Being hit while walking puts you in a strange position legally. You have injuries that are usually worse than the driver's, no vehicle of your own involved, often no memory of the seconds before impact, and a police report written by someone who arrived after it was over.
California law gives pedestrians real protection, and insurers still begin most of these claims by asking what you did wrong. What follows covers the steps that matter in San Diego, the deadlines that run quietly in the background, and the arguments you should expect.
Key Takeaways About Pedestrian Accident Claims
- California gives you two years to file a personal injury lawsuit, but only six months to present a claim if a public entity contributed to the crash through a signal, sightline or roadway condition.
- Drivers must yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks, and a pedestrian still owes a duty of ordinary care.
- California uses pure comparative negligence, so being assigned part of the fault reduces a recovery without eliminating it.
- Insurers routinely open these claims by suggesting the pedestrian stepped out, was distracted, or was crossing outside a crosswalk.
- Evidence disappears fast. Nearby business camera footage is often overwritten within days, and the vehicle gets repaired.
What Are the First Steps After Being Hit by a Car While Walking?
Knowing what to do after a pedestrian accident comes down to a short list handled in order: get medical care even if you think you can walk away, make sure a police report exists and that your account is in it, collect the driver's insurance information and the names of anyone who stopped, photograph the location including signals and parked cars, and decline to give the driver's insurer a recorded statement until you have spoken with a lawyer. Each case is different, and speaking with a lawyer can help clarify what applies to yours.
Key Statistics About Pedestrian Crashes in California
- California recorded 1,090 pedestrian deaths in 2024, more than any other state, according to NHTSA's pedestrian traffic safety data. Volume alone tells you how routine these claims are for the insurers handling them.
- 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities in 2024 happened in the dark, per the same NHTSA data. Lighting, visibility and obstructed sightlines are frequently the real issue in a crash the driver describes as unavoidable.
- 73 percent occurred at non-intersection locations. Crossing outside a crosswalk is common, and it does not remove a driver's duty to use due care.
- In the City of San Diego alone, 522 pedestrians were killed or injured in 2023, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety crash rankings.
Why Is a Pedestrian Claim Different From a Car Accident Claim?
A pedestrian claim usually involves worse injuries and thinner evidence than a typical car crash. There is no second vehicle with damage patterns to analyze, no dashcam in your possession, and frequently no account from you at all because you were transported before anyone took a statement.
That gap gets filled by whoever speaks first, and that is usually the driver.
Coverage also works differently than people expect. The driver's liability insurance is the primary source, and depending on the policies involved, medical payments coverage or uninsured motorist coverage under a household auto policy can apply even though you were on foot. Uninsured motorist coverage, often shortened to UM, is worth checking in any hit and run.
What Problems Do Pedestrians Run Into After a San Diego Crash?
The recurring problems are predictable, which makes them easier to head off.
The police report may already blame you
Officers arrive after the fact and reconstruct from a driver who is conscious and present. If you were taken by ambulance, the narrative may contain no version of events from you at all. A report that assigns you fault is not a legal finding, and it can be supplemented and challenged.
The jaywalking assumption
Crossing outside a crosswalk gets treated as an automatic loss, and that is not what California law says. Our page on jaywalking laws in California covers what changed under the Freedom to Walk Act and what did not.
The first call comes from the driver's insurer
It usually comes within a few days, sounds helpful, and is aimed at a recorded statement while you are medicated and before the full extent of the injuries is known.
Medical bills arrive before liability is sorted out
Treatment does not wait for an adjuster. Health insurance, medical payments coverage and treatment on a lien are all possible paths, and the right one depends on the policies involved.
What California Laws and Deadlines Apply?
Who has the right of way?
Drivers must yield to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, under California Vehicle Code section 21950. The same section requires drivers to reduce speed or take other action as needed for pedestrian safety, and it requires pedestrians to use due care. Both duties coexist. For more, see our discussion of pedestrian right-of-way laws in California.
Does a parked car matter?
It can. California's daylighting rule bars parking within 20 feet of the approach side of a crosswalk, now codified in Vehicle Code section 22500. Enforcement of unmarked curbs began in 2025. A vehicle parked inside that zone that blocked the driver's view of you is a statutory violation worth documenting at the scene.
