Critical Steps to Take If You've Been Hit by a Vehicle

The actions you take in the moments after being struck by a vehicle are critical for your health and your legal rights.

California's Right-of-Way Laws: Protecting Pedestrians

In any conflict between a vehicle and a pedestrian, the vehicle always has the power to cause immense harm. Because of this, California law places a significant legal responsibility called a "duty of care" on drivers to protect vulnerable road users. Understanding these laws is the first step in holding a negligent driver accountable.

The Driver's Duty in Marked and Unmarked Crosswalks

When most people think of a crosswalk, they picture white lines painted on the pavement. However, California law is much broader and more protective. An "unmarked crosswalk" legally exists at any intersection where two streets meet at approximately right angles, even with no painted lines.

This is a critical, often misunderstood, part of the law. A driver may believe they had the right-of-way because there was no crosswalk painted on the road, but they were still legally obligated to yield.

This misunderstanding is not a legal defense for the driver; it is a powerful point of leverage for your case. It means a driver can be found negligent even when they thought they were following the rules.

As your lawyers, our first step is to analyze the exact location of the incident. We determine whether it qualifies as a legal crosswalk, marked or unmarked, as defined in California Vehicle Code § 21950.

We then use this legal foundation to build our argument, demonstrating that the driver had a clear, non-negotiable duty to stop. We’ll work to counter the driver's excuses and establish clear liability with their insurance company.

A Driver's General Duty of "Due Care"

What about situations outside of an intersection or crosswalk? The law still requires drivers to exercise a constant "duty of due care" to avoid striking pedestrians. A driver's responsibility does not disappear just because a pedestrian is not in a designated crossing area.

This principle is crucial for countering the automatic assumption that a pedestrian is at fault if they were "jaywalking." While a pedestrian also has a duty to be careful, the person operating a vehicle is held to a higher standard to prevent harm. An insurance company will try to place 100% of the blame on the pedestrian; the duty of due care allows us to prove the driver shares a significant portion, if not all, of the fault.

We investigate whether the driver was exercising the necessary caution for the situation. We ask: Were they driving at a safe speed for a residential neighborhood where children might be present? Were they paying full attention while driving near a busy shopping center or park? Were their headlights on at night?

A driver who is speeding, texting, or otherwise distracted has clearly breached their duty of due care, and we use that failure to hold them accountable for the injuries they caused, regardless of where the pedestrian was crossing.

Common Causes and Catastrophic Consequences of Pedestrian Accidents

Every pedestrian collision is a story of a driver's decision: a moment of distraction, a choice to speed, a failure to look. As your legal team, our job is to connect that negligent decision directly to the devastating, life-altering injuries you have suffered. We build a clear and powerful narrative that demonstrates the true and total cost of the driver's actions.

Leading Causes of Pedestrian Collisions

Most pedestrian accidents are not "accidents" in the true sense of the word; they are preventable incidents caused by a driver's clear negligence. Our investigation focuses on identifying these specific failures to build the strongest possible case for liability.

By pinpointing the exact type of negligence involved in your case, we can build a more compelling and targeted legal argument. We have deep experience in cases involving:

The Devastating Reality of Pedestrian Injuries

A human body is no match for a two-ton vehicle. The injuries sustained by pedestrians are rarely minor and often result in permanent disability, requiring a lifetime of medical care.

An insurance company's first offer will almost never account for the lifelong costs of a catastrophic injury. We work with a network of top medical and financial experts to build a

By meticulously documenting the true, lifelong cost of these injuries, we fight to secure the financial resources you need to rebuild your life with the care and dignity you deserve.

Countering Unfair Blame: The "Dart-Out" Defense and Jaywalking

After a pedestrian is hit, it is tragically common for the driver and their insurance company to immediately try to shift the blame onto the victim. They rely on biased assumptions and flawed arguments to avoid paying for the harm their client caused. As your advocates, we anticipate these unfair tactics and know exactly how to dismantle them with facts and evidence.

Dismantling the "Dart-Out" Defense

The most frequent defense used by negligent drivers is the claim that the pedestrian "darted out" into the road from nowhere, leaving them no time to react. This is a self-serving attempt to reframe the driver's inattention as the pedestrian's fault.

If this defense is allowed to stand, it can significantly reduce or even eliminate the compensation you are entitled to. An insurance adjuster will seize on any statement you make that seems to support this narrative. It is our job to proactively prove that this defense is not supported by the physical evidence.

We treat the driver's claim not as a fact, but as a theory that must be tested. We use a scientific approach to disprove it:

• Accident reconstruction: We bring in forensic experts who can use vehicle speeds, skid mark length, and impact points to calculate the driver's perception-reaction time. Often, this proves the driver had several seconds, not a split second, to avoid the collision.
• Sightline analysis: We visit the scene of the accident to document the driver's line of sight and show that there were no obstructions and that a reasonably attentive driver would have seen a pedestrian.
• "Black box" data: We can often obtain data from the vehicle's event data recorder (EDR), which shows the car's speed and braking activity in the seconds before impact, often contradicting the driver's story.

Understanding Jaywalking and Comparative Negligence

"Jaywalking" is a common term, but it is not a legal get-out-of-jail-free card for a driver. Even if a pedestrian was crossing outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk, the driver still has a legal duty of care to avoid a collision if they have a reasonable opportunity to do so.

Insurance companies want you to believe that if you were jaywalking, you are automatically 100% at fault. This is false under California law. The legal doctrine of "pure comparative negligence" is used to assign a percentage of fault to each party. Our goal is to minimize your percentage of fault and maximize the driver's.

Even if you were partially at fault for crossing mid-block, we focus our investigation on the driver's concurrent negligence. We ask:

• Was the driver speeding, making it impossible for them to stop in time?
• Were they distracted by their phone, failing to scan the road ahead?
• Did they fail to use their headlights at night, making them less visible?

By proving the driver was also negligent, we could still secure a significant recovery for you. For example, if you were found to be 25% at fault, you could still recover 75% of the total damages. We fight to ensure the blame is apportioned fairly and not just dumped on you, the vulnerable victim.