I Was Hit by a Car in a Crosswalk — What Are My Rights?
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks — marked or unmarked — and a crosswalk strike is usually the driver’s liability. Even outside a crosswalk, jaywalking no longer bars recovery: California decriminalized safe mid-block crossing, and comparative fault only reduces, never eliminates, a pedestrian’s claim. Injuries are typically serious; so are these cases.
Struck as a pedestrian? The law leans your way — 24/7.
Se habla español — Llama Me. No out-of-pocket fees — we work on contingency.
Do drivers always have to yield at crosswalks?
At every intersection: the duty to yield applies at marked crosswalks and unmarked ones — the implied crossings at any intersection (Veh. Code § 21950). The same statute tells pedestrians not to step suddenly into a vehicle’s path, which is the hook insurers use — but the driver’s duty includes approaching crosswalks at safe speeds with due care. A pedestrian in a crosswalk starts from the strongest liability position in traffic law.
I was crossing mid-block. Did I lose my rights?
No. The “Freedom to Walk” Act ended tickets for safe mid-block crossing (AB 2147), and even where a pedestrian shares fault, California’s pure comparative negligence means the claim is reduced by their percentage — not eliminated. Insurers still run the “jaywalker = no case” script because it makes claims go away cheap. It’s a negotiating position, not the law.
What makes pedestrian cases different from car-versus-car?
Three things. The injuries: unprotected bodies against vehicles mean fractures, head trauma, and long recoveries — high damages. The evidence: no second vehicle’s story, so scene evidence, vehicle damage points, surveillance and doorbell footage, and event-data-recorder speed matter enormously and vanish fast. The coverage: seriously injured pedestrians routinely exceed the driver’s policy — your own auto policy’s UM/UIM coverage covers you as a pedestrian, something most people never realize.
The driver stayed, but has minimal insurance. The driver fled. What then?
Minimal insurance: collect their limits, then your own underinsured motorist coverage bridges toward your damages. Fled: a hit-and-run pedestrian strike is a crime and a UM claim — report to police within 24 hours and see the hit-and-run playbook. Struck by a city vehicle or bus, or a dangerous intersection contributed: the six-month government claim clock starts immediately (details).
What should I do in the first week?
Full medical evaluation — pedestrian injuries hide (internal injuries, slow-bleed head trauma). Photograph injuries and the scene; canvass for cameras before footage overwrites; get the traffic collision report started; and refer insurer contact to counsel before giving statements. The driver’s insurer moves fast in pedestrian cases precisely because the exposure is large. En español: me atropelló un carro.
Big exposure makes fast insurers. Be faster.
Se habla español — Llama Me. No out-of-pocket fees — we work on contingency.
