Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers for Orinda
Orinda's downtown is split in two by Highway 24, and walking between the halves means crossing some of the busiest pavement in Lamorinda. If a driver hit you there, or anywhere in town, the case review is free and no fee unless we win.
Orinda has an unusual downtown: Highway 24 cuts it in half, with the Village shops on one side, Theatre Square and the old Orinda Theatre on the other, and the BART station sitting in the middle of the interchange. Anyone who wants to walk from one half to the other has to negotiate the ramps and crossings around Camino Pablo and Moraga Way — pavement designed to feed a freeway, not to protect a person on foot.
That is where Orinda's pedestrian risk concentrates. Drivers coming off Highway 24 arrive carrying freeway habits, drivers heading for the on-ramps are accelerating and watching the merge, and the BART station adds commuters crossing on foot at exactly the hours when traffic is thickest. Elsewhere in town, Moraga Way and Camino Pablo are winding two-lane roads where school-bound kids and walkers share narrow margins with commute traffic.
We are close by — our office sits two BART stops away in Walnut Creek — and we handle these cases from investigation through resolution. If a driver hit you in Orinda, tell us what happened. The review is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Where Orinda's walkers meet traffic
The interchange area is the obvious hazard. Crossings near the Orinda BART station and along Camino Pablo carry people between the Village, Theatre Square, the library, and the platform, while drivers around them are focused on ramp meters and merges. A driver turning toward the on-ramp who catches a pedestrian in the crosswalk is the collision we see most in this part of town — and the driver almost always says the person 'came out of nowhere' at an intersection they simply never scanned.
The two-lane roads are quieter but less forgiving. Moraga Way toward Orinda's schools and Camino Pablo running north toward the reservoir have stretches with narrow shoulders, curves, and tree shadows, where a walker or student is visible late and passing room is small. After dark, lighting and sight lines usually decide these cases, which makes early scene documentation essential.
Orinda's police services and the relevant public agencies each hold pieces of the record — the collision report, signal timing at the interchange crossings, maintenance history if a crossing or signal was part of the problem. We collect it all before it scatters, starting with a free conversation about what happened.
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 at a crossing near the Orinda BART interchange. Who is actually responsible?
Potentially more than one party. The driver's liability is the core of the claim, but interchange-area crossings involve roads and signals that may belong to different public entities. If a dangerous condition — a malfunctioning signal, a crossing with obstructed sight lines — contributed, a claim against that entity generally must be presented within six months. Identifying the right entities early is part of why these cases reward quick legal attention.
How long do I have to file after being hit by a car in Orinda?
Generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. But do not let the two-year figure set your pace: the six-month government claim deadline applies if public property played a role, and practical evidence — camera footage, skid marks, witness memory — degrades within weeks. Earlier is simply stronger.
The driver claims the low sun on Camino Pablo meant they couldn't see me.
Sun glare is not a defense; it is a driving condition. California drivers owe pedestrians due care at all times, and that duty includes slowing down when visibility drops — glare, dusk, rain, or shade lines on a winding road. A driver who kept full speed into a blinding sun assumed the risk of what they could not see. That argument tends to help your claim, not hurt it.
I was walking outside a marked crosswalk on Moraga Way. Can I still recover?
Yes, potentially. On stretches of road without marked crossings, pedestrians and drivers share duties — and under California's pure comparative negligence rule, even if a percentage of fault lands on you, your recovery is reduced by that percentage rather than eliminated. Speed, lighting, and how much time the driver had to react usually decide how the percentages fall.
More help in Orinda
Pedestrian Accident lawyers in nearby cities
Injured in Orinda? 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.