Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers for Brentwood
Brentwood grew from farm town to family suburb in a generation, and its crosswalks now carry strollers, students, and seniors across roads that got wider every year. If a driver hit you on foot, the review is free — no fee unless we win.
Brentwood's downtown still works the way a farm town's main blocks always did: City Park at the center, the farmers market and summer concerts drawing families on foot, shops and restaurants along Oak Street and First Street. It is the most walked square quarter-mile in East County on a weekend — and every family walking there crossed at least one wide road to reach it.
Those wide roads are the modern city. Balfour Road, Lone Tree Way, and Sand Creek Road were expanded to serve thousands of new homes, and they now carry fast traffic past schools, medical offices, and shopping centers. Brentwood Boulevard — old Highway 4 — still runs truck and through-traffic straight down the city's spine. Between school runs, park trips, and errands, Brentwood residents cross this pavement constantly, mostly without incident. When a driver fails them, the injuries are rarely minor.
We handle pedestrian injury cases throughout East County. If a driver hit you or your child in Brentwood, we will secure the evidence, manage the insurance company, and tell you honestly where the case stands. The consultation is free, and you owe nothing unless we recover.
A walking downtown ringed by fast roads
Downtown's risk peaks when it is busiest. Market mornings and concert evenings fill the crossings around City Park, Oak Street, and First Street with families, while drivers circle the surrounding blocks for parking. The characteristic collision is the slow-speed failure to yield — a driver rolling a stop or turning across a crosswalk while looking past the people in it. For a toddler in a stroller or a senior at the market, slow-speed is a relative term.
The arterials generate the serious cases. Balfour Road's long, multi-lane crossings near the medical campus and the high schools ask a lot of anyone on foot; Lone Tree Way and Sand Creek Road add retail driveways and fast signal-to-signal traffic; Brentwood Boulevard mixes local crossings with through-traffic that treats it like the highway it used to be. School zones deserve particular attention — Brentwood's student population walks and bikes in numbers, and morning drop-off traffic is its own hazard.
Brentwood Police Department reports, school-zone records, and shopping-center camera footage anchor these cases, and all three are easiest to obtain quickly. The first step is a free conversation about what happened and what the claim needs.
California law that protects people on foot
- Drivers must yield the right of way to pedestrians in marked crosswalks and in unmarked crosswalks at intersections — a crossing does not need painted lines to be legally protected.
- Even outside a crosswalk, drivers owe pedestrians due care. Crossing mid-block may affect the fault allocation, but it does not strip you of the right to recover.
- California's pure comparative negligence rule means partial fault reduces your recovery by your percentage — it never automatically bars the claim, no matter what an adjuster implies.
- Most pedestrian injury claims must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
- If a dangerous public condition contributed — a malfunctioning signal, an obstructed crosswalk, poor intersection design — a claim against the public entity generally must be presented within six months.
Frequently asked questions
My daughter was hit in a school-zone crosswalk on Balfour Road. What should we do first?
Medical care first, and keep every record. Then preserve the practical evidence: the police report, contact information for crossing guards and parent witnesses, and photos of the crossing. A minor's claim has extra procedural protections — settlements require court approval — and if the crossing's design or signage contributed, a government claim generally must be presented within six months. We can carry all of it while your family focuses on her recovery.
How long does a pedestrian injury claim stay open in Brentwood?
The general California deadline is two years from the injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Claims involving a dangerous condition of public property — signals, crosswalk visibility, road design — generally require a government claim within six months. And functionally, the useful life of camera footage and witness memory is measured in weeks. All three clocks argue for starting early.
I was crossing Brentwood Boulevard away from a signal. The adjuster called it jaywalking and closed the file.
Adjusters do not get to close California law. Under pure comparative negligence, crossing outside a crosswalk assigns you at most a share of fault that reduces recovery — it never bars the claim outright. Drivers owe due care to pedestrians everywhere, and on a road with long gaps between signals, the driver's speed and attention are central questions. An adjuster's 'closed file' is where our work usually begins.
Does my auto policy protect me if the driver was uninsured?
It very well may. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can apply to you as a pedestrian — your policy, or a policy in your household, follows you onto the sidewalk. After a collision with an uninsured or underinsured driver, reviewing every available policy is one of the first things we do, and the review is free.
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Injured in Brentwood? Talk to us first.
The case review is free and confidential, and you pay nothing unless we win. Tell us what happened, and we will tell you honestly where you stand.