
New Jersey uses modified comparative negligence. Think of fault as a percentage pie. If you’re 0–50% at fault, you can still recover, but your compensation is reduced by your share of fault. If you’re 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing. That’s the balancing test courts apply in pedestrian cases. The statutory backbone is the Comparative Negligence Act, which tells juries to compare everyone’s negligence and reduce damages accordingly.
From a practical standpoint, here’s how that plays out: if a driver rolled through a right-on-red and struck you in the crosswalk while you were glancing at your phone, a jury might assign 80% fault to the driver and 20% to you. A $200,000 verdict would become $160,000 after the 20% reduction. If instead the evidence shows you darted mid-block between parked cars at night in dark clothing, your share might tip over 50%—and that’s where the case can die. Our job is to keep your share under that 51% line and anchored in the facts.
Duties on the Road: What Pedestrians and Drivers Must Do
New Jersey law gives pedestrians strong protection in crosswalks—marked or unmarked at intersections. Drivers must stop and remain stopped for pedestrians in a crosswalk, and a collision in a crosswalk can create a permissive inference that the driver didn’t exercise due care. At the same time, pedestrians can’t step off the curb into the path of a vehicle that can’t possibly stop in time, and pedestrians outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles. The statute says both sides owe due care. There are fines—and even community service—for failing to follow these rules.
New Jersey’s Department of Transportation echoes these responsibilities plainly: obey signals, use crosswalks where available, and yield outside of them. These are the rules we point to when an adjuster tries to overblame a pedestrian for simply being in the roadway. The duties go both ways.
How Fault Is Really Decided in Pedestrian Cases
People imagine fault is decided by a single fact—“I wasn’t in a crosswalk, so I lose,” or “He hit me in the crosswalk, so I win.” Real cases aren’t that binary. We build a mosaic of facts:
- Where were you in the roadway? Crosswalk, intersection corner, mid-block, driveway apron, parking lot lane.
- What were the sightlines and lighting? Nighttime, rain, headlight angle, glare, overgrown hedges, parked trucks.
- What were both parties doing? Phone use, speed, turn movement, right-on-red, rolling stop, distraction, alcohol, medication.
- What signs and markings existed? Missing or faded crosswalk paint, defective signal, confusing pedestrian phase.
- What did the vehicles and shoes say? Impact points, skid/ABS data, EDR (“black box”) speed/brake, shoe scuff marks showing trajectory.
Then we layer on the statutory duties above. That’s how a case that looks “tough” at intake becomes a solid claim once the facts are anchored to New Jersey’s comparative negligence framework.
Who Pays Medical Bills First: The PIP “No-Fault” Safety Net for Pedestrians
One of the biggest surprises to clients: your own auto policy can pay your medical bills even if you were a pedestrian. In New Jersey, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) pays medical expenses for the named insured and resident family members who are injured as pedestrians when struck by an automobile. The statute explicitly says PIP benefits apply “without regard to fault.” If you own a New Jersey auto policy (or are covered as a resident relative), that policy is typically primary for your crash-related treatment—even if the driver was 100% at fault.
If you don’t own a car and aren’t covered under a household policy, your medical bills may run through other channels (health insurance, the at-fault driver’s policy in certain situations, or the NJPLIGA / special policy possibilities).
But the key message is this: PIP exists to get you treated promptly while the fault fight is still unfolding. We make sure benefits are opened quickly so care isn’t delayed.
Pain and Suffering Claims and the “Verbal Threshold”
Separate from medical bills, your right to pursue pain and suffering against the at-fault driver can be affected by your own insurance election. New Jersey’s “limitation on lawsuit” option—often called the verbal threshold—restricts non-economic claims unless your injuries fit certain categories (death, dismemberment, displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, significant scarring/disfigurement, or a medically-certified permanent injury). Whether this threshold applies to you as a pedestrian depends on your policy status and the statute’s coverage language. The governing law is N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8.
Here’s how I walk clients through it. If you are subject to the limitation option because of your own New Jersey auto policy (or a resident relative’s policy that covers you), you’ll need to meet one of those statutory injury categories to recover for pain and suffering—even if you were on foot. If you’re not required to maintain PIP (say, you don’t own a vehicle and aren’t covered as a resident relative), different portions of the statute can place you outside the limitation on lawsuit. Sorting that out early is critical; it changes settlement value and litigation strategy.
