LOS ANGELES BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN
ACCIDENT LAWYERS

What we handle

• Pedestrians struck in crosswalks and at intersections
• Mid-block and parking lot strikes
• Right-turn and left-turn collisions
• Backing incidents in driveways and lots
• Cyclists hit by turning or merging vehicles
• Dooring collisions
• Cyclists forced off the road
• Children struck near schools and residential streets
• Hit-and-run cases
• Collisions caused by dangerous roadway design or missing signals

Pedestrian right of way in California

Vehicle Code section 21950 requires drivers to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk. The part people miss is that this includes unmarked crosswalks — an unmarked crosswalk generally exists at an intersection even where no paint is on the ground.

The statute also directs drivers to exercise due care for pedestrian safety generally and to reduce speed or take other action as needed. Pedestrians have obligations too, including not suddenly leaving a curb into the path of an immediate hazard. But the framework tilts toward protecting the person on foot.

Crossing outside a crosswalk is not a crime anymore

This matters because insurers still argue it as if it were.

California's Freedom To Walk Act took effect January 1, 2023 and decriminalized crossing outside a crosswalk. Officers may issue a citation only where the crossing creates an immediate danger of collision.

Crossing outside a crosswalk may still assign you a share of comparative fault. But it doesn't make the crash your fault, it isn't a crime, and it doesn't bar your claim. Drivers continue to owe a duty of care to everyone on the road.

Bicycle laws that decide cases

The law around cycling in California has shifted, and the insurer's playbook hasn't caught up.

The coverage most people don't know they have

This is the single most useful thing on this page.

If you were hit while walking or cycling, your own auto insurance may cover you — specifically your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and your medical payments coverage. You don't have to have been in a car. The coverage typically follows the insured person, not just the vehicle.

This matters enormously in two situations: hit-and-run collisions, where the driver is never identified, and crashes where the at-fault driver carries minimum limits that don't come close to the medical bills.

Bring us your own policy declarations page even if you think it's irrelevant. It frequently isn't.

Why these cases get fought hard

Pedestrian and cyclist injuries are severe, which means the exposure is large, which means the defense invests in the fault fight. Expect arguments that you stepped out suddenly, that you were wearing dark clothing, that you were looking at your phone, that you weren't in a crosswalk, that you were riding outside the bike lane, or that you weren't wearing a helmet.

Comparative fault reduces recovery; it doesn't eliminate it. And the initial percentage an adjuster assigns is almost always higher than the evidence supports.

Evidence gets gathered fast: intersection and business surveillance footage, often overwritten within 30 days; vehicle damage patterns and point of impact; lighting and sightline conditions at the time of day it happened; witness accounts; and where warranted, a reconstruction expert.

Deadlines

Two years for most claims. Six months for an administrative claim if a public entity was involved — which comes up more often here than in other case types, because dangerous intersections, missing crosswalk markings, obscured signage, inadequate lighting, and defective roadway design are all potential public entity claims.