Personal injury guide
Hit by a Car as a Pedestrian
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and you may still have a claim outside one. The driver’s insurance, or your own, usually pays.
The short answer
Drivers must watch for you
A person on foot has no protection in a collision with a car, and pedestrian injuries are often serious, including fractures, head injuries, and long recoveries.
California law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and to use due care around pedestrians everywhere, including people crossing outside a crosswalk.
Insurance companies often argue that the pedestrian was partly to blame, for crossing outside a crosswalk, against a signal, or while distracted. Under California’s comparative fault rule, that argument can reduce a recovery, but it does not bar a claim.
This guide explains the right-of-way rules, how fault is shared, where compensation comes from, and what to do after a pedestrian crash.
1. In a crosswalk
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in any marked crosswalk and in unmarked crosswalks at intersections. An unmarked crosswalk exists at most intersections even when no lines are painted. Pedestrians, for their part, must not suddenly step into the path of a car too close to stop.
2. Outside a crosswalk
A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles close enough to be an immediate hazard. California law now generally prevents police from ticketing a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk unless there is an immediate danger of a collision.
Crossing mid-block does not take away a claim. The driver still must use due care, and fault is divided according to what each person did.
3. What drivers must do
Slow down and take care near pedestrians and crosswalks
Never pass a car that has stopped to let a pedestrian cross
Watch for pedestrians when turning at intersections
Yield to pedestrians on the sidewalk when entering or leaving a driveway or parking lot
Check carefully before backing up
4. When fault is shared
If a jury finds a pedestrian 20 percent at fault, the recovery is reduced by 20 percent. Insurers often point to dark clothing at night, phone use, or crossing against a signal. Video, witnesses, and the driver’s speed and attention often answer those arguments. Our guide on who is at fault explains comparative fault in more detail.
5. Hit-and-run pedestrian crashes
Call the police immediately. If the driver is never found, the uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, or on a policy held by a family member you live with, may cover your injuries even though you were walking. Those claims carry short reporting deadlines, explained in our guide to uninsured and hit-and-run drivers.
6. Who pays
The driver’s liability insurance
Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
Medical payments coverage on your own auto policy
Your health insurance
A public agency, if a dangerous road condition or a broken signal contributed, which requires a claim within six months
7. At the scene and after
Call 911, and do not move if you may be seriously hurt
Get the driver’s name, insurance, and license plate
Get the names and phone numbers of witnesses
Photograph the crosswalk, signals, lighting, and the car
Get medical care the same day
8. Evidence that matters
Video often decides pedestrian cases. Traffic cameras, buses, businesses, and doorbell cameras may have recorded the crash, but footage is often deleted within days. Signal timing records, the location of the damage on the car, the lighting, and witness statements all help show what happened. We move quickly to request and preserve it.
Talk with us
Montanez Yu represents people injured in car accidents, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, dog bites, and slips and falls throughout Southern California. Consultations are free. No fee and no costs unless we recover. Call (951) 444-7407 or request a free consultation, and we will start preserving the evidence in your case.
This guide is general information about California law, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.