People on foot and on bikes absorb the consequences of other people’s driving with nothing between them and the vehicle. I represent pedestrians and cyclists seriously injured in Oakland and across the East Bay—free consultation, contingency fee, and cases built on early, thorough investigation.
Oakland’s own safety data shows that a small set of streets produces most of its serious pedestrian injuries—corridors like International Boulevard, Foothill Boulevard, MacArthur Boulevard, Telegraph Avenue, and San Pablo Avenue. I have walked and biked these streets my whole life. That a corridor is on the city’s high-injury network is not just context; it can be evidence—of notice, of foreseeability, and sometimes of a dangerous public condition that belongs in the case.
What I Do in These Cases
- Move fast on camera footage—transit, storefront, and doorbell cameras overwrite in days, and they are often the difference between a disputed case and a proven one.
- Reconstruct the collision: point of impact, throw distance, vehicle speed, sight lines, and signal timing.
- Pursue every coverage source—the driver’s policy, an employer’s, and your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage, which protects you even when you are walking.
- Evaluate the street itself: lighting, signage, crosswalk design, and whether a government claim should be filed within the six-month window.
Injuries in these cases—head trauma, fractures, spinal injuries—tend to be serious, and the treatment often runs through Highland Hospital’s trauma center. Cases should be valued on the full arc of recovery, not the first weeks. What to do in the immediate aftermath is covered step by step in the after-a-crash guide, which applies equally when you were on foot.
Frequently Asked Questions
I was hit outside a crosswalk. Is the case over?
No. Drivers owe a duty of care to everyone on the road, marked crosswalk or not, and California's pure comparative negligence rule means a pedestrian assigned partial fault still recovers the remaining share. Every intersection also has legal crosswalks whether or not lines are painted — an 'unmarked crosswalk' at a corner still carries pedestrian right of way under Vehicle Code section 21950.
What is 'dooring,' and who is at fault?
Dooring is when an occupant opens a car door into a cyclist's path. Vehicle Code section 22517 puts the duty on the person opening the door to wait until it is reasonably safe. These crashes are common on Oakland streets where bike lanes run beside parked cars — Telegraph, Grand, Webster — and fault usually rests with the door-opener, not the rider.
The driver fled the scene. Do I have any recovery?
Possibly several. Hit-and-run crashes can be covered by your own uninsured motorist coverage — which in California applies to you as a pedestrian or cyclist, not just when you're driving your car. An investigation can also identify the driver: nearby cameras, paint transfer, debris, and witness partial plates solve more of these cases than people expect.
Can the City of Oakland be responsible for a dangerous street or sidewalk?
Sometimes. Public entities can be liable for dangerous conditions of public property — a missing signal, an obscured crosswalk, a broken sidewalk. But the Government Claims Act requires a written claim within six months, a far shorter fuse than the ordinary two-year statute. If a street design or maintenance failure played any role, that deadline should drive your timeline.