Pedestrian Accident Laws in Nevada

Nevada law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians at every crosswalk, marked or unmarked, under NRS 484B.287. Pedestrians also carry duties, including obeying traffic signals and using available crosswalks when possible. Nevada’s modified comparative negligence rule and two-year filing deadline both play a major role in determining what compensation a pedestrian can recover.

Most pedestrians assume a marked crosswalk is the only place drivers owe them a duty of care, and insurers count on that misunderstanding. After a crash, you may be dealing with broken bones, head trauma, or months away from work while an adjuster argues you were somewhere you should not have been, or that a single jaywalking citation should reduce what you are owed.

The challenge only grows as time passes. Surveillance footage of the crash is often overwritten within days, witnesses forget critical details within weeks, and Nevada’s two-year filing deadline does not pause while you wait to see how your injuries develop or how the insurance company plans to respond. Without acting quickly, the evidence that proves your case can disappear before you ever get the chance to use it.

In this article from our guide on Nevada Law, you will discover who holds the right of way, how fault gets divided under Nevada’s comparative negligence rule, and how a pedestrian accident attorney can protect your claim from day one.

What Are a Driver’s Duties to Pedestrians in Nevada?

Drivers have four nonnegotiable duties under Nevada law:

• Yield to any pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk
• Come to a complete stop if you are already crossing the roadway
• Never pass a vehicle that has stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian
• Yield to anyone using a white cane or guide dog, regardless of where they are crossing

These rules exist because pedestrians are the most vulnerable people on Nevada roads. When a driver breaks them, you have the legal right to hold them accountable.

Do Pedestrians Have Duties under Nevada Law?

Your right of way is not unlimited. Nevada law also places specific duties on you.

• Obey traffic signals: Follow “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” signals at intersections and do not cross against the light.
• Use crosswalks: If one is available within the block, crossing mid-block is illegal.
• Don’t step into moving traffic: You cannot dart off a curb into the path of a car that has no time to stop.

Breaking one of these rules does not end your case. Nevada looks at what every party did and assigns fault based on the full picture. A driver who was speeding, texting, or impaired can still bear the majority of the blame, even if you were jaywalking.

How Comparative Negligence Works in Nevada

Modified comparative negligence is Nevada’s legal rule for dividing fault between parties in an injury case (NRS 41.141). You can recover compensation as long as you were 50% or less at fault, at 51% or more, you recover nothing.

Your payout is reduced by your exact percentage of fault:

Your Fault %	Your Recovery on a $100,000 Claim
0%	$100,000
25%	$75,000
50%	$50,000
51%+	$0

Insurance adjusters know this rule cold. Their goal is to push your fault past 50% to eliminate your claim entirely. What you say, and what you do not say, in the hours after an accident may affect the outcome of your case.

One pattern we consistently see in Las Vegas pedestrian claims is an adjuster citing a jaywalking citation as if it single-handedly resolves fault, without ever examining whether the driver was speeding or distracted. What we see across these claims is that a full crash reconstruction, not just the police report’s initial fault call, is usually what shifts the percentage back in the pedestrian’s favor.

Who Can Be Liable for a Nevada Pedestrian Accident?

The driver who hit you is the most obvious defendant, but rarely the only one. Multiple parties can share legal responsibility in Nevada, and each may carry a separate insurance policy that pays toward your recovery.

Liable parties in a Nevada pedestrian accident can include:

• The driver’s employer if they were on the clock, making deliveries, operating a work vehicle, or running a commercial route
• Uber or Lyft if their driver was logged into the app at the time of impact
• The City of Las Vegas or Clark County if a broken signal, missing crosswalk signage, or a dangerous road design contributed to the crash
• A vehicle manufacturer if defective brakes, sensors, or driver-assist systems failed at the moment of impact
• A property owner if obstructed sightlines or a poorly designed parking lot played a role

Finding every responsible party is how we find every dollar available to you.

What Insurance Pays after a Pedestrian Accident?

Nevada is a fault state, meaning the at-fault driver’s liability insurance is where your claim starts. For serious pedestrian injuries, it is almost never where it ends.

