Common Causes of Pedestrian Accidents in San Diego

Most pedestrian crashes are preventable. The important question in a legal case is what went wrong: Did a driver fail to yield, turn through an occupied crosswalk, drive too fast, look at a phone, or simply fail to see someone who was there to be seen?

Identifying the cause helps determine who is responsible and what evidence can prove it.

San Diego presents a mix of busy tourist districts, multilane arterial roads, residential neighborhoods, school zones, and high-speed suburban streets where people on foot and vehicles routinely cross paths. Nationwide, 7,080 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in 2024, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

People who survive can suffer traumatic brain injuries, fractures, spinal injuries, and other life-changing harm. Our guide to common pedestrian accident injuries explains these injuries in more detail, while our San Diego pedestrian accident statistics page examines the local numbers.

This guide explains the most common causes of pedestrian accidents, the California laws that apply, and the evidence that can help establish what happened. For information about our firm's work in these cases, visit our San Diego pedestrian accident attorney page.

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Drivers Failing to Yield in Crosswalks

Failure to yield is one of the clearest forms of driver negligence in a pedestrian accident.

Under California Vehicle Code section 21950, a driver must yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing within a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.

Many intersections have legal crosswalks even when no lines are painted on the pavement.

California's jury instructions reinforce the rule. CACI No. 710 explains that a driver approaching a pedestrian within a marked or unmarked crosswalk must use reasonable care and reduce speed or take other action necessary for the pedestrian's safety.

Pedestrians have responsibilities too. Section 21950 prohibits a pedestrian from suddenly leaving a curb or other place of safety and entering the path of a vehicle so close that it creates an immediate hazard. A pedestrian also may not unnecessarily stop or delay traffic in a crosswalk.

But a pedestrian's mistake does not eliminate the driver's duty to exercise reasonable care.

What the case turns on: Intersection video, nearby business cameras, witness statements, vehicle damage, skid or tire evidence, signal timing, photographs, and the location of the pedestrian at impact can help establish whether the driver failed to yield.

Our guides to crosswalk accident liability in San Diego and California pedestrian right-of-way laws explain these rules in greater detail.

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Left-Turn and Right-Turn Pedestrian Crashes

Turning vehicles create a frequent conflict with people crossing at intersections.

A left-turning driver may focus on finding a gap in oncoming traffic and fail to check the crosswalk before completing the turn. A right-turning driver may look left for approaching vehicles while moving into a crosswalk on the driver's right.

The driver's attention may be directed at traffic, but the duty to watch for pedestrians remains.

A driver making a right turn on red must first stop. Under Vehicle Code section 21453(b), the driver must also yield to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk.

Drivers making other turns remain subject to California's crosswalk and reasonable-care requirements.

Saying "I never saw the pedestrian" does not necessarily excuse the collision. One of the central questions is often whether a reasonably careful driver should have seen the person before beginning or completing the turn.

What the case turns on: Intersection cameras, pedestrian and traffic signal phases, vehicle position, sight lines, witness testimony, vehicle data when available, and the driver's path through the intersection can help reconstruct the collision.

Our guide to the most dangerous pedestrian intersections in San Diego examines locations where pedestrians and turning vehicles frequently come into conflict.

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Speeding and Driving Too Fast for Conditions

Impact speed is one of the most important factors in the severity of a pedestrian collision.

An AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study estimated that the average pedestrian's risk of death reaches approximately 10 percent at an impact speed of 23 mph, 50 percent at 42 mph, and 90 percent at 58 mph. Individual risk varies with age, vehicle type, impact characteristics, and other circumstances.

Speed also affects whether a driver has enough time and distance to recognize a pedestrian and avoid the collision.

California's basic speed law, Vehicle Code section 22350, prohibits driving faster than is reasonable or prudent considering weather, visibility, traffic, and roadway conditions.

That means the posted speed limit is not always the safe speed.

A driver approaching a crowded beachfront crossing, a school at dismissal time, a dark intersection, or an area with limited visibility may need to slow below the posted limit to exercise reasonable care.

What the case turns on: Event data recorder information when available, surveillance and dashcam video, vehicle damage, tire evidence, GPS data, witness observations, roadway measurements, and accident reconstruction can help establish vehicle speed and whether the driver had enough time to avoid the collision.

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Distracted Driving

A few seconds of inattention can be enough for a driver to travel through an entire intersection without seeing a pedestrian.

At 40 mph, a vehicle travels almost 59 feet every second. A three-second distraction therefore carries the vehicle roughly 176 feet.

Phones are an obvious source of distraction, but navigation systems, passengers, food, vehicle controls, and other activities can also take a driver's eyes or attention from the road.

California Vehicle Code section 23123.5 generally prohibits driving while holding and operating a handheld wireless phone or electronic communications device. Limited hand operation is permitted when the device is properly mounted and the function requires only a single tap or swipe.

What the case turns on: Phone records can help establish calls and communications, while forensic examination or properly obtained application and device data may reveal additional activity. Video, witnesses, vehicle data, and the absence of braking before impact can also help determine whether the driver was paying attention.

Our guide to distracted driving and pedestrian accidents in San Diego explains how distraction can be investigated and proved.

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Impaired Driving

Alcohol and drugs can impair judgment, reaction time, coordination, and a driver's ability to recognize hazards.

California Vehicle Code section 23152 prohibits driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and establishes separate alcohol concentration limits.

Impairment can be especially dangerous for pedestrians at night, when visibility is already reduced.

What the case turns on: Evidence may include breath or blood testing, toxicology results, police body-camera footage, field sobriety testing, witness testimony, receipts, surveillance video, admissions, and the driver's conduct before and after the crash.

In an appropriate case, knowingly choosing to drive while intoxicated may also support a claim for punitive damages under California law. Punitive damages are not automatic simply because alcohol or drugs were involved. The evidence must satisfy California's separate requirements for punitive damages.

