Alameda County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers for Fremont
Fremont stretches for miles, and its crossings stretch with it — Fremont Boulevard, Mowry Avenue, Paseo Padre. If a driver hit you on foot anywhere from Niles to Warm Springs, the case review is free and no fee unless we win.
Fremont is five historic towns stitched together by boulevards, and for a person on foot, those boulevards are the challenge. Fremont Boulevard, Mowry Avenue, and Paseo Padre Parkway are wide, fast, and long, with intersections engineered for vehicle throughput — multiple turn lanes, sweeping corners, crossings that take a full signal cycle to walk. The city's daily life happens on both sides of them: schools, temples and churches, markets, Lake Elizabeth and Central Park, the downtown emerging around Capitol Avenue.
Foot traffic keeps growing. The Capitol Avenue downtown puts restaurants and events within walking range of new housing, the Fremont BART station feeds commuters across the surrounding arterials every weekday, and Warm Springs BART has brought walkers to a district built for industry. In the older districts — Niles' small main street, Irvington's crossings near Five Corners, Centerville along Fremont Boulevard — walking has always been part of the fabric.
When a driver fails a Fremont pedestrian, the injuries tend to be serious; arterial speeds see to that. We investigate these collisions, deal with the insurers, and work in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese. The review is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover.
Crossing a city built at arterial scale
Consider what a crossing means here. At major intersections like Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue, a person on foot may cross many lanes — through lanes, dual left-turn pockets, a free right — while drivers arrive from four directions with their attention split among signals, gaps, and turn arrows. The recurring collision is the turning driver who cleared the vehicle traffic and never looked into the crosswalk. At arterial speeds, those failures put pedestrians in the hospital, not the fender shop.
The districts each add their own pattern. Around the Fremont BART station and Capitol Avenue, commuter and dinner-hour foot traffic meets garage and drop-off turns. Irvington's Five Corners junction tangles old road geometry with modern volume. Centerville's stretch of Fremont Boulevard mixes storefront crossings with through-traffic, and school zones citywide — Fremont has some of the Bay Area's largest schools — fill crossings with students twice a day. Near Central Park, families cross Paseo Padre and Stevenson Boulevard to reach the lake.
The evidence in these cases is often strong: modern signals log their timing, intersections and transit facilities carry cameras, and Fremont Police Department reports capture the scene. Strong evidence still has to be claimed quickly. That is what we do, starting with a free conversation.
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
I was hit by a left-turning car while crossing Mowry Avenue with the walk signal. The driver blames the intersection.
A driver turning left must yield to pedestrians lawfully in the crosswalk — the walk signal was your right of way, and 'the intersection is confusing' is an admission, not a defense. Signal timing records and any camera footage will establish the phases. If intersection design genuinely contributed, that may add a public-entity claim with a six-month deadline rather than subtracting from the driver's responsibility.
What is the time limit for a Fremont pedestrian injury claim?
Generally two years from the injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. The critical exception: claims arising from a dangerous condition of public property — signal failures, obscured crosswalks, crossing designs that strand slower walkers — generally require a government claim within six months. On Fremont's long signal cycles and wide crossings, that question comes up, and we screen for it in every case.
The insurer says my father, who walks slowly, should not have attempted the crossing.
A pedestrian who enters a crosswalk lawfully does not forfeit protection by walking slowly — drivers must exercise due care toward people in the roadway, including waiting for them to finish crossing. Arguments targeting elderly walkers are comparative-fault tactics, and under California's pure comparative negligence rule even a supported percentage only reduces recovery. The signal length and crossing distance at Fremont's intersections often end up supporting the pedestrian, not the insurer.
Does uninsured motorist coverage apply to me as a pedestrian in Fremont?
It can. If the driver who hit you was uninsured, underinsured, or fled the scene, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage from your own auto policy — or from the policy of a family member in your household — may compensate you even though you were on foot. Hit-and-runs should be reported to Fremont police promptly. We review all available coverage as part of a free case evaluation.
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Injured in Fremont? 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.