Pedestrian Accidents in the Santa Clarita Valley: A Complete Guide

A pedestrian struck by a vehicle can suffer serious injuries, but determining who is legally responsible is not always as simple as asking whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk. Unlike someone inside a car, a pedestrian has virtually nothing between their body and the vehicle that strikes them or the pavement they may be thrown onto. The result can be severe injuries, a lengthy recovery, and complicated questions about who was responsible for what happened.

There is also a common misconception that the pedestrian must be at fault simply because the accident occurred outside a crosswalk or because the driver claims the pedestrian "came out of nowhere." California law does not work that way. Where the pedestrian was walking is certainly one factor that may matter, but determining responsibility requires looking at the circumstances of the entire accident.

This guide explains some of the most important issues that arise after a pedestrian accident in Santa Clarita and throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. It covers California's pedestrian right-of-way rules, how fault is determined, common injuries, insurance issues, what to do after being struck, and the deadlines that may apply to a claim.

Key Takeaways

• Pedestrians can have the right-of-way in both marked and certain unmarked crosswalks.

• Being outside a crosswalk does not automatically mean the pedestrian is entirely at fault for an accident.

• California uses comparative fault, so the conduct of both the pedestrian and the driver can be considered when determining responsibility.

• Pedestrian accidents can cause serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, fractures, spinal injuries, and internal injuries.

• Prompt medical attention is particularly important because some serious pedestrian-accident injuries may not be obvious immediately.

• A pedestrian's own automobile insurance may provide uninsured/underinsured motorist or medical-payments coverage in some circumstances, even though the person was walking when struck.

• Hit-and-run accidents can create additional insurance and evidence issues, making a prompt police report especially important.

• Accidents involving defective sidewalks, traffic signals, road conditions, or government vehicles may involve a government entity and potentially much shorter claim deadlines.

• Preserve evidence, identify witnesses, obtain the police report, document the accident scene when possible, and be cautious about giving recorded statements to an opposing insurance company.

California Pedestrian Right-of-Way Law

California law provides significant protections to pedestrians, but those protections depend on the circumstances of the accident. A common mistake is to think that there is one simple rule that determines every pedestrian-versus-vehicle collision. In reality, several different traffic laws and general negligence principles may come into play.

Marked and unmarked crosswalks

California Vehicle Code section 21950 addresses pedestrian right-of-way at crosswalks. Drivers are generally required to yield to pedestrians crossing within a marked crosswalk and, under the circumstances specified by law, within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.

An unmarked crosswalk is easy to overlook because there are no painted lines on the roadway. In general terms, however, an unmarked crosswalk can exist at an intersection even when there is no visible striping connecting the sidewalks. This can be important when investigating an accident because the absence of painted lines does not necessarily mean that there was no crosswalk.

What happens outside a crosswalk?

Another common misconception is that a pedestrian who crosses outside a crosswalk automatically loses the right to pursue a claim. California Vehicle Code section 21954 does place certain duties on pedestrians who cross outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk, but that is not the end of the analysis.

Drivers still have a duty to exercise reasonable care when operating a vehicle. The driver's speed, attentiveness, visibility, road conditions, lighting, and opportunity to see and avoid the pedestrian can all become important when determining what actually caused the collision.

For example, suppose a pedestrian is crossing outside a crosswalk but a driver is traveling too fast for the conditions, is distracted, or has a clear opportunity to avoid the pedestrian but fails to do so. The fact that the pedestrian was not in a crosswalk would not necessarily resolve the question of fault.

School zones and crossing guards

Pedestrian accidents near schools can involve additional considerations. Drivers are expected to obey posted school-zone restrictions and the directions of crossing guards, and particular traffic rules can apply in school areas.

This is especially important during school arrival and dismissal periods, when pedestrians and vehicles may be sharing the same relatively congested area. A driver's speed, attention, and compliance with traffic controls can all become significant when an accident occurs near a school.

Sidewalks, driveways, and alleys

Pedestrian accidents can also happen when a vehicle is entering or leaving a driveway or alley. California Vehicle Code section 21952 addresses a driver's duty when crossing a sidewalk to enter or leave property.

These collisions can happen in residential neighborhoods, parking areas, shopping centers, apartment complexes, and commercial properties. A driver who is focused on entering traffic may fail to notice a pedestrian walking along the sidewalk.

Parking lots and private property can create their own pedestrian hazards. Drivers may be backing out of spaces, entering or leaving driveways, navigating crowded shopping centers, or looking for moving vehicles while failing to notice pedestrians. These accidents can also raise questions about whether a property owner or business had a role in creating an unsafe condition. 

How Fault Is Determined in a Pedestrian Accident

Many people assume that if a pedestrian was doing something technically wrong—such as crossing outside a crosswalk—the pedestrian automatically loses the case. That is not how California's comparative-fault system generally operates.