If the driver left the scene, our guide to hit-and-run pedestrian accidents in San Diego explains potential sources of recovery even when the driver is initially unidentified or uninsured.

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Backing and Driveway Accidents

Pedestrians can be seriously injured even in relatively low-speed collisions.

Drivers backing from parking spaces, driveways, alleys, and garages may have limited visibility behind the vehicle. SUVs, pickup trucks, and other large vehicles can create substantial areas that are difficult to see from the driver's seat.

Different California statutes may apply depending on where the backing movement occurs.

Vehicle Code section 22106 prohibits starting or backing a vehicle on a highway unless the movement can be made with reasonable safety.

Vehicle Code section 21952 separately addresses vehicles emerging from alleys, driveways, and buildings. Before driving across a sidewalk, the driver must yield to pedestrians approaching on the sidewalk.

These crashes can be particularly dangerous to children because their smaller size may make them harder for a driver to see.

What the case turns on: Backup-camera footage when preserved, parking lot or building video, vehicle sensors, sight-line measurements, witness testimony, vehicle dimensions, and reconstruction of the driver's view can help determine whether the pedestrian should have been visible.

Our guide to pedestrian accidents involving children in San Diego explains the additional issues that can arise when a child is injured.

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Pedestrians Crossing Outside a Crosswalk

Crossing outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk changes the right-of-way rules, but it does not automatically eliminate a pedestrian injury claim.

Under Vehicle Code section 21954, a pedestrian crossing somewhere other than a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to vehicles close enough to constitute an immediate hazard.

The same statute expressly states that drivers still have a duty to exercise due care for pedestrians on the roadway.

California also changed enforcement of these pedestrian rules beginning in 2023. Section 21954 now generally prohibits an officer from stopping a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk unless a reasonably careful person would recognize an immediate danger of collision. That enforcement change did not eliminate the pedestrian's duty to use reasonable care or yield when a vehicle presents an immediate hazard.

In a civil case, the issue is usually comparative fault.

A pedestrian may bear some responsibility for crossing outside a crosswalk, while the driver may also bear responsibility for speeding, distraction, impairment, failing to keep a lookout, or failing to avoid a visible pedestrian.

California's comparative-negligence rule generally reduces compensation by the percentage of fault assigned to the injured person rather than automatically barring recovery.

Our guide to comparative negligence in San Diego pedestrian cases explains how these shared-fault arguments work.

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Dangerous Road Design, Lighting, and Visibility

Sometimes the driver is not the only source of danger.

A roadway may create or increase the risk through inadequate sight distance, poorly placed crossings, defective traffic controls, missing or obscured signs, malfunctioning pedestrian signals, inadequate lighting, or other physical conditions.

A dangerous-road claim against a city, county, Caltrans, or another public entity requires more than showing that the location could have been designed better.

Under California Government Code section 835, the injured person generally must prove that the public property was in a dangerous condition, the condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the type of injury that occurred, and the condition was a substantial factor in causing the harm.

The plaintiff must also prove either that a public employee's negligent or wrongful act or omission created the dangerous condition or that the public entity had actual or constructive notice of the condition with sufficient time to protect against it.

CACI No. 1100 lays out these elements for a California jury.

Prior crashes, traffic studies, citizen complaints, work orders, maintenance records, engineering plans, signal timing data, sight-distance measurements, and nighttime inspections can all become important evidence.

Public entities may also raise statutory defenses and immunities, including design immunity in appropriate cases, which makes early investigation particularly important.

The deadline is also different from an ordinary injury case. A claim relating to personal injury generally must be presented to the appropriate government entity within six months under Government Code section 911.2. Limited late-claim procedures may be available in some circumstances, but they have separate requirements and deadlines.

Our San Diego dangerous road conditions attorneys investigate these public-entity claims alongside claims against negligent drivers when roadway conditions contributed to the crash.

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Why the Cause of a Pedestrian Accident Matters

Determining why the crash happened helps identify both the responsible parties and the evidence needed to prove the case.

A crosswalk collision may turn on video, witnesses, signal timing, and the driver's line of sight. A distracted-driving case may require phone and application evidence. A speeding case may depend on vehicle data, video, and accident reconstruction. A dangerous-road case may require engineering records, collision history, traffic studies, maintenance files, and roadway measurements.

Traffic-law violations can also matter.

Under California Evidence Code section 669, violation of a statute, ordinance, or regulation can create a presumption of negligence when the requirements of the negligence-per-se doctrine are met.

CACI No. 418 explains the framework. Among other things, the statutory violation must be established and must have been a substantial factor in causing the harm. The court also determines whether the injury and injured person fall within the purposes and protected class of the law. The presumption may be rebutted if the violation was legally excused.

Negligence per se is therefore an important evidentiary rule, not an automatic finding of liability whenever a traffic citation exists.

Our guides to proving liability in a San Diego pedestrian accident and the steps to take after a pedestrian accident explain how this evidence can be identified and preserved.

Our guide to compensation for pedestrian accident victims explains the medical expenses, lost income, future care, pain and suffering, and other damages that may be recoverable after a serious injury.

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Talk to Hulburt Law Firm About Your Pedestrian Accident

Understanding why a pedestrian crash happened is the foundation of determining responsibility.

Hulburt Law Firm investigates the driver's conduct, vehicle data, video, witnesses, traffic controls, roadway conditions, and other evidence necessary to determine what caused a serious pedestrian collision.

If you or someone you love was seriously injured by a vehicle in San Diego, our San Diego pedestrian accident attorneys, Conor and Leslie Hulburt, can review what happened and explain your options.

Call (619) 821-0500 or send us a message through our contact form for a free, confidential case review.

There is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.