You were crossing at a corner on the way home, or walking the kids back from a friend's house as the light went, or stepping out of a parking lot at the end of the day. The driver didn't see you. You weren't in a car at all, and now you're the one dealing with insurance.
A pedestrian hit by a vehicle in the Northwest Territories can claim accident benefits for treatment and lost income, whether or not they own a car. Call 911 if you're hurt, get assessed the same day, give an insurer written notice within 30 days, and start a dated record of your symptoms that day.
Being on foot doesn't put you outside the system. It puts you at the centre of it, because you had nothing around you when it happened.
Is a pedestrian covered after being hit by a car in the NWT?
Yes. The standard auto policy in the Northwest Territories includes accident benefits, and they cover a person on foot who is struck by the insured vehicle. They don't depend on who caused the crash, and you don't need to own a car or hold a licence.
The standard policy pays up to $25,000 for medical and rehabilitation costs incurred within four years of the crash. If you were working and the injury keeps you from your job, it pays 80 percent of your gross weekly income, to a maximum of $140 a week, after the first seven days. That weekly benefit only applies if the injury stops you working within 30 days of the crash, so tell your doctor and your insurer as soon as work becomes impossible.
What changes for people walking in the NWT this Winter?
Your mornings get darker. With the clocks staying put on 1 November, Winter sunrises in Yellowknife come an hour later than residents are used to. On Monday 2 November the sun rises at 9:15 a.m., and from 18 November to 3 February it won't be up until after 10 a.m. On 21 December it rises at 11:07 a.m., so the walk to school and to work happens in the dark for most of the Winter. The extra hour moves to the afternoon, where sunset on the shortest day is 4:03 p.m.
Most people hurt on foot here are hurt close to home. In 2024, 9 pedestrians were injured and one was killed on NWT roads, and 9 of those 10 were hit inside a community, according to the Department of Infrastructure. Collisions across the territory peak from November to March, and about a quarter happen in the dark.
Out trick-or-treating? If a child is hit by a car
Halloween falls in the riskiest stretch of the year for children on foot. Across Canada, more children under 15 are hurt as pedestrians in October than in any other month, with November close behind, and nearly a quarter are hurt in those two months, according to Transport Canada collision data for 2021 to 2023. This year Halloween falls on a Saturday, so trick-or-treaters will share the streets with Saturday-night traffic, and in Yellowknife the sun sets at 5:31 p.m. If the worst happens, here is what to do.
Call 911 and stay with your child. Any collision where someone is hurt has to be reported to police, even if the driver says it was nothing.
Get your child checked the same day. Children often can't describe what hurts, and a fall onto pavement or packed snow can hide an injury that shows up later. Tell the doctor or nurse your child was hit by a vehicle.
Be the one who keeps the record. Write down what your child said, how they slept, any change in mood or behaviour, and every school day missed. The record you keep is what shows how the weeks went. Our article on what families should write down goes further.
Send the claim forms on time. Children are covered by accident benefits like anyone else hurt by a vehicle. A child has longer to sue, but the written notice to the insurer is still due within 30 days.
Whose insurance does a pedestrian claim through in the NWT?
Accident benefits can come from two places: the policy on the vehicle that hit you, and an auto policy you're covered under at home as the policyholder, a spouse or a dependent relative. You can recover only one benefit in total, so tell both insurers what happened, and write down who you spoke to and when.
If the driver left the scene, every NWT auto policy includes coverage for uninsured and unidentified drivers, and a household policy covers you on foot. Report it to police within 24 hours and give the insurer a written statement within 30 days.
If you were working when you were hit, tell your employer and the WSCC right away. You don't choose between compensation and suing the driver. The right to sue passes to the WSCC, and you can pursue a claim against the driver yourself only with its written consent. A claim for compensation has to be made within one year. Our article on being hurt at work in the NWT explains how a claim works.
The Territories MVA Companion Guide sets out who to contact, along with the forms and the deadlines.
Does it matter who was at fault?
Not for accident benefits. Those pay for your treatment whoever caused the crash.
Fault matters for a separate claim against the driver, for everything accident benefits don't cover. With the weekly benefit capped at $140, much of a working person's lost pay has to come from that claim. It generally has to start within two years of the day of the crash, not the day you realized how badly you were hurt. Our article on car accident claim deadlines in the territories explains why the date matters.
Why do pedestrian injuries need extra care?
