Contra Costa County · Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accident lawyers for San Ramon
San Ramon's arterials were drawn wide — Bollinger Canyon, Crow Canyon, San Ramon Valley Boulevard — and wide roads mean long, exposed crossings. If a driver hit you on foot here, the case review is free and no fee unless we win.
San Ramon is a planned city, and the plan favored the car. Bollinger Canyon Road and Crow Canyon Boulevard are six-lane arterials moving Bishop Ranch commuters, and crossing them on foot means covering an enormous stretch of asphalt on one signal cycle. For office workers walking to lunch, students heading to school, and families crossing to parks, the geometry itself is the hazard: the longer the crossing, the more time a turning or red-light-running driver has to find you in it.
At the same time, San Ramon has been deliberately building places to walk. City Center Bishop Ranch draws evening and weekend crowds on foot, the Iron Horse Trail runs the length of the city with at-grade street crossings, and the school zones around California High School and the valley's elementary schools fill with walking students twice a day. More walking in a city built for driving is exactly the mix that produces pedestrian collisions.
We represent injured pedestrians throughout the San Ramon Valley. If a driver hit you or someone you love here, we will handle the investigation and the insurer while you handle recovery — free case review, and no fee unless we win.
Long crossings, fast turns: San Ramon's pedestrian geography
Start with the intersections on Bollinger Canyon Road. They are built for vehicle throughput — multiple left-turn lanes, sweeping right-turn pockets, long signal cycles — and every one of those features works against a person on foot. A driver in a free-flowing right-turn lane is watching for a gap in traffic to their left while a pedestrian steps off the curb to their right; that single conflict accounts for a large share of suburban crosswalk collisions, and San Ramon's arterials are full of it.
Crow Canyon Boulevard and San Ramon Valley Boulevard repeat the pattern past shopping centers and restaurants, where driveway traffic adds cars crossing sidewalks between signals. Around City Center and the Bishop Ranch offices, lunchtime and evening foot traffic meets drivers pulling in and out of parking structures. And the Iron Horse Trail's street crossings ask drivers to expect walkers and cyclists in places many simply do not look.
When a collision happens on these roads, the case is won with specifics: signal phasing, turn-lane sight lines, vehicle speed reconstructed from the physical evidence, and any camera coverage from offices and shopping centers. We secure that record quickly — footage rarely survives long — and it costs nothing to have us start.
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 crosswalk on Bollinger Canyon Road by a right-turning driver. Isn't that clearly their fault?
Legally, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk — but expect the insurer to argue you 'suddenly entered' or were outside the lines. That is why the evidence matters: the walk signal phase, where in the crosswalk the impact happened, and the driver's head position and speed. California's rules favor the pedestrian here; the fight is usually over facts, and facts reward early investigation.
How long do I have to bring a claim after a San Ramon pedestrian collision?
Most claims must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a public entity's dangerous condition contributed — signal timing that strands slower walkers mid-crossing, an obstructed crosswalk, a trail crossing with poor sight lines — the government claim generally must be presented within six months. On San Ramon's wide arterials, that public-design question comes up more often than people expect.
The adjuster assigned me 40 percent fault for crossing against a flashing signal. Is that final?
No — it is an opening position from the party that benefits most if you accept it. Under California's pure comparative negligence rule, whatever percentage is ultimately supported by the evidence reduces your recovery proportionally; it never eliminates it. And the percentage itself is negotiable and litigable. We routinely challenge fault allocations that were assigned before anyone examined the signal timing or the driver's speed.
The driver fled after hitting me near City Center. What are my options?
Report it to San Ramon police immediately and get medical care — both protect you. Then look to uninsured motorist coverage: your own auto policy, or a policy belonging to a family member in your household, can cover a pedestrian struck by a hit-and-run driver. City Center and the surrounding offices also have significant camera coverage that may identify the vehicle if requested promptly. We can pursue both tracks for you.
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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.