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What to do right after a car hits you
- If you are hurt, call 911 or ask someone to call.
- Stay where you are safe, off the traffic lanes if you can move.
- Get the driver's name, plate, insurer and policy number. The driver must give name, address and registration, and show a license if you ask (NRS 484E.030).
- Ask anyone who saw it for a name and a phone number.
- Take photos of the car, the crosswalk or the spot where you were, the signals and your injuries.
- Ask the officer for the event or crash number. Our guide on how to get a Las Vegas crash report explains the next step.
The driver must also give reasonable help, including getting you to a doctor or hospital when treatment is clearly needed or you ask for it (NRS 484E.030).
Who has the right of way in Nevada?
Nevada's pedestrian rules are in NRS chapter 484B. In short:
- In a crosswalk. Where no traffic-control device, such as a signal, is working, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. That applies when you are on the driver's half of the road, or so close on the other half that you are in danger (NRS 484B.283).
- With a walk signal. While the Walk light or walking figure is lit, pedestrians facing it may cross and must be given the right of way by all drivers (NRS 484B.283).
- A stopped car at a crosswalk. A driver behind it may not pass until they know it was not stopped for someone crossing (NRS 484B.283).
- Outside a crosswalk. A pedestrian crossing anywhere else must yield to vehicles. Between two intersections that both have working signals, pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. A violation is not a misdemeanor (NRS 484B.287).
- Stepping out. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave the curb into the path of a car too close to stop (NRS 484B.283).
- Walking along a road. Where there is a sidewalk, use it. Where there is none, walk on the left side, facing traffic (NRS 484B.297).
Drivers have a general duty too. They must use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian, and proper caution near people at bus stops, school zones and crosswalks (NRS 484B.280).
Fault when you were walking
Right of way does not settle fault by itself. Nevada does not bar a claim just because the injured person was partly at fault. Under NRS 41.141, recovery is allowed if the injured person's share of fault was not greater than the other side's. At trial, a jury finds the total damages and each party's percentage of fault.
How fault is split in a specific crash is for the insurers, a lawyer or a court to work out. Photos of the crossing, the signals and where the car stopped help show what happened.
If the driver left
Leaving the scene of a crash that hurt or killed someone is a category B felony in Nevada. The penalty is 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of $2,000 to $5,000, for each person hurt (NRS 484E.010).
- Call 911. Tell the dispatcher the car left, and which way it went.
- Write down everything you remember: color, make, plate letters, damage, the driver.
- Ask witnesses and nearby businesses whether they saw the car or have video.
- Make sure a police report exists. Nevada's uninsured motorist law covers a hit-and-run only with physical contact. The crash also has to be reported to police within the time the reporting statutes set (NRS 690B.020).
- Check your own policy's uninsured motorist section. Our guide on being hit by an uninsured driver in Nevada explains that coverage.
Who pays when you were walking
- The driver's liability insurance, if the driver was at fault, up to the policy limit. Nevada's minimum limit is $25,000 for one person (NRS 485.185).
- Your own medical payments coverage, if you bought it on a car policy. The Nevada Division of Insurance says MedPay pays for injuries from being struck as a pedestrian by a motor vehicle (Division of Insurance).
- Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, if you own a car and have it. Nevada insurers must offer it at your bodily injury limits (NRS 687B.145). Whether it applies while you were walking depends on your policy's wording.
- Health insurance, under its own terms. See our guide on who pays medical bills after a car accident in Nevada.
If you were on a bike
The same Nevada rules on stopping, fault and insurance apply when a driver hits someone on a bicycle. Nevada also sets rules for drivers around bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters (NRS 484B.270):
- When passing, a driver must move to the next lane if one is open and safe.
- With only one lane, the driver must pass at least 3 feet away.
- Drivers must use due care to avoid a collision.
- Drivers may not drive in a bike lane except in listed cases, such as turning into a driveway.
Twelve bicyclists were killed on Clark County roads in 2025 (Office of Traffic Safety, preliminary).
Why this matters more in Las Vegas
- Pedestrians were 81 of the 235 people killed on Clark County roads in 2025, or 34.5%. Clark County had 81 of Nevada's 109 pedestrian deaths that year (Office of Traffic Safety, preliminary).
- Nationally, pedestrians were 18% of traffic deaths in 2024 (IIHS).
- Nevada ranked 4th in the country for pedestrian death rate in 2024: 3.31 per 100,000 people, against 2.08 nationally. FARS counts 108 Nevada pedestrian deaths that year (NHTSA FARS, 1st release).
- From 2020 to 2024, 61% of Nevada's fatal pedestrian crashes happened at night in areas with lighting. The most happened between 6:00 and 8:59 PM (Nevada Traffic Safety Crash Facts).
Two corridors stand out in the RTC-area High Injury Network, dated September 9, 2025 (crashes involving all road users, not only pedestrians). South Las Vegas Boulevard had 75 crashes that killed or seriously injured someone. The stretch named Boulder Hwy had 38 in 6.37 miles, and N Boulder Hwy in Henderson 7 in 2.93 miles (RTC-area data). FOX5 reported in July 2026 that a 2020 RTC study found about 10% of Nevada's pedestrian deaths happened on Boulder Highway (as reported by FOX5). Our guide to the most dangerous roads in Las Vegas has the full list.
If you saw someone get hit
Call 911 and stay if it is safe. Give the officer your name and what you saw. If the person who was hit asks, give them your name and phone number too.
Terms you will hear
- Crosswalk
- A marked crossing, or an unmarked crossing at an intersection. NRS 484B treats both as crosswalks.
- Right of way
- Who must yield to whom under NRS chapter 484B.
- Event number
- The number LVMPD gives an incident. You need it to request the report.
- Hit-and-run
- A driver leaving the scene before doing what NRS 484E requires.
- Comparative negligence
- Nevada's rule for splitting fault, in NRS 41.141.
- Uninsured motorist coverage
- Coverage on your own policy when the at-fault driver has none, if you have it.