Because there's nothing between you and the vehicle. No seatbelt, no airbag, no frame. Even a slow impact can mean a fall onto pavement or ice, a head injury or a knee or hip that takes the full force.
Adrenaline hides a lot at the scene. Many people stand up, say they're fine and walk home, then wake up the next morning unable to move. Our article on why car accident injuries sometimes appear days later explains why, and why the date a symptom first appears matters so much.
What should you do in the first week?
Four things, in this order.
Get assessed, even if you feel alright. Tell the doctor or nurse you were hit by a vehicle while walking, and describe every symptom, including the small ones. If your community health centre can't see you again for weeks, write down the reason each time, so a gap in treatment isn't read as recovery.
Make sure police know. If you're hurt, call 911, which works in every NWT community. If police didn't come, call the Yellowknife RCMP at 867-669-1111, or your community's detachment, whose number ends in 1111. A collision has to be reported to the RCMP whenever anyone is hurt.
Tell an insurer. Give written notice of your claim within 30 days, and proof of claim within 90 days. Our article on territories claim deadlines lists every date.
Start writing things down. Nobody else records the days between appointments. That part is yours.
What are you allowed to do?
You are allowed to make a claim even though you weren't in a vehicle.
You are allowed to see a doctor days later and say the pain arrived after the crash rather than at it.
You are allowed to say you're afraid to cross that street now, and to have that written into your file alongside the physical injuries.
You are allowed to change your route, or wait for daylight, while you recover.
You are allowed to ask a family member to keep notes for you if writing is hard right now.
What should you record after being hit while walking?
| What to record | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Where you were, which way you were walking and the light, weather and road surface | Sets out how it happened while your memory is clear |
| The vehicle, the driver's details and any witnesses | Hard to find again later, easy to note on day one |
| Your RCMP file number and the dates you notified each insurer | The insurers and later forms will ask for them |
| Every symptom and the date it first appeared | Connects each injury to the collision |
| The first day you couldn't work, and what your doctor said about it | The weekly benefit depends on it starting within 30 days |
| Every appointment, the treatment advice you were given and the reason for any gap | Shows you followed the plan and kept treatment running |
| Every trip for treatment, with the distance, the cost and who travelled with you | Medical travel adds up quickly and is easy to forget |
| What you couldn't do that week that you could do before | Turns the injury into something another person can measure |
The National MVA Recovery Guide is built for anyone hurt in a collision, whether you were driving, riding or walking. It gives every symptom a date and every appointment a page.
Keep your recovery in one place
The National MVA Recovery Guide holds your whole recovery. The Territories MVA Companion Guide adds the insurer, the forms and the deadlines in the Northwest Territories.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because a pedestrian's injuries are often more serious, and the details of the day are hard to rebuild later. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it all.
- The day it happened, and every day after. The National MVA Recovery Guide has space for the first hours after your accident, daily pain and symptom tracking, every appointment and every expense, for anyone hurt by a vehicle.
- The territory's rules, in plain words. The Territories MVA Companion Guide holds the deadlines, forms and insurer routes in the Northwest Territories, with a log for every trip to treatment.
- Made for hard days. 192 pages and more than 1,600 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language.
Both guides, $39 until 22 November. The National MVA Recovery Guide and the Territories MVA Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Bought separately: $63.99.
Get both guidesRead next
- Recovering After a Car Accident in the Territories: A Complete Guide
- Territories Car Accident Claim Deadlines
- “I Got the Call About My Teen!” | Your Teen Was in a Car Accident: What Families Should Write Down
- “I Felt Fine. Now I Hurt!” | Why Car Accident Injuries Sometimes Appear Days Later
Last verified 25 October 2026. Accident benefits and the one-benefit rule from the standard owner's policy for the Northwest Territories, S.P.F. No. 1; hit-and-run steps from the Uninsured Automobile Coverage Regulations; police reporting from the Motor Vehicles Act; workers' compensation rules from the Workers' Compensation Act; the two-year limit from the Limitation of Actions Act; police contacts from the NWT RCMP; the end of seasonal time change from the Government of the Northwest Territories, 23 September 2026; 2024 pedestrian and collision figures from the Department of Infrastructure's 2024 NWT Traffic Collision Facts; child pedestrian figures from Transport Canada's National Collision Database, 2021 to 2023; sun times calculated for Yellowknife. This article is general information for people in the Northwest Territories. It is not medical, legal or insurance advice.
