Pedestrian Accident Lawyers in Riverside Giving You the Legal Aid You Need to Recover Damages

Nothing about a car-versus-pedestrian collision is fair. The driver walks away; the person on foot absorbs the entire force of the impact. What happens next should not be unfair too. Our Riverside pedestrian accident lawyers exist to make sure the person who caused the harm, and the insurance company standing behind them, pays for it.

For over 25 years, The Accident Network Law Group has stood up for injured people across Riverside, Costa Mesa, Rancho Cucamonga, Apple Valley, Victorville, and the surrounding communities. Attorney Damoun A. Yazdi, a personal injury lawyer with 12+ years in the field who trained as a law clerk in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, gives every pedestrian case hands-on attention. Representation is contingency-based from day one.

The lawsuit deadline for most pedestrian injury claims is two years, set by Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, and key evidence like intersection camera footage disappears much faster. A free consultation costs you nothing and protects everything. Se habla espanol.

Crosswalk Right-of-Way: The Rules That Decide Fault

California’s core pedestrian protection is Vehicle Code Section 21950. Subdivision (a) requires a driver to yield to a person crossing in any marked crosswalk, and also in any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Many clients are surprised to learn that an intersection without painted lines still contains a legal crosswalk where they had the right-of-way.

The statute cuts both ways. Subdivision (b) says a pedestrian may not suddenly step off a curb into the path of a car that is too close to stop. Insurers lean hard on that language, which is why establishing the timing of the crossing, through signal data, video, and witnesses, is often the pivotal issue in these cases.

Crossing outside an intersection changed legally in 2023. The Freedom to Walk Act (AB 2147) amended Vehicle Code Section 21955 so that officers may no longer stop someone for so-called jaywalking unless a reasonably careful person would see an immediate danger of collision. Crossing mid-block does not strip you of the right to compensation, and drivers still owe every pedestrian a duty of care.

Where and Why Drivers Strike People on Foot

• Left-turning motorists who scan for oncoming cars and never register the person in the crosswalk
• Drivers looking at phones or dashboard screens as they approach intersections
• Parking lots and driveways, where drivers reverse or pull out with limited visibility
• Speeding on wide suburban arterials, where higher impact speeds turn survivable collisions into fatal ones
• Alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers, whose reaction times fail exactly when a walker enters the road
• Poor lighting and blocked sightlines at intersections that agencies failed to maintain

When a dangerous public roadway design or a broken streetlight contributed, the responsible city, county, or state agency can share liability, but a written claim must reach that agency within six months under Government Code Section 911.2.

The Medical Reality of Pedestrian Impacts

A vehicle strikes the lower body first, so fractured legs, shattered pelvises, and knee destruction are signature pedestrian injuries. The secondary impact, when the person hits the hood, windshield, or pavement, drives the head trauma, spinal cord damage, internal bleeding, and facial injuries that make these cases so serious. Recovery frequently involves multiple surgeries, months of rehabilitation, and permanent limitations.

What a Pedestrian Injury Claim Can Recover

Financial damages capture the measurable fallout: hospital and surgical bills, rehabilitation and future care projections, prescriptions and medical equipment, the paychecks you lost, and the career earnings a permanent injury takes away.

Human damages address what the injury did to your life: the pain, the trauma of the event itself, disfigurement, the loss of independence, and a spouse’s loss of companionship. There is no legislative cap on compensatory awards in California pedestrian cases; the strength of the proof determines the outcome.

California follows pure comparative negligence. If an insurer convinces a jury you were 20 percent at fault for crossing where you did, your award is reduced by 20 percent, not eliminated. Do not let an adjuster talk you out of a claim by insisting the crash was your fault.

Two other sources of recovery matter in pedestrian cases. A driver who acted with malice, such as fleeing the scene after a violent impact, may face punitive damages under Civil Code Section 3294. And if the driver ran or carried no insurance, uninsured motorist coverage on your own household auto policy can often compensate you even though you were on foot.

Building Your Case While You Heal

1. Accept emergency transport and follow through on every referral; the medical record is the backbone of the claim
2. Ask someone to photograph the intersection, the vehicle, skid marks, and the walk signal before conditions change
3. Get names and numbers for every witness; bystanders scatter within minutes
4. Request the police report number at the scene or from the responding agency afterward
5. Note nearby businesses whose exterior cameras may have captured the collision, and act fast; most systems record over footage within days
6. Route every insurance call to your lawyer rather than describing your injuries on a recorded line

When the Driver’s Insurer Blames the Pedestrian

The defense playbook in these cases is remarkably consistent: the pedestrian “darted out,” wore dark clothing, was outside the crosswalk, or was looking at a phone. Adjusters push comparative fault because every percentage point they assign to you cuts what they owe.

Our founding attorney learned that playbook early. Damoun Yazdi worked as a personal injury paralegal before earning his law degree, then clerked at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and he uses both experiences to dismantle blame-the-victim defenses with physical evidence, timing analysis, and credible witnesses.

From the first phone call, we handle the carrier so you never face those tactics alone, and when negotiation stalls, we take the case to court.

Our Commitment to Injured Pedestrians

This firm was built in the communities where these collisions happen, with a quarter century of practice in the courts of Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. Clients work with Attorney Yazdi directly, reach a live member of our team at any hour, and communicate with us in English or Spanish.

We front the costs of experts, records, and investigation, and our fee comes only from the recovery we win. If a driver hurt you or a family member while you were walking, review our case results and schedule your free pedestrian accident consultation today.