California follows a comparative negligence approach. In practical terms, responsibility can be divided between the parties based on what the evidence shows actually happened. A pedestrian who is found partially responsible may still be able to recover damages, although the amount recovered can be reduced by the pedestrian's percentage of fault.

Consider a simple example. A pedestrian crosses a street outside a crosswalk, but a driver is simultaneously traveling too fast, looking at a phone, or otherwise failing to pay adequate attention. The fact that the pedestrian was outside a crosswalk does not necessarily answer the question of whether the driver also contributed to the collision.

What factors can matter?

The investigation may need to consider numerous details, including:

• How fast was the vehicle traveling?

• Was the driver paying attention?

• Was the driver distracted by a phone, navigation system, passengers, or something else?

• How far away was the pedestrian when the driver first could have seen them?

• Were there obstructions blocking the driver's view?

• What were the lighting and weather conditions?

• Was the pedestrian wearing clothing that was reasonably visible?

• Was the pedestrian crossing at an intersection or elsewhere?

• Were there traffic signals or signs?

• How much time did the driver have to react?

• Was the pedestrian walking, running, standing, or moving in another direction?

• Were there witnesses or video recordings of the accident?

The answers to these questions can be much more informative than simply saying that the pedestrian was or was not in a crosswalk.

Where Pedestrian Accidents Happen in Santa Clarita

Pedestrian accidents can occur throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, but certain locations naturally create greater interaction between pedestrians and vehicles.

Busy commercial areas are one example. Shopping centers and commercial corridors can involve significant foot traffic, multiple driveways, parking-lot entrances and exits, turning vehicles, and pedestrians moving between businesses.

School areas present another potential concern, particularly during the morning and afternoon periods when children and parents are walking near vehicles. A combination of traffic congestion, pedestrians crossing roads, and drivers trying to navigate crowded areas can create dangerous situations.

Some residential and more rural areas can present different challenges. Portions of the Santa Clarita Valley have roads where sidewalks may be limited or nonexistent, forcing pedestrians to travel closer to vehicle traffic.

Lighting and visibility

Lighting can also be important. A pedestrian who is struck during the early morning or evening hours may be difficult for a driver to see, particularly on a road with inconsistent street lighting or other visibility problems.

Weather is generally less of a factor in Santa Clarita than in areas that experience frequent rain, snow, or fog, but rain can still affect visibility and stopping distances when it does occur. These details can become important when determining whether a driver had a reasonable opportunity to see and avoid a pedestrian.

Common Injuries in Pedestrian Accidents

A pedestrian's body can experience multiple impacts during a collision. The first impact may occur when the vehicle strikes the pedestrian, followed by the pedestrian being thrown onto the hood, windshield, another vehicle, or the roadway.

This combination can produce injuries to multiple parts of the body at the same time.

Traumatic brain injuries

Head injuries are a significant concern in pedestrian accidents. A person's head may strike the vehicle, the windshield, another object, or the pavement after the initial impact.

A concussion or traumatic brain injury can occur even when there is no obvious external wound. Symptoms can include headaches, dizziness, confusion, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, nausea, changes in mood, or other neurological symptoms.

Fractures

Broken bones are also common, particularly involving the legs, hips, and pelvis. A vehicle may initially strike the pedestrian's lower body before the person's upper body is thrown onto the vehicle or roadway.

Some fractures can heal with relatively straightforward treatment, while others require surgery, hospitalization, physical therapy, and months of rehabilitation. Serious fractures can also produce long-term limitations.

Spinal injuries

The impact from the vehicle and the subsequent fall can both cause injuries to the neck and spine. These injuries can range from relatively minor strains to fractures and serious spinal cord damage.

In the most severe cases, spinal cord injuries can result in partial or complete paralysis. Even when paralysis does not occur, a spinal injury can produce chronic pain, limited mobility, and substantial restrictions on everyday activities.

Internal injuries

Internal injuries can be particularly dangerous because they may not be immediately obvious. Internal bleeding or damage to organs can occur after a significant impact even when there are few visible signs of injury.

This is one reason prompt medical evaluation is so important after being struck by a vehicle. Feeling relatively well immediately after an accident does not necessarily mean that there are no serious injuries.

Multiple traumatic injuries

Pedestrian accidents frequently involve more than one injury. A person may suffer a broken leg, a head injury, road rash, a shoulder injury, and back or neck pain from the same accident.

Multiple injuries can make both treatment and recovery considerably more complicated. The medical process may involve several specialists, different forms of rehabilitation, and a recovery period that extends for months or longer.

What to Do After a Pedestrian Accident

Get medical attention

If you have been struck by a vehicle and are injured, seek medical attention promptly. If the accident is serious, emergency medical personnel may need to evaluate and transport you from the scene.

