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 has been with their family day and night for about a month due to health stuff, I definitely have emphaty with the indecision about the situation.
On the one hand, some types of accidents can happen to anyone due to common variables aligning together and it is natural to chalk it up to “shit happens”. Especially more so if the one causing the incident is as surprised about the incident and as cordial as possible afterwards.
On the other hand, even if you feel comparatively fine and seem to be on your way to rather quick and full recovery, you don’t know if this will cause later harm, sometimes statistically known to be low as doctors would say a couple percent chance or something like that, sometimes not even considered.
You should sue for compensation without waiting for the “if things gets worse” to come to pass. It will be too late if you wait. Most people would also argue that you should take this as a “never talk to cops” thing so it would be advisable against cordially letting the driver know that you intend to take precautions about future risks by aiming for compensation, considering that it will not impact the driver’s life nearly as it may impact yours on the worst case scenario. On this matter, you will have to trust your own judgement and the specific experience of lawyers, I’d say. Not fears of the bystanders that didn’t see the incident, attitude of the driver, or don’t have experience about how similar things turned out later.