Personal Injury Protection--Coverage for Injured Pedestrians

Michael Myers

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 580

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A lot of people think that PIP (Personal Injury Protection) only provides benefits if they are involved in an accident while driving their own cars.  Fortunately the coverage is much broader and more expansive.  
I saw a story in the Seattle Times that illustrates this point:

The State Patrol reports a pedestrian trying to cross Highway 169 in the Renton/Maple Valley area was struck and killed by an SUV.

Trooper Curt Boyle says police received reports earlier Saturday night of a woman walking on the right shoulder of the southbound lane.

Boyle says alcohol was found on the victim's body. 

So, without prejudging the facts too much, where was a woman who had been drinking who tried to cut across the highway at night and was hit by a car and killed.  Doesn't seem like she/her estate should be entitled to PIP benefits, does it?

Well, her estate is entitled to PIP benefits.  And not just from her own carrier, but also from the PIP carrier that provided coverage to the driver of the car that struck her.  The dead woman's estate is entitled to medical and funeral expenses from both of them.