Hit by a car while walking in Palm Beach County: PIP for pedestrians, hit-and-run, and uninsured motorist coverage

A person on foot has no bumper, no airbag and no crumple zone. Whether you were walking to a Palm Tran stop on Military Trail, crossing Okeechobee Boulevard after an event at the Kravis Center, or heading down Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach, a car at any speed can cause fractures, head injuries and months of recovery. The legal side is confusing in its own way, because Florida’s insurance rules for pedestrians run through policies you might not expect, sometimes including your own car insurance even though your car was parked at home.

Does my car insurance cover me if I was walking?

Often, yes. Florida’s no-fault law attaches Personal Injury Protection to people, not just to cars. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736(4)(e), a policyholder’s PIP covers the policyholder, and relatives living in the same household who do not own a car of their own, when a motor vehicle strikes them while they are not riding in a self-propelled vehicle. In plain terms: if you or a relative you live with has a Florida auto policy, that PIP is likely the first to pay your medical bills, regardless of who was at fault.

If nobody in your household has a policy, the statute moves to the PIP on the vehicle that hit you, provided you are a Florida resident and do not own a vehicle that was required to be insured.

The 14-day rule still applies. You must receive initial care within 14 days of the crash, from a hospital, emergency transport provider, physician, osteopath, dentist, chiropractor, or a physician assistant or APRN working within those categories (Fla. Stat. § 627.736(1)(a)). Most pedestrians are taken by ambulance, often to St. Mary’s Medical Center, which satisfies the rule. If you walked away and went home, get examined promptly.

In what order do the policies pay?

Order	Coverage	What it pays
1	PIP on your policy or a resident relative’s	80% of reasonable medical bills and 60% of lost income, up to $10,000 total; $2,500 cap on medical benefits without an emergency medical condition finding
2	PIP on the striking vehicle (if no household policy)	Same PIP benefits
3	Driver’s bodily injury liability coverage, if any	Remaining medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering if the injury meets the threshold in Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2)
4	Your or a resident relative’s uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage	What the driver’s coverage cannot pay, including for a hit-and-run driver, subject to policy terms

Health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid may also pay, and may assert a right to be reimbursed from the recovery. That is normal and is handled when the case resolves.

What if the driver drove off?

A driver involved in a crash that injures someone must stop, stay at the scene, give their information and render reasonable assistance. Leaving is a crime, and when someone is injured it is a felony (Fla. Stat. § 316.027). That does not help much at the moment it happens, but it does mean the police will treat it seriously.

If you can, or if someone with you can, note anything about the car: color, make, a partial tag, damage, and which direction it went. Ask nearby businesses about outdoor cameras; on a commercial strip like Congress Avenue or Forest Hill Boulevard there may be several. Many camera systems overwrite footage within days or weeks, so requests should go out quickly.

Even if the driver is never found, two sources of coverage still exist. PIP pays regardless, because it never depended on knowing who was at fault. And uninsured motorist coverage, on your policy or a resident relative’s, typically treats an unidentified hit-and-run driver as uninsured, subject to the policy’s notice and proof requirements. Read the policy’s reporting clause: many require prompt notice to police and to the insurer.

What if the driver had no insurance?

This is common in Florida. Drivers must carry PIP and property damage liability, but bodily injury liability coverage is not required for most drivers. A driver who hit you may have nothing that pays for your injuries beyond PIP.

That is where uninsured motorist coverage matters. A Florida policy that includes bodily injury liability coverage must include UM as well unless the policyholder rejects it in writing (Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1)). A bare-minimum policy with only PIP and property damage coverage usually has no UM. Many people have it without realizing it. Look at the declarations page for “uninsured motorist” or “UM,” and check the policy of any relative you live with too. UM generally follows the insured person, not just the car.

Will crossing outside a crosswalk hurt my claim?

It may reduce it, but it rarely ends it. Florida law requires a pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an intersection to yield to vehicles, and it also requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid hitting pedestrians (Fla. Stat. § 316.130). A driver who was speeding, distracted or turning without looking can carry most of the fault even when the pedestrian was outside a crosswalk.

Under Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule, your damages are reduced by your own percentage of fault, and you recover nothing only if you are found more than 50 percent responsible (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)). Lighting, the driver’s speed, the width of the road and what each person could see are all part of that analysis.

What deadlines should I keep in mind?

The 14-day PIP treatment window is the first. The general deadline to file a negligence lawsuit for a crash on or after March 24, 2023 is two years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)). Uninsured motorist claims are contract claims with their own rules, and policies often require prompt notice, so tell your insurer early. If a public vehicle hit you, such as a city truck or a Palm Tran bus, the written-notice requirements of Fla. Stat. § 768.28 apply.

Call our West Palm Beach office

Wolfson & Leon has represented injured people since 1963. If you or a family member was hit while walking anywhere in Palm Beach County, from Jupiter to Boca Raton to Belle Glade, call 561-782-1585. Our West Palm Beach office meets by appointment, and the consultation is free, in English or Spanish. We work on a contingency fee, put the percentage in writing before you sign, and advance the costs of the case.