What Are Your Rights If a Car Hits You While Walking in California?

What drivers owe pedestrians at crosswalks

A driver must yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection (Vehicle Code § 21950(a)). A driver approaching a pedestrian in a crosswalk must exercise all due care and reduce speed or take any other action necessary to safeguard the pedestrian (§ 21950(c)). When a vehicle has stopped at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, a driver approaching from behind may not pass it (§ 21951).

Not every crosswalk is painted; the DMV’s handbook reminds drivers that not all crosswalks are marked and that pedestrians have the right-of-way in marked or unmarked crosswalks. Signals add their own rules. A driver facing a green light, including one turning, must yield to pedestrians lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk (§ 21451(a)), and the handbook tells drivers to yield to pedestrians even when the “Don’t Walk” light is flashing.

A pedestrian in a crosswalk still has to use due care. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle so close that it is an immediate hazard, or unnecessarily stop or delay traffic in a crosswalk (§ 21950(b)). That rule does not relieve the driver of the duty of due care toward a pedestrian in the crosswalk (§ 21950(d)).

Crossing outside a crosswalk

A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield the right-of-way to vehicles so near as to be an immediate hazard (§ 21954(a)). Between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic signals or police officers, pedestrians may cross only in a crosswalk (§ 21955(a)), and local authorities may adopt ordinances prohibiting crossing outside crosswalks (§ 21961(a)).

Those rules do not excuse a careless driver. The pedestrian’s duty to yield does not relieve the driver of the duty to exercise due care for the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway (§ 21954(b)). A driver who was speeding, distracted, or not watching the road can be responsible to a pedestrian who was crossing mid-block, with the pedestrian’s share of fault, if any, weighed against the driver’s.

Pedestrian signals have their own rules. A pedestrian facing a flashing “Don’t Walk” or upraised hand with a countdown may start to cross but must finish before the countdown ends; when the signal is steady, or flashing without a countdown, a pedestrian may not start to cross (§ 21456).

What the 2023 jaywalking law changed, and what it did not

Assembly Bill 2147, often called the Freedom to Walk Act, took effect on January 1, 2023. It added the same limit to the Vehicle Code’s pedestrian rules, including §§ 21950, 21954, 21955, and 21961 and pedestrian-signal rules such as § 21456: a peace officer may not stop a pedestrian for a violation unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.

The law did not repeal the rules themselves. Section 21955 still allows crossing between adjacent signal-controlled intersections only in a crosswalk, § 21954 still requires a pedestrian outside a crosswalk to yield to vehicles that are an immediate hazard, and § 21961 still permits local ordinances against crossing outside crosswalks. Each of those sections also states that the limit does not relieve a pedestrian of the duty to use due care for the pedestrian’s own safety, or a driver of the duty to use due care for any pedestrian within the roadway.

For an injury claim, that means an insurer may still argue that a pedestrian who crossed mid-block or against a signal shares the fault. Whether police stopped or cited anyone does not settle that question; the evidence of what each person did does.

How shared fault is handled

California follows comparative fault. If a pedestrian’s own carelessness contributed to the injury, the recovery is reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to the pedestrian; it is not barred. A driver whose negligence was a cause of the injury remains responsible for the driver’s share. Because percentages are contested, the early evidence matters: where the pedestrian was, the signal phase, lighting, the driver’s speed and attention, and the sight lines.

Traffic statutes can shift the analysis. When a person violates a statute such as the duty to yield in a crosswalk, and the violation causes the kind of harm the statute was designed to prevent to someone it was meant to protect, the law presumes that person failed to use due care, subject to rebuttal (Evidence Code § 669). The presumption can be argued against a driver, and against a pedestrian who broke a pedestrian rule.

When a city, the County, or the State is involved

Some pedestrian injuries involve a public entity, such as a crash with a city or county vehicle, or a condition of public property like a broken sidewalk, a malfunctioning signal, or a dangerous road design. Except as other statutes provide, a public entity is liable for a dangerous condition of its property if the injured person proves that the property was in a dangerous condition, that the condition caused the injury and created a reasonably foreseeable risk of that kind of injury, and that either a public employee’s negligent or wrongful act created the condition or the entity had notice of it in time to protect against it (Gov. Code § 835).

Public entities also have statutory defenses. A condition is not dangerous merely because traffic signals, stop signs, yield signs, or speed-limit signs were not provided (§ 830.4), and an injury caused by an approved plan or design can be immune (§ 830.6). These rules turn on records, so they should be investigated early.

Before any lawsuit, a written claim must generally be presented to the public entity within six months after the claim accrues, usually the date of the injury (Gov. Code § 911.2). The government-claim guide on this site explains where claims against Orange County public entities are presented and what happens if the six months pass.

Evidence and deadlines

Evidence at a pedestrian crash disappears quickly. Photograph the crosswalk markings or their absence, the signals, lighting, sight lines, the vehicle’s position, and your injuries. Get witness names, the police or CHP report number, and the driver’s license, registration, and insurance information. Ask nearby businesses and homes to preserve video, and keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing.

If the driver left the scene, report it to the police right away. A driver involved in a crash that injures someone must stop at the scene and fulfill the duties the Vehicle Code imposes (§ 20001(a)). An injured pedestrian’s own uninsured-motorist coverage, or a household member’s, may cover a hit-and-run, subject to the policy and the statute’s conditions, including a report to the police within 24 hours and a sworn statement to the insurer within 30 days (Insurance Code § 11580.2(b)).

Most injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1), but a claim against a public entity must first be presented within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2), and certain uninsured-motorist claims require a lawsuit, an agreement, or a formal arbitration demand within two years (Insurance Code § 11580.2(i)). Negotiations with an insurer generally do not extend any of these deadlines.