When the Driver Is Uninsured or Fleeing: UM/UIM Coverage for Pedestrians
Another common surprise: your own policy’s uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage often follows you, not the car you were in. If you’re hit by a hit-and-run driver or someone with minimal coverage, your UM/UIM may step in—even if you were walking. New Jersey requires UM/UIM offerings under N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1, with important limits on “stacking” policies. This is a lifeline in serious cases where the driver’s policy is shallow. We’ll analyze your household’s policies to maximize recovery and avoid stacking pitfalls laid out in the statute.
Special Defendant, Special Rules: Claims Against Public Entities
If your injury involves a public entity—for example, a municipal vehicle, a county road defect, or a crosswalk signal timing issue—your case enters the New Jersey Tort Claims Act. Two things immediately change:
- You must serve a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident or be barred, with very narrow “extraordinary circumstances” exceptions for late notices (up to one year).
- For pain and suffering, you must meet a permanency threshold (permanent loss of bodily function, disfigurement, or dismemberment) and have medical expenses exceeding $3,600 to pursue non-economic damages.
Those aren’t suggestions; they’re statutory requirements under N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, 59:8-9, and 59:9-2(d). If your case has any public entity footprint, we treat those deadlines like triage on day one.
The Two-Year Clock (and a Faster One for Public Entities)
For most pedestrian injury lawsuits in New Jersey, you have two years from the date of the accident to file suit. Don’t confuse that with the 90-day Tort Claims Act notice—if a public entity is involved, you must do both: the 90-day notice and, later, a timely lawsuit. Miss either, and you can lose your rights. The general two-year limitation is found in N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2.
What Comparative Fault Looks Like in Real Bergen County Cases
From our own files (details changed to protect privacy), here’s how fault often gets argued:
Left-turn at a signalized intersection
My pedestrian client enters on the walk signal. A driver turns left on a permissive green and strikes them. Defense argues the pedestrian was distracted. We subpoena phone records, obtain camera footage, and map the signal phases. The crosswalk duty in 39:4-36 and a permissive inference after a crosswalk collision give us leverage. Even if a jury assigns a modest percentage to the pedestrian for inattention, it doesn’t cross 50%.
Mid-block at night
Client crosses between parked cars on a dim street. Defense claims 70% fault to pedestrian. We bring in headlight photometry, vehicle speed from the EDR, and line-of-sight analysis. If the driver was speeding or failed to keep a proper lookout near a busy bar district at closing time, the apportionment can swing back under 50% for the pedestrian. The comparative negligence statute is our framework for that argument.
School zone morning chaos
A parent and child step off from behind a stopped SUV. Another vehicle swings around and clips the parent. The statute bars passing a stopped vehicle that has yielded to a pedestrian. We lean hard on that paragraph of 39:4-36 and witness statements. These facts often push driver fault close to 100%.
Evidence We Move Fast to Preserve
We tell clients, “We’re building your case in the first two weeks.” Here’s what that looks like in practice (kept in narrative form because every case is different):
We immediately request 911 audio, CAD logs, and body-cam or dash-cam from responding officers. We send preservation letters to nearby businesses for video—delis, gas stations, schools, bus depots. We inspect the scene, photograph sightlines, measure crosswalk widths, and document lighting conditions at the same time of day. On the vehicle side, we move for the EDR (“black box”) if there’s heavy braking, airbag deployment, or a late model car that recorded speed and throttle. We obtain signal timing plans from the municipality or county, and if a public entity is in the mix, we calendar the 90-day notice before anything else. Medical records are organized so we can prove permanency if the verbal threshold or Tort Claims Act threshold is in play.
How Insurance Actually Pays Out: A Simple Map
A typical pedestrian case might involve three potential sources:
- At-fault driver’s liability policy (the basic claim).
- Your PIP benefits for medical bills (if you or your household has a NJ auto policy).
- Your UM/UIM if the driver is hit-and-run or underinsured.
PIP pays regardless of fault to get your treatment started. Pain-and-suffering comes from the liability or UM/UIM side—subject to the verbal threshold if it applies to you. And all of it sits on top of our comparative negligence apportionment. That’s why we talk about evidence, statutes, and your own policy election in the same breath.
What If I Was Cited?
Clients sometimes panic when they receive a pedestrian summons—often for failing to use a crosswalk or disobeying a signal. A traffic ticket is not the end of your civil case. It’s one piece of evidence. The civil standards and comparative negligence analysis are broader. We’ve resolved many cases successfully even when my client paid a municipal fine. The crosswalk statute itself underscores that drivers still owe due care under all circumstances.