How long do you have?
Two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
Six months is the deadline that catches people. If a public entity contributed through a malfunctioning signal, a missing crosswalk marking, overgrown vegetation blocking a sightline or a dangerous roadway condition, a written claim must be presented under Government Code section 911.2. That six month window applies to injured children as well, because the usual tolling for minors does not extend to claims against public entities.
What Can a Pedestrian Accident Claim Cover?
Claims typically cover medical treatment already received and treatment reasonably expected going forward, income lost during recovery, and reduced earning capacity when the injury changes what someone can do for work.
They also cover physical pain, limits on daily activity, and the long-term effects of injuries that do not resolve cleanly. Pedestrian impacts produce a specific pattern: lower leg and pelvic fractures from the bumper, and head injuries from the secondary impact with the hood or the ground.
Insurers tend to value these claims from the earliest medical bills, which rarely reflect the surgery or the year of therapy still ahead.
How Do You Build the Record When You Were the One in the Ambulance?
Many people find it helpful to work backward from what the claim will eventually need, rather than trying to remember everything at once. A rough map:
| What the claim needs | Where it usually comes from | How long you have to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Crash narrative and party information | Traffic collision report | Days to weeks |
| Video of the impact | Nearby business or residential cameras | Often overwritten in 7 to 30 days |
| Vehicle condition and damage | Photos before the car is repaired | Days |
| Scene conditions, lighting, sightlines | Photos at the same time of day | Before anything is repaired or repainted |
| Witness accounts | Names taken at the scene, or canvassing | Weeks, memory fades fast |
| Injury documentation | Consistent treatment records | Ongoing, gaps get used against you |
If you are still in the hospital, someone else can take those photos. A friend walking the corner with a phone the same evening is worth more than a reconstruction six months later.
Keeping a short daily note about pain, sleep and what you could not do is also useful. Records written while it is happening read differently than a summary written for a claim.
One more thing worth doing early
Ask whether the driver's vehicle has an event data recorder, often called a black box. Many vehicles store speed, braking and throttle data from the seconds before an impact. That data is routinely overwritten or lost when the vehicle is repaired or sold, and retrieving it requires access to the car while it still exists in its post-crash condition.
Pedestrian Accident Questions Answered by Attorneys
The driver stopped and gave me their information. Do I still need a police report?
In most cases yes. A report creates a contemporaneous record of the location, the conditions and the parties, and it becomes difficult to establish those things later if the driver's account changes. If no report was taken at the scene, a counter report can often still be filed afterward.
I was hit in a store parking lot, not on the street. Is that still the same kind of claim?
The claim against the driver works the same way, and the property owner may become a second defendant if the lot design, lighting or traffic flow contributed. Private lots are not subject to the six month public entity deadline, and they usually have surveillance footage that gets overwritten within weeks.
What if I was hit by a city bus or a government vehicle?
That changes the timeline immediately. A crash involving a public agency's own vehicle or employee requires a written claim to that agency within six months, separate from any question about the roadway itself. Transit districts and school districts are their own entities with their own claim processes, so identifying the right one early matters.
Will my own health insurance pay while the claim is pending?
Often yes, and the health plan will typically assert a lien or a right of reimbursement against any eventual recovery. That is normal and negotiable, and the amount repaid at the end frequently ends up lower than the number first asserted.
How soon do I need to decide about a lawyer?
Sooner than most people do. The window that matters is not the two year filing deadline, it is the two to four weeks in which video still exists, the vehicle is unrepaired and witnesses still remember the intersection.
The Crossing Took Four Seconds. The Rest Should Not Be On You
You were walking. Somebody else was driving a vehicle and did not stop in time. That asymmetry is the whole case, and it tends to get lost once the paperwork starts and the questions turn to what shoes you were wearing and whether you looked up from your phone.
Bonnici Law Group represents people hurt on San Diego streets, and the first conversation costs nothing. Bring the report number if you have one, or bring nothing at all. If you want someone to take over the calls and start preserving what still exists, talk to a San Diego pedestrian accident lawyer before the video is gone. You will have direct access to your attorney for the life of the case, and a team working the file behind them. Don't hire a lawyer. Hire a team.
Call 619-259-5199 for a free consultation. No fee unless we recover.