A driver who hits you while you are crossing at an intersection is very often at fault, even if there was no painted crosswalk there. California treats every intersection as having a crosswalk whether anyone has painted lines on it or not, and most people walking have no idea that is the rule.
This article is by Accident Lawyer of California, P.C., the personal injury practice of Aryan Aliakbarzadeh, Esq. in Northridge, California, admitted to the State Bar of California in October 2012. It describes how these cases work in California; it is not advice about yours.
The unmarked crosswalk rule Link to this section
Vehicle Code section 21950 is the one to know.
Subdivision (a) requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing in any marked crosswalk, and at an intersection in an unmarked crosswalk.
An unmarked crosswalk is the part of the roadway at an intersection that connects the sidewalks on either side. It exists because the intersection exists. No paint is required.
So when an insurer tells you that you were not in a crosswalk, the first question is whether you were at an intersection, because if you were, you may well have been in one.
The driver’s duty does not end with the right of way Link to this section
Subdivision (c) goes further than yielding. A driver approaching a pedestrian in any crosswalk, marked or unmarked, has to exercise all due care, and must reduce speed or take whatever other action is needed to protect that person.
Subdivision (d) then makes the point explicitly. A pedestrian’s own obligations do not relieve the driver of that duty.
That is the opposite of how most adjusters open a conversation.
Your own duty, stated honestly Link to this section
The statute cuts both ways and it is better to know it now than to hear it from the other side.
Subdivision (b) says the section does not relieve a pedestrian of the duty to use due care for their own safety. It also says a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety into the path of a vehicle that is close enough to be an immediate hazard, and may not unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a crosswalk.
So if you stepped out from between parked cars, expect that to be raised. It is a real argument, and it is an argument about percentages rather than about whether you have a claim at all. Being partly at fault in California reduces the recovery by your share and does not end it.
What changed about jaywalking Link to this section
Since January 2023, under the Freedom to Walk Act, crossing outside a crosswalk is no longer generally something an officer can stop you for. The law now limits those stops to situations where a reasonably careful person would see an immediate danger of collision.
Insurers still raise jaywalking to argue comparative fault, and crossing outside a crosswalk can still affect your share. But the legal backdrop has shifted, and a claim should not be written off on the strength of a word that no longer means what it did.
Why these claims are different from car claims Link to this section
In a pedestrian accident there is no second vehicle to carry half the story. The evidence is in the road and in the bodywork.
Where the impact landed on the vehicle, and at what height, which often shows whether the car was braking.
How far you traveled from the point of impact.
Whether the driver’s view was blocked, and by what.
Signal timing, which can be obtained from the city but has to be asked for.
Camera footage, which overwrites within days or weeks.
There is also the darkness factor. When the clocks go back each fall the evening commute moves into the dark, which is when a driver sees someone on foot latest.
If the driver had no insurance or did not stop Link to this section
This happens more often to people on foot than most expect.
If the driver fled, or had no insurance at all, your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage often still applies even though you were walking and your car was parked at home. People assume they have no coverage because they were not driving, and that assumption costs them the claim.
If that is your situation there are short deadlines attached, including reporting a hit and run to police within 24 hours.
What to do this week Link to this section
Get checked by a doctor the same day, even if you walked away, and especially for anything involving your head.
Photograph the location, the crossing, the sight lines and the lighting at the same time of day the collision happened.
Get the names of witnesses, because people who stop to help leave quickly afterwards.
Ask nearby businesses about camera footage this week.
Do not accept a characterization of where you were standing until you have looked at whether that intersection has an unmarked crosswalk.
If someone has told you that you were jaywalking and therefore have no claim, that is worth a second opinion. The consultation costs nothing and the line is open 24 hours.