Pedestrian fatalities have spiked. Who’s to blame?

According to recent statistics of the California Office of Traffic Safety, 15,000 pedestrians are injured each year and over 1,100 pedestrians are killed annually in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents on California streets, roadways, highways, and freeways. California roadways are one of the deadliest states for pedestrian fatalities, with Los Angeles leading the pack in California.

The first thing to be addressed is who is a “pedestrian.” One who is walking is, of course, a pedestrian, as are persons who are jogging or running. Beyond that, persons riding skateboards or manually propelled scooters – but not e-scooters – are pedestrians, as are persons wearing roller skates or rollerblades. Persons in wheelchairs, including motorized wheelchairs, are pedestrians. Persons skiing, using snowboards, or wearing ice skates are also considered pedestrians. Bicyclists and persons riding electric scooters (e-scooters) are not included in the legal definition of pedestrian.

Causes of motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions

The number one cause of motor vehicle-pedestrian accidents is driver distraction and inattentiveness. Other leading causes are:

• Speeding

• Talking or texting on a cellphone

• Disregarding crosswalks

• Failure to yield to a pedestrian who is already in the crosswalk

• Disregarding traffic signs or signals

• Faulty lights

• Driver being under the influence of alcohol or drugs (illegal, prescription, or over-the-counter)

• Failing to stop for a stopped school bus flashing its red lights

• Dangerous road conditions

• Unsafe sidewalks

Motor vehicles are dangerous instruments

Pick-up trucks, SUVs and vans with a hood height greater than 40 inches are 45% more likely to cause fatalities than shorter vehicles with a hood height of 30 inches or fewer. Over the past three decades, the average American passenger vehicle has gotten about four inches wider, 10 inches longer, 8 inches taller, and 1,000 pounds heavier.

The front end of some of the best-selling vehicles in the United States, such as full-size pick-up trucks, are as high as 55 inches, producing huge forward blind zones that are especially dangerous to children and wheelchair users.

The height and front profile of vehicles may contribute to more serious injuries. The vehicles are striking pedestrians higher in the torso region and tend to push the pedestrian forward and down. This results in more severe injuries and more often than not more head injuries.

Injuries the pedestrian may suffer

Because of the vast disparity between a motor vehicle and a person—3,000 pounds or more versus 125-250 pounds—it does not take much force of the vehicle to inflict serious injuries on the pedestrian. Injuries a pedestrian may suffer as a result of being hit by a motor vehicle include:

• Broken bones and major fractures

• Spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis

• Loss of limbs, amputations

• Traumatic brain injuries

• Internal organ damage

• Disfigurement and scarring

• Serious burns

• Chronic pain and suffering

• Hearing loss

• Blindness

• Severe emotional distress

• Death

Jaywalki ng – The Freedom to Walk Act

Before the Freedom to Walk Act was enacted, crossing a road outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk (jaywalking) was strictly prohibited by the Vehicle Code. Violation of the statute could be used as proof of the pedestrian’s own negligence, which could reduce any award pursuant to the rules of comparative negligence or eliminate any liability altogether pursuant to the issue of causation.

Then came the Freedom to Walk Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2023 (Vehicle Code sec. 21955). It allows pedestrians to cross streets outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk (jaywalking) so long as it is reasonably safe to do so without being cited. Jaywalking is still illegal in California, but the Freedom to Walk Act will not result in a police officer giving the pedestrian a citation if the pedestrian exercises reasonable care in crossing the street when it is safe to do so. Vehicle Code section 21955, subdivision (b)(1) provides that a peace officer shall not stop a pedestrian for jaywalking unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision with a motor vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.

When crossing a street, a pedestrian has a duty to use due care for their own safety. (Vehicle Code sec. 21955 subd. (b)(2).) Pedestrians must still avoid unsafe behavior, such as crossing the street where it is hazardous or risky, there are oncoming cars present, running in front of cars, stopping vehicles without due cause, or when a reasonably prudent person would realize that there is an immediate danger of collision. Crossing the street outside of a crosswalk when it is unsafe to do so will get the miscreant a ticket, with a fine of $196.

A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. Further, a pedestrian may not unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while crossing the road. (See Vehicle Code sec. 21950 subd. (b).) Although section 21950 subd. (b) expressly refers only to pedestrians crossing a marked or unmarked crosswalk, the logic therein should also apply to a pedestrian crossing a street outside of the confines of a marked or unmarked crosswalk, i.e., jaywalking.

“Daylighting”

On Oct. 10, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsome signed into law AB 413, which amended Vehicle Code section 22500 to add subdivision (n), which requires vehicles to park not less than 20 feet from the vehicle’s approach side of any marked or unmarked crosswalk, or not less than 15 feet of any crosswalk where a curb extension is present.

This “daylighting” law is designed to ensure that pedestrians in crosswalks have more visibility by limiting the proximity at which vehicles can park close to crosswalks. The goal is to prevent pedestrians from having to walk into the street to see oncoming vehicles, while also giving the vehicle’s driver a better view of the crosswalk area. The law took effect on Jan. 1, 2024, but prior to Jan. 1, 2025, the jurisdiction may provide a warning without citation, unless the violation occurs in an area marked by paint or a sign.

If the view is blocked by a vehicle parked less than twenty feet from the curb in violation of Vehicle Code section 22500 subd. (n), does the pedestrian who is injured in the crosswalk because the view was obstructed have an action against that vehicle’s owner under a theory of breach of statute (negligence per se)?