Pedestrian Hit by a Car in California: Who Is at Fault

You were walking, a car hit you, and now someone is asking whether you were "in the crosswalk." That question is going to come up a lot. The driver's insurer will use the answer to decide how much of the blame it can push onto you.

This post explains how California decides fault when a car hits a pedestrian. It covers marked and unmarked crosswalks, crossing mid-block, countdown signals, and what the 2023 "Freedom to Walk" changes did and did not change.

In a crosswalk, the driver has to yield

Vehicle Code § 21950(a) says a driver "shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection." Subdivision (c) adds that a driver approaching a pedestrian in a crosswalk "shall exercise all due care" and must slow down or take whatever other action is needed to keep that pedestrian safe.

That is a clear rule, and it matters for your claim because of Evidence Code § 669. When a driver breaks a safety statute and hurts the kind of person the statute was written to protect, the law presumes the driver was negligent. A pedestrian in a crosswalk is exactly who § 21950 protects.

A presumption is not a verdict. The driver can try to rebut it by showing they acted as a reasonably careful person would have in the same situation. But it puts the burden where it belongs, and it is a strong starting point.

"There was no crosswalk" is often wrong

Adjusters love the phrase "there was no crosswalk." Often what they mean is that there was no paint.

Under Vehicle Code § 275, a crosswalk includes the part of the road where the sidewalk lines at an intersection would connect if you extended them across the street, as long as the roads meet at roughly right angles. That is an unmarked crosswalk, and § 21950 gives you the right-of-way there too. Painted lines are only one of the two ways a crosswalk can exist.

There are limits. The statute excludes alley crossings, and there is no crosswalk where the city has posted signs prohibiting pedestrians from crossing at that spot. That is why photos of the intersection, including any signs, matter so much.

Crossing outside a crosswalk

If you crossed mid-block, the rules shift but do not flip entirely.

Vehicle Code § 21954(a) says a pedestrian crossing outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield to vehicles "so near as to constitute an immediate hazard." Section 21955 says that between two adjacent intersections controlled by traffic signals, pedestrians shall not cross except in a crosswalk.

Now the other half. Section 21954(b) says the pedestrian's duty to yield does not relieve the driver of the duty "to exercise due care for the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway." A driver who was speeding, looking at a phone, or simply not watching the road can still be mostly or entirely responsible for hitting someone who stepped out mid-block. Crossing outside a crosswalk is a fact the insurer will use. It is not the end of your claim.

What the Freedom to Walk Act changed

AB 2147, known as the Freedom to Walk Act, was chaptered on September 30, 2022. The amended sections took effect on January 1, 2023. It changed when police can stop a pedestrian for crossing violations like § 21954 and § 21955. An officer now may not stop you for those violations unless "a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision."

People sometimes hear this as "jaywalking is legal now." That overstates it. The underlying rules are still on the books, and each amended section says the change does not relieve a pedestrian of the duty to use due care for their own safety.

For an injury claim, the practical takeaway is this:

• The police enforcement rule changed. Whether you could have been ticketed is a narrower question than it used to be.
• The civil fault question did not go away. An insurer can still argue you were careless, and a jury can still assign you a share of fault.
• The driver's duty did not shrink. The amended sections expressly keep the driver's duty of due care toward pedestrians in the roadway.

The countdown signal argument

A common dispute: you started across on the walk signal, the hand started flashing, and you were hit before you reached the curb.

Vehicle Code § 21456 addresses this directly. When a flashing "DON'T WALK" or countdown signal appears, a pedestrian who has already started crossing may keep going but must finish before the steady "DON'T WALK" appears. If the steady signal comes on while you are still in the road, the statute says to proceed to a sidewalk or safety zone, or otherwise leave the roadway.

So starting on the walk signal and finishing the crossing is lawful. The insurer may still try to paint you as someone who was "crossing against the light." Signal timing records from the city, video, and witnesses are how you answer that.

Driveways, parking lots, and sidewalks

Not every pedestrian crash happens in the street. Drivers pull out of driveways, garages, and parking lots across sidewalks every day without looking to the side.

Vehicle Code § 21952 says a driver, before driving over or onto a sidewalk, "shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian approaching thereon." If you were on the sidewalk and a car rolled out of a driveway into you, that rule applies.

What this means in California

• Partial fault reduces, it does not bar. California follows pure comparative negligence. If a jury found you partly responsible, for example for crossing mid-block, your recovery would be reduced by your share of fault rather than eliminated. Adjusters sometimes talk as though any fault on your part ends the claim. It does not.
• Two years, usually. Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 generally gives you two years from the date of injury to bring a personal injury lawsuit.
• Six months if a public entity is involved. If you were hit by a city bus or another government vehicle, or if a dangerous road condition played a part, a government claim is usually due within six months. See the six-month government claim deadline.
• This is common in the Bay Area. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission reports more than 400 fatalities and 1,500 serious injuries on the Bay Area's local streets and roads each year, and September is California's Pedestrian Safety Month.

Evidence to gather while it still exists

Pedestrian cases often come down to a few seconds and a few feet. That evidence disappears quickly.

• Photos of the exact spot where you were hit, the intersection layout, any painted lines, and any "no crossing" signs.
• Nearby cameras. Businesses, buses, homes with doorbell cameras, and other drivers' dashcams. Ask soon, because footage is often overwritten.
• Witness names and numbers. Pedestrians rarely get the chance to collect these at the scene, so ask a friend or family member to go back and ask around.
• The police report, and a check of what it says about where you were and what the signal showed.
• Your medical records from day one. If you went home "fine" and got worse, get seen as soon as you can. Our post on saying "I'm fine" at the scene explains why that matters.

If the driver did not stop, the claim runs through a different path. See hit-and-run claims in California.

Practical next steps

Get medical care and keep your follow-up appointments. Write down where you were crossing, what the signal showed, and which direction the car came from while you still remember clearly. Do not guess about any of those details on a recorded call with the driver's insurer. If you want someone to look at how fault is likely to be argued in your case, a consultation with our firm is free and there is no fee unless there is a recovery.