A tactic we see repeatedly from insurers in Clark County hit-and-run pedestrian claims is delaying the UM/UIM claim process while hoping nearby surveillance footage expires first. What we see across these claims is that sending a preservation letter to every business within view of the crash, within the first 48 hours, is what keeps that evidence alive.

Driver Liability Coverage

Nevada requires drivers to carry at least $25,000 per person in bodily injury liability coverage. For a pedestrian struck at any speed, that minimum can be gone before you leave the hospital.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage, UM/UIM, is a provision in your own auto policy that can protect you even when you were on foot. If the driver who hit you had no insurance or not enough to cover your losses, we file a claim through your own policy or through a household family member’s policy.

MedPay Coverage

Medical Payments coverage, or MedPay, pays your medical bills regardless of fault. If your health insurer already covered your treatment, they may hold a lien, a legal right to be reimbursed from your settlement. We negotiate those liens down so you keep more of what we win.

Hit and Run Claims

If the driver fled the scene, UM/UIM coverage is often your clearest path to recovery. Las Vegas has cameras at traffic signals, casino entrances, and gas stations, but footage is overwritten within days. We move immediately to preserve it.

What Compensation Can You Recover in Nevada?

Nevada allows you to pursue two types of damages: economic damages, which are your measurable financial losses, and non-economic damages, which are personal costs no receipt can capture.

Economic Damages	Non-Economic Damages
Past and future medical bills	Pain and suffering
Lost wages and earning capacity	Emotional distress and PTSD
Rehabilitation and physical therapy	Permanent disability or disfigurement
In-home care and medical equipment	Loss of enjoyment of life
Property damage	Loss of consortium

If you lost a family member in a pedestrian accident, Nevada law allows the surviving spouse, children, or parents to file a wrongful death claim for funeral costs, lost financial support, and loss of companionship. We obtained a wrongful death judgment at trial rather than accepting the insurer’s offer.

How Long Do You Have to File in Nevada?

The statute of limitations is the legal deadline to file a lawsuit. In Nevada, you have two years from the date of your accident under NRS 11.190. Miss that deadline and your right to any compensation disappears permanently, regardless of how serious your injuries are.

Some situations shorten or shift that window:

• Government defendants: Claims against the City of Las Vegas or a Nevada state agency require a separate formal notice of claim under NRS 41.036, but that notice deadline is the same two years, not shorter.
• Wrongful death: The two-year clock begins on the date of your loved one’s death, not the accident date.
• Minor victims: The statute of limitations may be paused until the child turns 18.

Two years sounds like enough time, it is not. Surveillance footage disappears in days, physical evidence is cleared from the scene, and witnesses forget the most critical details within weeks.

“Ramzy was truly concerned from the first day that he saw our son. We felt he was going to be good for our son, the accident and the case. He always gave us good attention. He was always on top of anything we needed. He always gave us a hand and he never told us no. He always cared.” – Client, Las Vegas

What Evidence Builds a Strong Pedestrian Case?

The at-fault driver’s insurer begins constructing their version of events the moment the crash is reported. We counter with hard evidence gathered before it can disappear.

Traffic Cameras and Business Surveillance

Las Vegas is one of the most camera-dense cities in the country. Casino entrances, RTC traffic signal poles, and gas stations frequently capture pedestrian accidents on video. Surveillance footage is often overwritten or erased unless it is preserved promptly. We send a legal preservation letter the moment you hire us.

Vehicle Data and Phone Records

A vehicle’s event data recorder, the black box, stores speed, braking, and steering data from the seconds before impact. Cell phone carrier records can prove whether the driver was texting or on a call at the moment of the crash.

Signal Timing and Scene Mapping

We pull traffic signal timing records from Clark County to confirm you had the legal right to cross. We also use 3D scanning technology to map the scene and reconstruct the crash, countering the “you came out of nowhere” defense with hard, measurable data.

Witness Statements and 911 Audio

Drivers often make damaging admissions in the chaos immediately after a crash, and 911 recordings capture those moments in real time. We locate independent witnesses and secure those recordings before either disappears.