Damages and the Math of Shared Fault
Let’s make the reduction rule tangible. Suppose your total damages—medical specials, wage loss, and non-economic damages—are reasonably valued by a jury at $300,000. If you’re found 25% at fault, the award becomes $225,000. At 50%, it’s $150,000. At 51%, it’s zero. Our job is to keep the narrative and the evidence aligned so your share is fair—and below that hard bar. The statute gives juries the power to allocate those percentages with precision.
Practical Steps After a Pedestrian Crash
If you’re reading this because something just happened, here’s the plain-spoken triage we give family members:
Get medical care first. Tell providers it was a pedestrian vs. car crash so they code it correctly for PIP if you have NJ auto coverage. Then, if you can, save or send us:
- the police report number
- photos of the scene and your shoes/clothing
- any witness names
- your insurance cards.
We’ll open the right claims in the right order: PIP, liability, and UM/UIM if needed. We’ll also put any municipality on notice within 90 days when appropriate—no excuses.
Common Defense Themes—and How We Answer Them
“You weren’t in a crosswalk.”
True or not, 39:4-36 still requires drivers to exercise due care for pedestrians anywhere on the roadway. We also examine whether an unmarked crosswalk existed at the intersection you were near—those count.
“You were on your phone.”
Distraction matters, but it’s rarely the whole story. We weigh your attention against the driver’s speed, line of sight, and statutory duties. Comparative negligence is not an on/off switch; it’s a percentage.
“Your injuries aren’t permanent.”
If the verbal threshold applies to you, we coordinate with your treating physicians to secure a certification and objective testing consistent with 39:6A-8. If it doesn’t apply, we focus on full damages without that hurdle.
“It’s a public-entity case, you missed the 90 days.”
We don’t. We calendar it the week we open the file and serve the TCA Notice. If a client comes to us late, we assess “extraordinary circumstances” and seek leave within the statute’s one-year outer limit when justified.
Frequently Asked (and Straight-Answered)
Do pedestrians always have the right of way in New Jersey?
No. You have strong rights in crosswalks, but outside crosswalks you must yield. Both drivers and pedestrians owe due care everywhere.
Who pays my medical bills if I don’t own a car?
If you’re not covered under any household auto policy with PIP, we’ll work with your health insurance and pursue the driver’s carrier. There are other statutory avenues depending on the circumstances.
What are my deadlines?
Generally two years to file suit. If a public entity is involved, a Notice of Claim must be served within 90 days—and missing that can be fatal to your claim.
What if the driver fled or had minimal insurance?
We look to your UM/UIM. New Jersey’s UM/UIM framework exists to protect injured people from uninsured or underinsured drivers, with anti-stacking rules baked into the statute.
How We Build Value in a Pedestrian Case
From Day One, we’re doing three things at once: securing your medical path (PIP/health), protecting your legal path (deadlines, notices, evidence), and shaping the fault narrative with the statute as our scaffolding.
In deposition and at trial, we ground the story in real-world behaviors jurors recognize: left-turn impatience, rolling stops, split-second glare, kids crossing where drivers should expect them. And we pair that with the statute’s language on crosswalks, due care, and the comparative negligence charge judges give juries. That combination brings credibility—and results.
A Note on Bergen County Realities
Bergen County mixes tight downtowns, school corridors, commuter rush, and high-speed county roads. We’ve handled cases at small-town corners with faded paint and at multi-lane arterials where a driver never saw a pedestrian until impact. The law is the same on both streets; the evidence is not. Cameras, traffic volumes, and municipal maintenance records differ. Knowing how to pull those threads locally matters—and it’s one of the advantages of hiring a firm that litigates these cases in North Jersey week in, week out.
Final Thoughts—and Your Next Step
If you were hit while walking, don’t talk yourself out of a claim because you think you “should have been more careful.” New Jersey law expects both of you—the driver and the pedestrian—to act with care, then it sorts fault by percentage. As long as your share is 50% or less, you can recover, with a reduction. The point is getting you treated, stabilizing your finances, and presenting the facts under the statutes that govern your case.
If you want to talk through what happened—crosswalk, mid-block, school zone, hit-and-run—reach out. Our team at Sammarro & Zalarick, P.A. will walk you through the next steps, open the right claims in the right order, calendar every deadline, and get to work on the evidence. The consultation is straightforward. Bring the report number if you have it. We’ll handle the rest.