Pedestrian accident settlement amounts in Utah

If a car hit you while you were walking in Utah, the first question you probably have is what your claim is worth. There's no single average, and any page that hands you one number is guessing. What a Utah pedestrian claim actually pays comes down to a few state rules: whether no-fault benefits reach you, whether your injuries clear Utah's threshold for suing, how fault gets divided, and how much insurance sits behind the driver who hit you.

The stakes are high because pedestrian crashes here are rarely minor. Between 2020 and 2024, 4,477 pedestrians were involved in Utah crashes and 219 of them were killed, according to the Utah Highway Safety Office.¹ In 2024 alone, 281 people died on Utah roads, and roughly a third were what the state calls "vulnerable road users," meaning people on foot, bikes, and motorcycles.²

PIP pays your first bills, even though you were walking

Utah is a no-fault state, and one thing catches most injured pedestrians off guard: a car's insurance still covers you even though you were on foot. Under Utah Code 31A-22-308, a pedestrian hurt in a Utah crash involving an insured vehicle is a covered person for that policy's personal injury protection (PIP).³ If the car that hit you carries no PIP, you turn to your own household auto policy.

PIP is a floor, not a settlement. Utah requires at least $3,000 in medical benefits with no deductible, plus wage-loss and funeral benefits, under Utah Code 31A-22-307.⁴ The insurer has to pay a PIP claim within 30 days of receiving proof of loss (Utah Code 31A-22-309).⁵ After a pedestrian strike, an ambulance ride and one set of X-rays can burn through $3,000, so PIP is almost never where a pedestrian case ends.

The threshold that decides whether you can sue for pain and suffering

Because Utah is no-fault, you can't pursue the driver for general damages like pain and suffering unless your injury clears a statutory threshold. Utah Code 31A-22-309 sets that threshold at more than $3,000 in medical expenses, or one of the following: death, dismemberment, permanent disability or impairment based on objective findings, permanent disfigurement, or a bone fracture.⁵

This matters more for people hit while walking than for drivers. Someone thrown to the pavement usually has a fracture or surgical bills well past $3,000, so most serious pedestrian claims clear the threshold and open the door to a full claim against the at-fault driver. Clearing it is the gate to the larger money in your case, which is where pain and suffering and future medical costs come in.

Fault, and Utah's crosswalk rules

Utah uses a modified comparative fault rule with a 50% bar. Under Utah Code 78B-5-818, you can recover only if your share of fault is less than the combined fault of everyone else; at 50% or more, you recover nothing.⁶ Below that line, your award drops by your percentage, so a $200,000 case with 20% of the blame on you pays $160,000.

Fault in a pedestrian case usually turns on Utah's right-of-way statute, Utah Code 41-6a-1002. A driver has to yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on the driver's half of the road, or close enough from the other half to be in danger, and a driver approaching an occupied school crosswalk has to come to a complete stop.⁷ The same statute also says a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb and walk into the path of a car that's too close to stop.⁷ Insurers lean on that clause hard. Where you stepped off and whether you had the signal can move your settlement by tens of thousands of dollars.

The insurance behind the driver usually sets the ceiling

Most Utah pedestrian settlements are capped not by how badly you were hurt but by the at-fault driver's policy limits. For policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, Utah's minimum liability limits are $30,000 per person and $65,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage (Utah Code 31A-22-304); before that date the per-person floor was $25,000.⁸ A driver carrying only the state minimum has $30,000 available for your injuries, and a single night in the hospital after a pedestrian strike can pass that.

That's why your own coverage often matters most. Utah requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM and UIM) on every auto policy unless you signed a written form rejecting or reducing it (Utah Code 31A-22-305).⁹ As a pedestrian you can usually tap the UM/UIM on your own household policy, and UM coverage also applies to a hit-and-run driver who is never identified. That last point is not academic: national GHSA data ties a large and growing share of pedestrian deaths to drivers who flee the scene.¹⁰ If the driver who hit you had little or no insurance, your UIM claim may be the biggest single piece of your recovery.

No damage caps, and more room for punitive damages against a drunk driver

Utah does not cap damages in an ordinary pedestrian injury claim. The state's $450,000 limit on noneconomic damages applies only to medical malpractice cases (Utah Code 78B-3-410), not to auto negligence, so a jury's award for your pain and suffering is not limited by statute.¹¹

Punitive damages normally require clear and convincing evidence of willful or reckless conduct under Utah Code 78B-8-201, but that heightened standard does not apply when the driver was voluntarily intoxicated.¹² Punitive damages are therefore easier to reach against a drunk or drugged driver who hit you. And if a bar or restaurant over-served that driver, Utah's dram shop law (Utah Code 32B-15-201) can add a second defendant, with its own insurance, to the claim.¹³

Deadlines you can't miss

You generally have four years from the date you were hit to file a personal injury lawsuit in Utah (Utah Code 78B-2-307).¹⁴ If a pedestrian crash was fatal, the family's wrongful death claim runs on a shorter clock: two years from the date of death (Utah Code 78B-2-304), and only one year when a government entity, for example a city or a public transit agency, is involved.¹⁵ Miss the deadline and the claim is gone, no matter how strong it was.

Two early steps protect the value of your case. Get the official crash report, which you can order through Utah's crash report page, and talk with a lawyer before you give the insurer a recorded statement or accept a first offer. You can find one through the legal directory.

This is general information, not legal advice. For guidance on your own pedestrian accident claim, talk to a licensed Utah attorney.

Sources

1. Utah Highway Safety Office, 2026 Statewide Problem Identification. https://highwaysafety.utah.gov/2026-problem-id/

2. Utah Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety, preliminary 2024 statewide traffic fatality numbers. https://connect.udot.utah.gov/2025/01/07/udot-and-dps-release-preliminary-2024-statewide-traffic-fatality-numbers/

3. Utah Code 31A-22-308, Persons covered by personal injury protection. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S308.html

4. Utah Code 31A-22-307, Personal injury protection coverages and benefits. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S307.html

5. Utah Code 31A-22-309, Limitations, exclusions, and conditions to personal injury protection. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S309.html

6. Utah Code 78B-5-818, Comparative negligence. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter5/78B-5-S818.html

7. Utah Code 41-6a-1002, Pedestrians' right-of-way, duty of pedestrian. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title41/Chapter6a/41-6a-S1002.html

8. Utah Code 31A-22-304, Motor vehicle liability coverage minimum limits. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S304.html

9. Utah Code 31A-22-305, Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S305.html

10. Governors Highway Safety Association, Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State (2024 data). https://www.ghsa.org/resource-hub/pedestrian-traffic-fatalities-2024-data

11. Utah Code 78B-3-410, Limitation of award of noneconomic damages in malpractice actions. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter3/78B-3-S410.html

12. Utah Code 78B-8-201, Punitive damages. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter8/78B-8-S201.html

13. Utah Code 32B-15-201, Dram shop liability. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title32B/Chapter15/32B-15-S201.html

14. Utah Code 78B-2-307, Actions barred after four years. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S307.html

15. Utah Code 78B-2-304, Wrongful death actions. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S304.html