Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers serving Martinez
The county seat walks more than people expect — jurors and clerks downtown, commuters at the Amtrak station, families on Main Street. When a driver hits one of them, we step in. Free case review, no fee unless we win.
Martinez has the bones of an old downtown, and old downtowns are made for walking. On a weekday, the blocks around the Contra Costa County courthouse fill with jurors, attorneys, and county employees moving between parking, coffee, and the courtrooms. Main Street's restaurants and shops draw foot traffic through the historic grid, and the Amtrak station and marina pull people down toward the waterfront across the railroad corridor.
The drivers moving through those same blocks are often just passing through — cutting between Alhambra Avenue, Pacheco Boulevard, and the Highway 4 ramps — and a driver in through-traffic mode is exactly the driver who rolls a right turn across an occupied crosswalk. Alhambra Avenue itself is the city's main artery, and its crossings near schools and the Safeway corridor mix arterial speed with everyday pedestrian errands.
We know Martinez well; the county's civil courthouse is where Contra Costa injury cases end up when insurers will not be fair. If a driver hit you here, we will investigate, handle the insurance company, and tell you honestly what your case looks like. The review is free and you pay nothing unless we win.
Where walking gets dangerous in Martinez
Downtown's risk is turning vehicles. The grid around Main Street, Ferry Street, and Escobar Street has frequent stop signs and short blocks, so collisions there tend to be lower speed — a driver pulling away from a stop sign into a crosswalk, or turning while looking left for cars and not right for people. Low speed does not mean low injury for the person on the hood; broken bones and concussions are routine outcomes.
Alhambra Avenue is the higher-energy problem. It carries commuters and regional traffic past Alhambra High School and a string of shopping centers, and its long crossings put pedestrians in front of drivers doing arterial speeds. Near the Amtrak station and the marina, people cross toward the waterfront in an area where drivers do not expect foot traffic — and where lighting and sight lines become the whole case after dark.
Every one of these scenarios leaves evidence: the collision report from the Martinez Police Department, camera footage from downtown businesses or county facilities, witness accounts from a courthouse crowd that was actually paying attention. We move on that evidence early, and the first conversation is free.
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 in a downtown Martinez crosswalk without painted lines. Was I even in a crosswalk?
Probably yes. California recognizes unmarked crosswalks at most intersections — the legal crossing exists whether or not paint is on the pavement, and drivers must yield to pedestrians using it. Downtown grids like Martinez's are full of these unmarked crossings. An insurer suggesting you were 'not in a crosswalk' at an intersection is often simply wrong on the law.
What if a broken signal or bad crosswalk design contributed to my collision?
Then the deadline changes dramatically. Claims involving a dangerous condition of public property — a malfunctioning pedestrian signal, an obscured or badly designed crossing — generally must be presented to the public entity within six months, far shorter than the two-year limit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 that governs the claim against the driver. In the county seat, sorting out which entity owns the road is itself part of the work.
The driver's insurer says I was jaywalking on Alhambra Avenue, so they owe nothing.
That is not California law. Under pure comparative negligence, crossing outside a crosswalk can assign you a percentage of fault, but the driver's duty of due care toward pedestrians never switches off, and your claim is reduced — not eliminated. On a wide street like Alhambra, the analysis usually comes down to speed, lighting, and how long you were visible before impact.
Can my own car insurance help even though I was on foot?
It can. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage follows the person, not just the car — if the driver who hit you carried no insurance or too little, your own policy or a household family member's policy may fill the gap. Many pedestrians never think to look. We check as part of every free case review.
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Injured in Martinez? 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.