Bicycle Accident Lawyer in Pasadena

What do Pasadena’s crash figures show for bicycle accidents?

In the California Office of Traffic Safety rankings for 2023, where rank 1 is the worst in the group, Pasadena ranked 14th of 62 cities its size for cyclists killed or injured, with 45 victims. Cyclists under 15 ranked 56th of 62, with one victim, which is toward the better end and worth saying rather than hiding. The more revealing figure comes from the City itself: its 2022 Local Roadway Safety Plan found that bicycle and pedestrian crashes accounted for 14.9 percent of the collisions that killed or seriously injured somebody between 2015 and 2019. Cyclists are a small fraction of road users and a large fraction of the serious harm, which is the pattern everywhere and the reason a bike case is rarely a minor case. The City’s October 2025 Focused Local Roadway Safety Action Plan adds that 80 percent of its killed-or-seriously-injured collisions happen on just 13 percent of its roadways, and names the eight corridors concerned: Arroyo Parkway, Colorado Boulevard, Fair Oaks Avenue, Lake Avenue, Los Robles Avenue, Marengo Avenue, Washington Boulevard and Sunset Avenue.

Two things follow for a cyclist’s claim in Pasadena. First, the usual liability argument is about position and right of way, not speed, and it is won or lost on physical evidence: the damage pattern on the bike and the vehicle, the lane markings, whether a bike lane was present or obstructed, and any camera covering the junction. That evidence degrades quickly, and a bike is often repaired or discarded within days, so it should be preserved rather than fixed. Second, where the road itself contributed, through a surface defect, a drain grate, an abrupt lane drop or an obstructed bike lane, the defendant may be the City, and that changes the deadline completely: Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim within six months, presented to the City Clerk’s Office at 100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S228, with the claims line on (626) 744-4333, rather than the two years that applies to a claim against a driver. Pasadena is also putting $9.9 million of Caltrans Active Transportation Program Cycle 6 funding into North Lake Avenue between Mountain Street and Maple Street, a corridor its own plan already ranked among the worst in the city.

Where is a Pasadena bicycle accident case filed, and what are the deadlines?

Cases are filed in the Northeast District, at the Pasadena or Alhambra courthouse, and Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena is a Level II adult trauma center. Under Los Angeles Superior Court Local Rule 2.3(a)(1)(A) an unlimited civil action for bodily injury or wrongful death is filed in the judicial district where the incident arose, and the deadline is generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, or six months for a written claim against a public entity under Government Code section 911.2, in which case the shorter deadline governs.

More on local practice on the Pasadena personal injury page, and on the law itself on the Los Angeles bicycle accident page. The other collision types with Pasadena’s own published figures: car accidents, pedestrian accidents and motorcycle accidents. Mass tort claims are taken on for Pasadena residents as well, and those are set out on the mass torts page.