Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers serving Richmond
Macdonald Avenue, the 23rd Street corridor, the blocks around the Richmond BART and Amtrak transit center — Richmond's walkers share long avenues with heavy traffic. If a driver hit you, the review is free and no fee unless we win.
Richmond walks out of necessity and habit alike. The transit center at Richmond BART and Amtrak anchors downtown, drawing commuters on foot across Macdonald Avenue and Marina Way every day. The 23rd Street corridor is one of the liveliest commercial strips in West County, its sidewalks busy with shoppers moving between markets, taquerias, and bus stops. San Pablo Avenue runs the city's eastern edge carrying regional traffic past neighborhoods that cross it constantly.
These are long, wide avenues with heavy vehicle volume, and the collision patterns follow: turning drivers failing to yield at downtown crosswalks, through-drivers striking people crossing between widely spaced signals, and collisions after dark where lighting is thin. Truck traffic serving the port and the industrial shoreline adds heavy vehicles to streets never designed for them — and a person on foot never wins that encounter.
Our firm represents injured pedestrians across West County. We speak English, Spanish, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese, the case review is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Richmond's avenues and the people crossing them
Macdonald Avenue is downtown's main pedestrian stage. Between the transit center and the civic center, its crosswalks carry commuters, students, and shoppers, while drivers move between San Pablo Avenue and the freeway ramps. The classic collision here is the left- or right-turning driver at a signalized intersection, watching for a gap in oncoming cars while a person crosses lawfully with the walk signal. Camera coverage around the transit center often exists — for a while.
On 23rd Street and San Pablo Avenue, the mid-block collision dominates. Shops, bus stops, and homes line both sides, marked crossings sit far apart, and crossing where life actually happens puts people in front of arterial-speed traffic. California law does not abandon those pedestrians: drivers owe due care everywhere, and comparative fault reduces rather than erases a claim. Insurers frequently pretend otherwise, especially with unrepresented victims.
Richmond Police Department reports, transit-area footage, bus camera video, and streetlight and signal records are all collectible — early. If your collision involved a poorly lit or badly designed public crossing, a six-month government claim deadline may also be running. A free conversation with us sorts out what applies to you.
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 crossing 23rd Street mid-block. The insurer says pedestrians there 'cross at their own risk.'
There is no such rule in California. Drivers owe due care to people on foot everywhere on the road, and under pure comparative negligence, crossing outside a crosswalk can reduce your recovery by a percentage but never automatically bars it. On a corridor like 23rd Street — dense with destinations, sparse with signals — fault analysis is genuinely two-sided, and the driver's speed and attention are always on the table.
What deadlines apply to my Richmond pedestrian claim?
The claim against the driver generally must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a dangerous condition of public property contributed — a dark crossing, a broken pedestrian signal, an obstructed crosswalk — the claim against the public entity generally must be presented within six months. Given how much of Richmond's pedestrian risk involves street conditions, we examine that question in every case.
The driver fled after hitting me near the transit center. Do I have any real options?
Yes. Report it to Richmond police immediately and get medical care — both matter enormously later. The transit center area's cameras, bus video, and witnesses give hit-and-run investigations a real chance if evidence is requested fast. And uninsured motorist coverage on your own or a household member's auto policy can compensate a pedestrian struck by a hit-and-run driver even if the driver is never found.
I don't have immigration papers. Can I still bring a claim?
Yes. Your right to compensation for injuries caused by a negligent driver does not depend on immigration status, and California law limits how status can be used in injury litigation. We handle these cases regularly and confidentially, in Spanish when that is more comfortable. The consultation is free and private.
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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.