What to Do If You're Hit by a Car as a Pedestrian in California

If a car hits you while you are walking in California, get medical care right away, make sure a police report is made, and protect the evidence before it disappears. The California Vehicle Code puts a heavy duty of care on drivers, and you may be able to recover medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering even if you were partly at fault. Most injury lawsuits must be filed within two years, but a claim against a government agency can carry a deadline as short as six months.

There is no bumper, airbag, or seatbelt between a person on foot and a two-ton vehicle, which is why these crashes so often cause serious harm. What you do in the hours and weeks afterward shapes both your recovery and the value of your claim.

Key Points

• See a doctor the same day, even if you think you are okay. Brain injuries and internal bleeding can hide behind adrenaline.
• Drivers must yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks and in unmarked crosswalks at intersections, and they must use due care even when someone crosses mid-block.
• California's pure comparative fault rule means a share of the blame reduces your recovery but does not erase it.
• Surveillance video is often recorded over within days or weeks, so evidence needs to be secured quickly.
• More than one party, including an employer, a rideshare company, or a government agency, may share responsibility.
• You generally have two years to sue, but a claim against a public entity usually must be filed within six months.

Why Pedestrian Crashes in California Are So Serious

A collision that leaves a driver with a dented hood can leave a person on foot with broken bones, a head injury, or worse. The numbers reflect that. The California Office of Traffic Safety reports that 1,106 pedestrians died in California traffic crashes in 2023. That was fewer than in 2022, but people on foot still made up roughly 27 percent of everyone killed on the state's roads.

Los Angeles County leads the state. UC Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) counted roughly 273 people on foot killed and 959 seriously hurt in the county in 2023, the highest totals of any California county.

What to Do Right After You Are Hit

Each step protects your health first and your claim second. Gaps in the record are exactly where adjusters look for room to cut a claim.

1. Get out of the road and call 911

If you can move, get to the sidewalk so you are not struck again. Call 911 even if your injuries seem small. Paramedics can check you, and officers will prepare a collision report identifying the driver, the vehicle, and the witnesses.

2. Get checked by a doctor the same day

Adrenaline hides pain, and concussions or internal bleeding may not show up for hours or days. If you wait a week to see a doctor, the adjuster will argue that something else caused your symptoms or that you were never really hurt. Go to the ER or urgent care as soon as you can, and keep every follow-up appointment.

3. Document the scene if you are able

If your condition allows, or if someone with you can help, collect:

• Photos or video of the vehicle, its license plate, the crosswalk or lane markings, traffic signals, skid marks, and your injuries
• The driver's name, phone number, and insurance information
• Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash
• The officers' names, badge numbers, and the report number
• Nearby businesses, homes, or buses that may have cameras facing the street

Camera footage is the evidence that vanishes fastest. Many systems record over themselves within days or a few weeks, so ask about it early or have a lawyer send a preservation request.

4. Stick to facts and leave fault out of it

In shock, people say things like "I never saw the car" or "I'm fine," and those words can resurface later as proof that you were careless or uninjured. Give the police accurate facts and let the evidence decide who was to blame.

5. Be careful with the driver's insurance company

Expect a call from the driver's insurer within a day or two. The adjuster may sound friendly, but the job is to close your claim cheaply. You do not have to give a recorded statement, and you should not settle before you know how serious your injuries are.

6. Keep the physical evidence and a recovery journal

Keep the clothes and shoes you were wearing, unwashed and unrepaired; damage to them can show how the impact happened. Save medical bills, receipts, and insurer letters. A short daily note about your pain, missed work, and lost activities becomes strong proof of pain and suffering.

7. Talk to a lawyer before you sign anything

Insurers sometimes move fast to lock in a low number, and a signed release usually ends the claim for good. A free consultation with a pedestrian accident lawyer can show you what your claim involves before you give anything up.

California Laws That Protect Pedestrians

Drivers often say the pedestrian came out of nowhere or was jaywalking. California law does not let them off that easily. These Vehicle Code sections come up again and again:

• Vehicle Code section 21950: Drivers must yield to a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, and they must slow down or take other action to keep a pedestrian in a crosswalk safe. An unmarked crosswalk generally exists where sidewalks meet at an intersection, even with no paint on the road.
• Vehicle Code section 21954: A pedestrian crossing outside any crosswalk must yield to vehicles close enough to be an immediate hazard. The statute also makes clear that drivers must still use due care for the safety of any pedestrian on the roadway.
• Vehicle Code section 21952: A driver crossing a sidewalk, such as when entering or leaving a driveway, alley, parking structure, or lot, must yield to pedestrians on that sidewalk.
• The Freedom to Walk Act (AB 2147): Since January 1, 2023, police generally cannot stop pedestrians for crossing outside a crosswalk unless a reasonably careful person would recognize an immediate danger of a collision. It changes ticketing, not civil fault rules, but it undercuts the idea that crossing mid-block automatically makes you to blame.

