Someone that has created foot traffic on a sidewalk might trip over a crack or a raised section of that concrete pathway. Alternately, the same individual might slip and fall on a slippery surface. Certain questions get used to determine who should be blamed for any resulting injury.
Was it a private or a public pathway?
A private pathway might be found in a section of homes. Alternately, it could be a path that leads to a trail in a wooded area, one that is owned by one or more private citizens. A public sidewalk runs parallel to the street. It separates that same road from the land surrounding the homes that are located on whatever street a pedestrian has chosen to travel.
Local law determines who should be held responsible for an injury to someone that was using a public sidewalk. If a government body should shoulder the responsibility, then the injured pedestrian must follow a set procedure, with respect to notifying that same body about his or her intentions.
Pedestrians that send such a notice, because they plan to initiate a lawsuit, should not assume that they do not have to submit a personal injury claim. That claim has to be submitted to the court before the deadline, as specified in the statute of limitations, as per Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga.
Was the hazard that caused the injury open, obvious and easily avoided?
Since a driver is expected to watch for any danger, pedestrians need to satisfy the same expectation. In other words, a walker would not have a case, if he or she had ignored the sign, regarding a specific danger, owing to the fact that the same walker was sending a text message to a friend.
If, however, someone on foot had stepped into a trench, because there was no trench shoring, then that particular walker would have a much stronger case. Such shoring is supposed to make a rut more obvious, so that it can be avoided.
What type of footwear did the person that got injured, while strolling down the sidewalk wear, on the day of the accident?
The defendant’s legal team would look for a reason to claim that the plaintiff was partly to blame for his or her injury. Failure to don a decent pair of walking shoes would seem like an action that could contribute to creation of a slip and fall incident.
If, on the other hand, the walker’s shoes had been quite sturdy, then the defendant’s legal team would have a harder time challenging the plaintiff’s allegations. After all, even someone that was wearing mountain boots might trip over a spot on the sidewalk that had been lifted an inch above the sidewalk’s surface.
