Did you know that there is a pedestrian fatality every two hours and an injury every nine minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? As many California residents know, big cities have extremely busy streets. Roads are also packed with careless or negligent drivers. This makes crosswalks potentially dangerous for pedestrians. Because cars are such vast machines, when a pedestrian is hit by a car, he or she is left defenseless against the impact.

A national story out of Washington, D.C. discusses a recent near-fatal accident that left a woman with a severe brain injury. A motorist was driving to work and cruised through a crosswalk. The woman was walking to her local bus stop when the driver's Mercury Marquis slammed into her body. The windshield of the car instantly shattered from the impact. The driver got out of the car to find a woman lying in the street with a pool of blood around her.

In the hours that followed, doctors worked on the victim. Doctors had to remove two enormous pieces of her skull. The victim's head swelled so much that her ears folded toward her head. The woman was in a coma for several weeks, but a doctor, who specializes in brain injuries, worked with the victim consistently. After a brain surgery operation, the woman started to make greater strides in her recovery. According to reports, she is healing well. Miraculously, the victim is talking, and a great portion of her memory has returned.

Pedestrian accidents are often fatal. The luckiest of survivors are left in critical condition. There are many financial, physical and emotional consequences that result from such incidents. If you or a family member has suffered from a severe injury, you may want to talk to a lawyer about your recovery possibilities. As individuals scrap to obtain suitable medical care for their personal injuries, it is important that legal recourse be available to keep the victim financially secure. As this story demonstrates, there is hope.

Source: The Washington Post, "After near-fatal accident, pedestrian finds her way back from brain injury," Theresa Vargas, Jan. 19, 2012