Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers for Lafayette
Nearly everything in Lafayette happens along one boulevard — which means nearly every walk crosses it. If a driver hit you on Mt. Diablo Blvd, near BART, or anywhere in town, the case review is free and there is no fee unless we win.
Lafayette runs on a single spine. Mt. Diablo Boulevard carries the restaurants, the shops, the grocery stores, and most of the town's traffic, all in one corridor squeezed between Highway 24 and the hills. People park on one side and eat on the other, which makes crossing the boulevard the most common walk in town — and the most exposed one, because through-traffic uses the same lanes drivers use to hunt for parking.
The Lafayette BART station sits just off the boulevard at Deer Hill Road, and commute hours send walkers across busy approaches while drivers race the casual carpool clock. Add the school runs — Lafayette's elementary and middle school zones put children and parents on foot along and across arterial streets twice a day — and a town that looks sleepy has a very real pedestrian exposure.
Our office is one BART stop away in Walnut Creek. If a driver hit you or your child in Lafayette, we can be at the scene quickly, secure the report and the footage, and take the insurance company off your plate. The conversation is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover.
The Mt. Diablo Boulevard problem
The boulevard's collisions follow two patterns. The first is the turning driver: someone swinging into or out of a parking lot, a side street like Moraga Road or Lafayette Circle, or one of the angled parking zones, focused on the gap in traffic rather than the person in the crosswalk. The second is the through-driver at dusk — the boulevard is long, the lighting is uneven, and a pedestrian finishing a crossing late in the signal can be nearly invisible to a driver coming off the Highway 24 ramps still carrying freeway speed.
Off the boulevard, Moraga Road climbing toward the schools and St. Marys Road toward Moraga carry commute and school-run traffic through zones where kids walk and bike. School-zone collisions raise their own questions — speed limits, crossing guard placement, sight lines around parked cars — and they are exactly the cases where early, careful evidence work changes outcomes.
Lafayette collisions are investigated by the Lafayette Police Department, and downtown businesses frequently have camera coverage of the boulevard. We request both fast, because footage retention is measured in days. It starts with a free case review.
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 child was hit near a Lafayette school. Does their claim work differently?
The core rules are the same — drivers owe due care, and heightened caution is expected where children are present — but the practical handling differs. A minor's claim involves court approval of any settlement, and the injuries deserve especially careful medical documentation because a child's recovery timeline is longer. If a public entity's crossing design or signage contributed, the six-month government claim deadline applies, so move quickly on that question.
I was hit crossing Mt. Diablo Blvd between crosswalks. Do I still have a case?
Likely yes. California's pure comparative negligence rule means an insurer can argue you share fault for crossing mid-block, but that only reduces a recovery by your percentage — it does not erase the claim. Drivers owe pedestrians due care everywhere on the road, and on a corridor with long gaps between signals, what the driver could see and how fast they were moving are usually the real questions.
What is the deadline for a pedestrian claim in Lafayette?
Two years from the injury for most claims, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. The major exception: if a dangerous condition of public property contributed — a signal problem, an obscured crossing, a sight-line issue on a public road — the government claim generally must be presented within six months. Because that analysis can implicate the city, the county, or the state depending on the road, we sort out the right entity early.
The driver stayed but has minimal insurance. Is the claim capped at their policy?
Not necessarily. If your damages exceed the driver's coverage, underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy — or on a household family member's policy — may apply even though you were on foot. It is a commonly overlooked layer of protection for pedestrians, and we review it in every free case evaluation.
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Injured in Lafayette? 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.