In California, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in any marked crosswalk and in any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. A pedestrian crossing anywhere else must yield to traffic close enough to be an immediate hazard. Neither side ever gets to stop paying attention. The driver’s duty of care continues even when the pedestrian is in the wrong place, and a pedestrian in a crosswalk still may not step suddenly in front of a car too close to stop. Most crosswalk injury cases come down to those rules and to the evidence of what each person actually did.
A crosswalk does not need paint
Vehicle Code section 275 defines a crosswalk two ways. The first is the part of the roadway within the extension of the sidewalk boundary lines at an intersection where the roads meet at approximately right angles, except the extension of lines from an alley across a street. The second is any part of the roadway distinctly marked for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings.
That first definition is the one people miss. At an ordinary intersection with sidewalks, there is usually a legal crosswalk on each side of the intersection whether or not anyone painted lines. The exception is where local authorities have posted signs indicating no crossing. A crossing in the middle of a block, by contrast, is a crosswalk only if it is marked.
What drivers owe pedestrians
- Yield. Vehicle Code section 21950(a) requires a driver to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
- Slow down and act. Section 21950(c) requires a driver approaching a pedestrian in a crosswalk to “exercise all due care” and reduce speed or take any other action necessary to safeguard the pedestrian.
- Do not pass a car stopped for a pedestrian. Vehicle Code section 21951 bars overtaking and passing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross. This is the second-lane crash: one driver stops, and the driver in the next lane does not.
- Yield on a right turn on red. Under Vehicle Code section 21453(b), a driver turning on a red light must yield to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk.
- Hands off the phone. Vehicle Code section 23123.5 bars driving while holding and operating a handheld phone, unless it is used hands-free or is mounted and operated with a single tap or swipe.
What pedestrians owe drivers
Section 21950(b) says the right-of-way rule does not relieve a pedestrian of the duty 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, and may not unnecessarily stop or delay traffic in a crosswalk.
Outside a crosswalk, Vehicle Code section 21954(a) requires a pedestrian to yield to vehicles so near as to be an immediate hazard. Section 21954(b) adds that this does not relieve the driver of the duty to exercise due care for any pedestrian on the roadway. Hitting someone who is jaywalking is not automatically excused.
Signals have their own rules. Under Vehicle Code section 21456, a flashing DON’T WALK or upraised hand with a countdown timer allows a pedestrian to start crossing, as long as the crossing is finished before the countdown ends. A steady DON’T WALK, or a flashing DON’T WALK without a countdown, means do not start.
What the Freedom to Walk Act changed, and what it did not
Assembly Bill 2147, commonly called the Freedom to Walk Act, took effect January 1, 2023. It did not repeal the crossing rules. Vehicle Code section 21955(a) still says that between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic signals or police officers, pedestrians shall not cross except in a crosswalk. Vehicle Code section 21961 still lets cities and counties adopt ordinances prohibiting pedestrians from crossing outside crosswalks.
What changed is enforcement. The act added language to sections 21955 and 21961, and to other pedestrian sections including 21950, 21954, and 21456, providing that a peace officer shall not stop a pedestrian for a violation unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision. Each of those additions also states that it does not relieve the pedestrian of the duty of due care, or the driver of the duty of due care for pedestrians in the roadway.
So in an injury case, crossing in the middle of the block is still relevant to fault. The 2023 change limits when police can stop a pedestrian. It does not tell a jury the pedestrian was careful.
How fault is shared when the pedestrian made a mistake
California follows pure comparative negligence. If a pedestrian was partly at fault, for example by crossing between two signals or stepping out against the signal, the pedestrian’s damages are reduced by their share of the fault. They are not wiped out, even if the pedestrian’s share is larger than the driver’s. Our guide to comparative negligence in California walks through how that works.
Statutes shape the split. Under Evidence Code section 669, a person who violates a safety statute is presumed negligent when the violation caused the injury and the law was meant to prevent that kind of harm to that kind of person. The presumption cuts both ways: it applies to a driver who failed to yield and to a pedestrian who crossed against the signal. Either one can rebut it by showing they did what a reasonably careful person trying to obey the law would have done in the same situation.
The evidence that decides crosswalk cases
- Signal timing. Timing records from whichever agency runs the signal (the city, the county, or Caltrans) show how the WALK and countdown phases were programmed, which can confirm or contradict each side’s account.
- Video. Business cameras, doorbell cameras, bus cameras, and dashcams. Many systems record over old footage within days or weeks, so requests have to go out immediately.
- The driver’s speed. Vehicle event data, video timing, and the damage and marks at the scene.
- Phone use. Phone records, which may be obtainable in litigation, can show whether the driver was on a call or sending texts around the time of the crash.
- The scene itself. Whether the intersection had sidewalks and roughly right angles, the sight lines, lighting, parked vehicles blocking the view, and any no crossing signs.
- Witnesses, identified before they scatter.
Sometimes the problem is the crosswalk itself: poor lighting, faded markings, or a design that hides pedestrians from turning drivers. A public entity can be liable for a dangerous condition of its property under Government Code section 835, but a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code section 911.2. Against a private driver, the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is generally two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If the driver was on the job for a city, county, transit agency, or other public entity, the six-month claim deadline applies to that claim too. Under Government Code section 950.2, if the claim against the agency is barred, so is the suit against its driver. More on these claims is on our pedestrian accident page.
What to do this week
- Get the police report number and the driver’s insurance information.
- Go back, or send someone, to photograph the crossing, the signals, the signs, and the sight lines at the same time of day.
- List every camera that might have caught the crash and send written requests to keep the footage.
- Write down what the signal showed when you started crossing and where you were when you were hit.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the driver’s insurer before reading our guide on recorded statements.
- If road design or lighting played a part, or the driver was on the job for a city, county, transit agency, or other public entity, mark the six-month government claim deadline.
About the author. Joshua B. Adelpour is the founder of Not My Fault Law Group, APC, a California personal injury firm based in Woodland Hills. He is licensed by the State Bar of California, Bar No. 318226, and spent nearly a decade defending insurance companies in civil litigation before opening the firm. Call (213) 800-0706 for a free consultation.
This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Last updated October 6, 2026.