Your Medical Records

Prompt, consistent treatment creates an unbroken record tying your injuries directly to the crash. Any gap in your care hands the insurer an argument that your injuries are less serious than you claim.

What to Do after a Pedestrian Accident in Nevada

Step 1: Call 911 and Get Medical Care

Call 911 and accept emergency treatment, even if you feel fine. Traumatic brain injuries and internal bleeding frequently produce no visible symptoms for hours after impact.

Step 2: Document the Scene

Use your phone to photograph the crosswalk, the vehicle, your visible injuries, skid marks, and any cameras at nearby businesses or traffic signals. This two-minute step can become the most critical evidence in your case.

Step 3: Decline a Recorded Statement

The at-fault driver’s insurance company will call fast, sometimes within hours of the accident. Decline to give a recorded statement until you have spoken with an attorney, because every word you say becomes evidence used to reduce your payout.

Step 4: Report to Your Own Insurer

Notify your own insurance company to protect your MedPay and UM/UIM benefits. Stick to the basic facts of what happened and avoid any statements about fault or injury severity.

Step 5: Call Ladah Law

We take over all insurer communication immediately so you can focus on healing. The sooner we are involved, the more evidence we can lock down before it is gone.

Why Injured Pedestrians in Nevada Trust Ladah Law

Insurance companies have professional adjusters, corporate legal teams, and one mission: pay you as little as possible. We have spent years operating inside that system, and now we use everything we learned against them.

• $400 Million+ recovered for injured clients across Nevada
• $15 Million jury verdict in a reckless driving case (May 2025)
• $70.6 Million wrongful death judgment, taken to verdict, not settled cheap
• Nevada Bar Certified Personal Injury Specialist, Ramzy Ladah holds this designation, one of only a handful of attorneys in the entire state to earn it
• AV Preeminent® Rated, the highest peer-review certification for legal ability and ethics
• Insider knowledge, Ramzy Ladah built his career defending insurance companies, now he uses their own playbook against them
• No fee unless we win, you pay absolutely nothing until we recover money for you

You get direct cell phone access to your attorney and 24/7 support from the day you call. Consultations are always free, and we serve injured pedestrians throughout Clark County and Southern Nevada from our offices in Downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Spring Valley. By Your Side, Securing Your Future.

“I’m Gloria Evans and I had a personal injury accident. I was hoping to get reimbursed for some of it and went to an attorney who said she didn’t think she could handle the case but referred me to Ramzy. Ramzy took over and he and his staff did just a wonderful job. They got me more money than I thought that I would get. Everything was efficient. They kept me up to date on all the steps that we went through. And, I was just very pleased and would recommend them to anyone else.” – Gloria Evans

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Nevada Pedestrian Laws Protect Tourists and Out-of-State Visitors?

Yes, Nevada’s pedestrian laws apply equally to everyone on Nevada roads, regardless of where you live. You can hire a Nevada-based attorney to handle your case locally while you recover at home.

Does a DUI Conviction against the Driver Help My Civil Injury Claim?

A criminal DUI conviction establishes the driver’s negligence on the official record and serves as powerful evidence in your civil case. Your financial recovery is handled entirely separately in civil court and does not depend on the criminal outcome.

Can I File a Claim if I Do Not Own a Car or Have Auto Insurance?

Yes, as a pedestrian, you can pursue the at-fault driver’s liability insurance regardless of whether you own a vehicle, and you may also qualify for UM/UIM coverage through a household family member’s existing policy.

How Quickly Does Las Vegas Surveillance Footage Get Deleted?

Surveillance footage at Las Vegas businesses and casinos is often overwritten quickly, so having your attorney send a legal preservation letter promptly can help protect that evidence.

Does Jaywalking Eliminate My Right to Recover Compensation?

No, a jaywalking citation gives insurers ammunition to argue comparative fault, but it does not bar your claim because drivers owe a duty of care to pedestrians everywhere, in and out of crosswalks.

Can I Recover Punitive Damages in a Hit-and-Run Case?

Nevada courts can award punitive damages, additional money designed to punish outrageous conduct, when a driver shows willful disregard for human life, and fleeing the scene of a pedestrian accident frequently meets that standard.