Some injuries, particularly internal injuries and traumatic brain injuries, may not be immediately obvious. Do not rely solely on how you feel in the first few minutes after a collision, especially if you struck your head or were thrown onto the roadway.

Medical records also create an important record of what injuries were reported and what treatment was recommended following the accident.

Obtain the driver's information

If you are physically able to do so, obtain the driver's name, insurance information, vehicle information, and license plate number. Do not put yourself in danger to obtain this information, however.

If you are too injured to collect the information yourself, a witness, family member, or responding police officer may be able to help.

Obtain the police report

A police report can provide an important contemporaneous account of the accident. Depending on where the accident occurred, the responding agency in the Santa Clarita Valley may include the local sheriff's station or the California Highway Patrol.

The police report is not necessarily the final determination of legal responsibility. Nevertheless, an officer's observations, measurements, statements from the people involved, and identification of witnesses can all be valuable evidence.

Identify witnesses

Pedestrian accidents often happen in places where other people are nearby. There may be pedestrians, nearby business employees, customers, other drivers, residents, or people waiting at an intersection who saw some or all of what happened.

If possible, obtain contact information from witnesses before they leave. A witness who can describe what happened immediately before the collision may provide important information that cannot be reconstructed later. Witnesses can be particularly important when the driver and pedestrian have different accounts of what happened. A witness does not necessarily need to have seen the entire accident to be useful. Someone who observed the traffic signal, the driver's approach, the pedestrian's position, or what happened immediately before impact may have information that helps clarify the circumstances.

Photograph the scene

If your physical condition allows, take photographs of the accident scene. Consider photographing the vehicle, the location where you were struck, the surrounding intersection, traffic signs and signals, crosswalks, sidewalks, lighting, obstructions, and any visible injuries.

If you cannot take photographs yourself, ask someone else to document the scene for you. Conditions can change quickly after an accident, so photographs taken close to the time of the collision can be particularly useful.

Look for available video evidence

Video footage can sometimes provide important evidence about how a pedestrian accident occurred. Depending on the location, potentially useful footage may come from nearby businesses, residential security cameras, traffic cameras, dashboard cameras, or cellphones.

If you know that a nearby business or residence may have captured the accident, it can be worth identifying the potential source of the footage promptly. Some surveillance systems routinely record over older footage, so video that exists shortly after an accident may not remain available indefinitely.

Video is not always available, and its usefulness depends on what it actually shows. When footage does exist, however, it may help clarify the vehicle's speed, the pedestrian's movements, traffic signals, visibility, lane position, or what happened immediately before the collision.

Be cautious with insurance adjusters

The other driver's insurance company may contact you soon after the accident. An adjuster may want a recorded statement or may ask questions about how the accident happened and what injuries you have sustained.

You do not necessarily need to provide a recorded statement immediately to the other driver's insurer. It is reasonable to first understand your injuries and circumstances before discussing the accident in detail.

This does not mean you should ignore your own insurance company. Your own policy may impose notice or cooperation requirements, and the insurance coverage available to you may be important even though you were walking rather than driving.

Insurance Considerations for Pedestrian Accidents

The at-fault driver's automobile liability insurance is often the primary source of compensation in a pedestrian accident. California's required minimum liability coverage has increased for policies issued or renewed beginning January 1, 2025, although the actual insurance available in any particular accident depends on the applicable policy.

A serious pedestrian injury can quickly generate medical expenses that exceed the at-fault driver's available liability limits. This makes it important to identify all potentially applicable insurance rather than assuming there is only one policy involved.

Your own automobile insurance may matter

One of the more surprising aspects of pedestrian accident claims is that your own automobile insurance may potentially provide coverage even though you were not driving a vehicle when the accident occurred.

Depending on the policy, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage or medical payments coverage may apply when the insured person is struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian. The exact terms of the policy matter, so it is worth reviewing your own automobile insurance after an accident.

Hit-and-run pedestrian accidents

A hit-and-run creates a particularly difficult situation because the driver's insurance may be impossible to identify.

If the driver cannot be located, your own uninsured motorist coverage may potentially provide a source of recovery if you have applicable coverage. The details of the accident, the policy language, and the evidence establishing the hit-and-run can all matter.

A prompt police report is especially important in these circumstances. Witnesses, nearby surveillance cameras, traffic cameras, vehicle descriptions, and other evidence may sometimes help identify the vehicle or establish what occurred.

Homeowners and renters insurance

Homeowners or renters insurance is generally not the primary insurance for a typical pedestrian-versus-vehicle collision. However, the analysis can change if the accident occurred on private property and involves an alleged dangerous condition of the property.

For example, an accident involving a defective sidewalk, unsafe parking area, or other property condition may raise issues that are different from a straightforward traffic accident. These situations can potentially involve premises liability in addition to, or instead of, a traditional automobile claim.