For a closer look at who must yield and when, see our guide to pedestrian right-of-way laws in California.

What if you were partly at fault?

California follows pure comparative fault. If you were partly responsible, for example because you started across against a Don't Walk signal, you can still recover. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you were found 20 percent responsible, you could still collect 80 percent of your damages. Every point of fault an adjuster pins on you is money the insurer keeps, so blame arguments deserve a hard look.

Common Causes of Pedestrian Accidents

Most of these crashes come down to driver negligence: distraction from phones or passengers, speeding, failing to yield at crosswalks and school zones, running red lights, impaired driving, turning drivers who watch for cars and miss the person in the crosswalk, and drivers backing up in parking lots and driveways.

Injuries Pedestrians Commonly Suffer

Because nothing absorbs the impact, pedestrian injuries tend to be severe. Common ones include:

• Traumatic brain injuries, which can affect memory, thinking, and personality
• Fractures of the legs, hips, pelvis, arms, and ribs
• Spinal cord injuries, from nerve damage to paralysis
• Internal injuries, such as organ damage and internal bleeding
• Facial injuries that may need reconstructive surgery and scar revision
• Road rash and soft tissue damage, which can scar or cause lasting pain

When a pedestrian does not survive, close family members may be able to bring a wrongful death claim for funeral costs, lost financial support, and the loss of their loved one's companionship.

Who Can Be Held Responsible?

Finding every responsible party matters because each one may bring its own insurance. Depending on the facts, that can include:

• The driver, for speeding, distraction, running a light, driving impaired, or other careless conduct
• The driver's employer, if the driver was on the job, such as making deliveries, when the crash happened
• A rideshare company, whose coverage depends on what the driver was doing in the app; California requires at least $1 million in liability coverage while a driver is headed to a pickup or carrying a passenger
• A government agency, if a dangerous road design, a broken crosswalk signal, missing signs, or poor maintenance helped cause the crash
• A vehicle or parts manufacturer, if defective brakes, steering, or safety sensors caused or worsened the collision

What Compensation Can Cover

Economic damages

Measurable financial losses: hospital and surgery bills, therapy, medication, in-home care, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and future treatment.

Personal property

You may have no car to repair, but you can claim the repair cost or fair value of items damaged in the crash, such as a phone, laptop, glasses, bag, clothing, or a wheelchair or stroller.

Non-economic damages

Losses without a receipt: pain and suffering, emotional distress (including post-traumatic stress), loss of enjoyment of life, scarring, and the strain on a marriage or family.

Punitive damages

In rare cases, such as some drunk-driving crashes, a court may award punitive damages to punish especially reckless conduct. California requires clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud, so these damages are the exception, not the rule.

Who Pays Your Medical Bills While the Claim Is Pending?

The at-fault driver's insurer usually does not pay medical bills as they arrive. It pays once, at settlement. In the meantime, treatment may be covered by your health insurance, by medical payments (MedPay) coverage on your own or a household member's auto policy, or by uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage if the driver had no insurance or not enough. Do not let cost keep you from treatment; delayed care hands the insurer an argument against you.

What Affects the Value of Your Claim?

No honest lawyer or adjuster can name a figure without reviewing your records. The factors that move a claim's value include:

• How severe and how permanent your injuries are
• Your past and expected future medical costs
• How the injuries affect your ability to work
• How clear the driver's fault is, and whether comparative fault is in play
• The insurance available, including the driver's limits and your own UM/UIM coverage
• Whether a government agency or a business shares responsibility

Here is something adjusters rarely explain: when two people walking together are hit by the same car, each one has a separate claim with separate injuries and losses, and neither can settle on the other's behalf. But both claims may be paid from the same policy, and California's minimum liability limits are only $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. When coverage is thin, finding other insurance early can make a real difference.

How Insurers Push Back on Pedestrian Claims

Our founder, Matthew Nezhad, has fought for injured Californians since founding the firm in 2002.

A lawyer counters by preserving video, bringing in an accident reconstruction expert when fault is disputed, finding every applicable policy, meeting government claim deadlines, and going to court if the insurer will not be fair. For more on how adjusters operate, read our insider list of adjuster tricks.

How Long You Have to File

In most California pedestrian cases, you have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Miss that deadline and you can lose the right to recover anything. If a city, county, or state agency may be responsible, for example because of a dangerous road, a broken signal, or a government vehicle, you generally must file a written government claim within six months. If that claim is rejected, the time to sue afterward is usually short as well. Because the right deadline depends on the facts, talk to a lawyer as soon as you can.

Talk to Oaks Law Firm

Recovering from being hit by a car is hard enough without arguing with an insurance company over who had the right of way. Our team knows from the inside how insurers investigate and value pedestrian claims, and we know their first offer rarely reflects what a claim is worth. We are based at 15233 Ventura Blvd, 5th Floor, in Koreatown and Central Los Angeles and help injured people across California.

If you or someone you love was hit while walking, contact us for a free case review or call (818) 740-7904. You pay no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation for you.