Los Angeles Pedestrian
& Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Who has the right of way

California's Vehicle Code gives pedestrians and cyclists specific protections that adjusters do not always volunteer.

• Crosswalks, marked or unmarked. A driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing within any crosswalk. Every intersection has an unmarked crosswalk at each corner unless signs say otherwise, whether or not there is paint on the road.
• Turning drivers. A driver turning on a green light or a right on red must still yield to pedestrians lawfully in the crosswalk. Turning collisions are the most common way people get hit at signalized intersections.
• Three feet for cyclists. A driver passing a bicycle must keep at least three feet of clearance, and if that is not possible, must slow down and pass only when it is safe.
• Bike lanes. Drivers may not drive in a bike lane except to park, enter or leave the road, or prepare for a turn, and must yield to cyclists already in it.
• Dooring. The person opening a car door is responsible for making sure it is safe to do so.
• Pedestrians have duties too. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a car that is too close to stop, and must yield outside crosswalks. These are the rules insurers rely on to shift fault.

How these collisions happen

• Left and right turns at intersections, with the driver watching for cars and not for the person in the crosswalk.
• Mid-block crossings, particularly on wide arterials where the nearest signal is a long walk away.
• Backing out of driveways and parking spaces.
• Right hooks and left crosses of cyclists, where a driver turns across a bike lane or oncoming cyclist.
• Dooring on streets with parking next to a bike lane.
• Hit and run. A large share of Los Angeles pedestrian collisions involve a driver who leaves. That does not end the claim.
• Poor lighting, obstructed sight lines, and missing or faded crosswalk markings, which can make the road itself part of the problem.

If you were outside the crosswalk

Being outside a crosswalk, crossing against a signal, or riding without lights at night does not end your claim. California uses pure comparative fault: responsibility is divided by percentage, and your recovery is reduced by your share rather than barred by it. A pedestrian found 40 percent at fault for crossing mid-block still recovers 60 percent of the damages, and given the injuries in these cases that is usually still substantial.

Expect the insurer to push the percentage as high as it can. The response is the physical evidence: the driver's speed from the damage and the throw distance, the driver's sight line and whether they were looking at a phone, the lighting, and any camera footage from the intersection or a nearby business, which is usually overwritten within days.

Coverage when you were not in a car

People hit while walking or riding often assume that if the driver fled or had no insurance, there is nothing to recover from. Usually that is wrong.

• Your own auto policy. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your auto policy generally covers you as a pedestrian or cyclist, not only as a driver. For a hit and run, California generally requires that the vehicle made physical contact with you, and the crash should be reported to police promptly.
• A household member's auto policy. Resident relatives are frequently covered under each other's UM coverage.
• The driver's policy, plus any umbrella coverage above it.
• The driver's employer's commercial policy, if the driver was working, including delivery drivers.
• A rideshare policy, if the driver was on the Uber or Lyft app. More on rideshare coverage.
• Medical payments coverage on an applicable auto policy, which pays early regardless of fault.

I check every one of these on every pedestrian and bicycle case, because this is where the actual recovery frequently comes from.

Dangerous intersections and public entities

Some collisions happen because the road was designed or maintained badly: a crosswalk on a high-speed arterial with no signal, a signal timed so that pedestrians are still crossing when cars get a green arrow, a missing or faded crosswalk, an obstructed sight line, or inadequate lighting. When that is true, the city, county, or state may share responsibility under California's dangerous condition of public property law.

These claims have a six-month deadline to file a written government claim before any lawsuit, and they require evidence of the road's condition, prior complaints, and prior collisions at the same location. If there is any chance the road contributed, that six-month date is the most urgent one in the case.

What a claim may include

Medical

Emergency and trauma care, surgery, rehabilitation, and future care. Pedestrian injuries frequently involve fractures, head injuries, and spinal injuries requiring long recovery.

Lost income

Wages missed and reduced earning capacity.

Pain and suffering

Physical pain and the loss of activities and independence.

Scarring and disfigurement

Recognized separately in California.

Property

The bicycle, e-bike, or scooter, and phone, clothing, and other items.

Wrongful death

Where a family member was killed, the surviving family's separate claim. More on wrongful death claims.

Deadlines

Injury claims

Two years from the date of the collision.

Dangerous road or government vehicle

Six months to file a written government claim.

Hit and run UM claims

Your policy will require prompt police reporting and notice to the insurer; the terms vary and can be short.

Minors

The statute is generally paused until the child turns eighteen, but the six-month government claim deadline is not reliably paused. Do not wait.

How I handle pedestrian and bicycle cases

Camera footage first, because it settles the fault argument and it disappears fast. Then the police report, the driver's information and coverage, every UM policy in your household, and a look at the intersection itself to see whether the road is part of the story. Then the case follows your treatment.

• You deal with me directly. I keep the caseload small enough to personally handle every file.
• I build the file for trial even though most cases settle, because that is what an adjuster prices against. When a case needs a courtroom, it gets one.
• No attorney fee unless there is a recovery. The fee and case costs are written down before any work begins.

More about my background.

Pedestrian and bicycle accident questions

Related practice areas