How Long Do You Have to File a Pedestrian Accident Claim?

For many California personal injury claims, the general deadline to file a lawsuit is two years from the date of the injury. California Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 provides the general limitations period for many personal injury actions, but exceptions can apply.

Pedestrian accidents involving government entities require particular caution. If the accident involves a government vehicle, defective public property, a malfunctioning traffic signal, or another potentially responsible public entity, a government claim may need to be presented much sooner.

In many circumstances, California Government Code section 911.2 provides a six-month deadline for presenting a claim against a public entity. This is not simply a shorter version of the ordinary two-year lawsuit deadline; it is part of a separate government-claims process with its own requirements.

This issue can arise in pedestrian cases involving a broken sidewalk, dangerous roadway condition, defective traffic signal, inadequate public-property maintenance, or other circumstances involving a public entity. If you believe a government agency may be responsible, the situation should be evaluated promptly because waiting can result in the loss of an otherwise viable claim.

Frequently Asked Questions: Pedestrian Accidents

I was jaywalking when I was hit. Do I still have a claim?

Possibly. Being outside a crosswalk does not automatically mean that the pedestrian is entirely responsible for the accident.

California's comparative-fault system looks at the conduct of everyone involved. The driver's speed, attention, visibility, reaction time, and ability to avoid the collision may all be relevant. If the pedestrian is found partially responsible, the recovery may be reduced by the pedestrian's percentage of fault, but partial responsibility does not necessarily eliminate the claim.

The driver says I "came out of nowhere." Is that a valid defense?

Not necessarily. A driver's statement that a pedestrian appeared suddenly is one piece of evidence, but it does not automatically establish that the pedestrian caused the accident.

The investigation should consider what the driver could actually see, the available sight distance, lighting, traffic conditions, obstructions, vehicle speed, and how much time the driver had to react. Other evidence, including witnesses and video footage, can be particularly helpful when the driver's account is disputed.

Can I use my own car insurance if I was hit while walking?

Possibly. Depending on your policy, your automobile insurance may provide uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage or medical payments coverage when you are struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian.

The fact that you were not inside your car does not necessarily mean your auto insurance is irrelevant. Review the actual policy and discuss the circumstances with your insurer or an attorney who can help determine what coverage may apply.

What if the driver fled the scene?

A hit-and-run accident should be reported to law enforcement promptly. Try to preserve as much information as possible, including the vehicle's description, license plate information if available, direction of travel, location, time, witnesses, and any nearby surveillance cameras.

If the driver is not identified, your own uninsured motorist coverage may potentially provide a source of compensation if you have applicable coverage. The details of the policy and the evidence surrounding the accident will matter.

What if I was hit because of a broken sidewalk or malfunctioning traffic signal?

That situation may involve more than an ordinary claim against the driver. Depending on the circumstances, a government entity or another property owner may potentially have responsibility for a dangerous condition.

These cases require particular attention because claims involving public entities can have much shorter deadlines than ordinary personal injury claims. If a public sidewalk, roadway, traffic signal, or other government property may have contributed to your accident, it is important to investigate the issue promptly.

What if I don't feel injured immediately after being hit?

You should not assume that you are uninjured simply because you feel relatively normal immediately after the collision. Adrenaline can temporarily mask pain, and some injuries may take time before symptoms become noticeable.

If you were struck by a vehicle, particularly if you were thrown, fell onto the pavement, or struck your head, appropriate medical evaluation can be important. Follow up with medical care if symptoms develop or persist.

What if the driver says they could not see me?

A driver's statement that a pedestrian was difficult to see does not automatically determine who was responsible for the accident. Visibility is an important factual issue, but the circumstances may include lighting, weather, obstructions, the driver's speed, the pedestrian's location, the vehicle's headlights, and how much time or distance the driver had to see and react.

Other evidence can also matter, including photographs, video footage, witness statements, traffic signals, roadway conditions, and the location of the pedestrian when the driver first had an opportunity to see them. The fact that visibility was difficult does not necessarily mean the pedestrian was at fault.

Pedestrian Accidents in the Santa Clarita Valley

Pedestrian accidents happen throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, including Valencia, Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch, and Castaic. Different areas present different challenges, from busy commercial intersections and school zones to residential neighborhoods, canyon roads, parking lots, and locations where sidewalks may be limited.

The circumstances surrounding a pedestrian accident matter. Lighting, traffic patterns, crosswalks, sidewalks, vehicle speed, visibility, road design, weather, witnesses, and the driver's actions can all help explain how the collision occurred.

If you have been struck by a vehicle while walking, don't assume that the answer is as simple as "I wasn't in the crosswalk" or "the driver says they didn't see me." Pedestrian accident claims should be evaluated based on the full set of facts and evidence, including what the driver did, what the pedestrian did, and whether other conditions contributed to the collision.