Pedestrian and Cyclist Collisions in Long Beach, CA Right-of-Way and Passing Rules

Long Beach has flat terrain, a long shoreline path, transit corridors and a street grid that mixes residential blocks with freight arterials. Walking and cycling are ordinary transportation here, and collisions produce injuries far out of proportion to the impact speed. The legal analysis is unusually rule-driven, because the Vehicle Code addresses these situations directly.

The crosswalk duty, including crosswalks without paint

Vehicle Code section 21950 requires the driver of a vehicle to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, and the section also directs drivers to exercise due care and to reduce speed or take other action necessary for safety, while stating that a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle so close as to constitute an immediate hazard (Veh. Code 21950, leginfo). The unmarked crosswalk point is the one most often misunderstood. At many residential intersections in this city there is no paint, and the right-of-way still exists.

Mid-block crossing and what an officer may act on

Vehicle Code section 21955 addresses crossing between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic control signal devices or by police officers, and provides that a peace officer shall not stop a pedestrian for a violation of that subdivision unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision (Veh. Code 21955, leginfo). In injury claims, a mid-block crossing does not decide fault by itself. It becomes a factor in the fault percentage, weighed against driver speed, sight lines, lighting and attention.

Passing distance for bicycles

Vehicle Code section 21760, the Three Feet for Safety Act, tells a driver overtaking a bicycle headed the same way to leave enough clearance that the pass does not interfere with how safely the bicycle can be operated, and where three feet of separation is not available, to slow to a reasonable and prudent speed, passing only at a point that puts the bicyclist in no danger, with a violation punishable as an infraction carrying a fine of $35 (Veh. Code 21760, FindLaw). The fine is trivial and the civil significance is not: the passing standard supplies the yardstick a jury uses.

Where a bicycle belongs in the lane

Vehicle Code section 21202 requires a person operating a bicycle upon a highway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction to ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge, and then lists the situations in which that rule does not apply, including overtaking and passing, preparing for a left turn, avoiding conditions that make continued operation along the right-hand edge unsafe, and lanes of substandard width that are too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side (Veh. Code 21202, leginfo). Those exceptions are the answer to the recurring defense argument that a cyclist should have been further right.

Freight traffic changes the risk pattern

Because designated truck routes carry harbor traffic across the 710, 405, 91, 605 and 103 corridors and the connecting surface streets (City of Long Beach truck route map), pedestrian and cyclist collisions in some parts of the city involve commercial vehicles with large blind areas, wide turning paths and off-tracking trailers. A right-turn collision with a tractor-trailer is a different investigation from a right-turn collision with a sedan, because the carrier holds electronic records and the vehicle may have camera systems.

Roadway and sidewalk conditions as a second theory

Broken pavement, missing curb ramps, obscured sight lines, malfunctioning signals and unlit crossings can contribute to a collision. When they do, a public agency may be involved, which routes part of the claim through the Government Claims Act with a much earlier presentation deadline than an ordinary injury action. Photographs of the condition, taken before repairs, are frequently the only proof that the condition existed at the time.

Injury patterns and documentation

Pedestrian and cyclist injuries commonly include fractures, joint damage, concussion and soft tissue injury that develops over days. Emergency clearance at the scene is not a medical conclusion, and declining transport is regularly used later to argue the injury was minor. Contemporaneous medical documentation, including any follow-up for headache, dizziness, memory issues or sleep disruption, is what distinguishes an injury claim that a carrier evaluates seriously.

Timing

Injury actions in California are generally governed by the two-year period in Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 (CCP 335.1, FindLaw). Anything involving a city street condition, a transit vehicle or a school district compresses the practical schedule considerably.

This page describes California rules in general terms and is not legal advice about any pedestrian or bicycle collision. Someone with a specific incident should take those facts to the attorney who advertises on this site.