People who live in rural areas may enjoy many freedoms that people in urban areas don’t experience. They can be as loud as they want in their own homes in many cases, as there are no other homes nearby to complain about their music. They don’t have to worry about working on a vehicle on their front lawn, as there isn’t a homeowners association to cite them for having a non-functional vehicle visible from the road.
However, there are trade-offs to living in rural areas. While there may often be less traffic on rural roads, the speed limit is usually higher. Drivers may also feel more confident engaging in unsafe conduct on rural roads because there are fewer police officers conducting traffic patrols. People who live in the country are at risk of mailbox injuries because of how unsafe others are on the road.
What is a mailbox injury?
A mailbox injury involves a person getting hit by a vehicle while they cross the road to check their mail. Some mailbox injuries are severe and put people in the hospital. A driver fails to notice a pedestrian and hits them while they are on the road or at the mailbox. Other times, people may suffer broken bones or major lacerations because a driver clips them while they are at their mailbox or crossing the street.
How can people avoid mailbox injuries?
Most of the time, moving the placement of a mailbox isn’t an option. Even if a homeowner could relocate the mailbox to the same side of the road as their home, they could still end up injured when they enter the street to collect their mail.
Frequently, the drivers who hit people checking their mail claim that they didn’t see them. They don’t look for pedestrians on rural roads the way that they might watch for people on foot in the city. Inattentional blindness may contribute to pedestrian crash risk, as drivers may not cognitively recognize the pedestrian even if they look right at them.
Choosing to check the mail when the sun is still out is usually the best option. Mailbox injuries are more likely at night when people cannot see pedestrians until they are dangerously close. Additionally, people may want to wait for a break in traffic instead of trying to rush to cross the street in between vehicles. Securing a mailbox that the homeowner can open from the rear can help them avoid a scenario where they have to stand in the street to collect their mail.
If people incur mailbox injuries because drivers make poor choices, they may have a right to pursue compensation. Pedestrian collisions can pave the way for insurance claims and even personal injury lawsuits.