Wilshire, Sunset and San Vicente are built for cars and for walking at the same time, with long blocks, busy driveways and corners where a turning driver is looking for a gap, not for a person already in the street. When a person on foot is hit in Brentwood or along those corridors, California’s crosswalk statute is usually the opening rule in the file, and it is more demanding of drivers than many people expect.
The driver’s duty in a crosswalk
VEH 21950 requires the driver of a vehicle to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk, or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except as otherwise provided in that chapter. The same section tells a driver who is approaching a pedestrian in any marked or unmarked crosswalk to exercise all due care and to reduce speed, or take any other action in the operation of the vehicle, as needed to safeguard that person.
The statute also says it does not relieve a pedestrian of the duty of using due care for their own safety. A person on foot may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and step or run into traffic that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard, and may not unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. That pedestrian duty does not relieve the driver of due care for a person already in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. The official text repeats that last point so it cannot be missed.
A peace officer shall not stop a pedestrian for a violation of this section unless a reasonably careful person would see there is an immediate danger of a collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power. That enforcement limit does not relieve the pedestrian or the driver of due care.
How fault is compared
Official instruction CACI 405 reduces a recovery by the injured person’s percentage of responsibility, with no half-fault cutoff in the instruction. An adjuster will often quote the “sudden leave from the curb” sentence and ignore the driver’s duty to yield and to slow down. Photographs of the marking, the signal, the distance from the curb and the driver’s approach, plus any camera footage from a nearby building, are the usual answer. Handheld phone use under VEH 23123.5 can also belong in the same letter.
A person walking outside a crosswalk is not automatically without a claim, and a person in a marked crossing is not automatically paid in full. The facts of the corner matter. A mid-block dash at night is a different file from a driver who turned left on Wilshire and looked only at oncoming traffic.
After the crash
Call for help. If you can, get the motorist’s name, plate and coverage before the scene clears. Photograph the crosswalk markings, the signal heads, the point of impact if you know it, your visible injuries and any damage to bags or strollers. Ask a companion to do this if you cannot. Request the crash report through the official LAPD or CHP path in the report guide.
Get medical care the same day even if you think the pain will fade on its own. Pedestrian crashes produce hip, head and internal injuries that are not always obvious at the curb. Keep bills and a simple list of missed work or missed school with the report number. The medical-bills guide explains why health-plan letters belong in that folder.
If the driver left, or had no insurance, uninsured-motorist coverage on a household policy may still help a family member who was on foot, subject to INS 11580.2, including the physical-contact and 24-hour report hooks for an unknown driver. CIV 3333.4 can also affect non-economic damages in the situations it names. The uninsured and Proposition 213 guide covers those rules.
Deadlines and public entities
A lawsuit still has to be lodged with a clerk within two years under CCP 335.1. If a city vehicle, a county vehicle or a street-defect theory is in the file, GOV 911.2 requires a six-month written claim. A child’s ordinary lawsuit clock can pause under CCP 352, and a government claim does not get that pause. The government-claims guide and the children’s guide take those dates in more detail.
If you talk with an attorney, bring the photographs, the report number, the declarations page and any witness names from the corner. Confirm the person’s California license, and ask what pedestrian cases like yours that office has handled.
Work zones and night walking
A temporary closure on Sunset or a dark stretch of San Vicente with a faded marking can change the facts of a pedestrian case. Photograph the lighting, the temporary signs and the condition of the paint the same evening if you can. If a public street condition or a public vehicle is part of the story, the six-month government-claim date is already running. The work-zone and street-problem guide explains why those photographs should be taken before a night crew resets the scene.
You can tell your own insurer, if a household auto policy may provide medical-payments or uninsured-motorist coverage to a family member on foot, that the wreck happened. You do not have to sit for a statement on tape with the other driver’s insurer, and you do not have to guess about whether you had a walk signal if you are not sure. A later look at the signal timing and the photographs is more useful than an early guess.
- Unmarked crosswalk at an intersection
- The crossing space VEH 21950 treats like a marked crosswalk for yield purposes, even when no paint is on the street.
- Immediate hazard
- The statute’s phrase for a vehicle already so close that a sudden step from the curb would not give the driver a fair chance to yield.
- Due care
- The duty the official text keeps on both the driver and the person on foot, even after it describes the specific yield and crossing rules.