Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in Pomona

What do Pomona’s crash figures show for pedestrian accidents?

In the California Office of Traffic Safety rankings for 2023, where rank 1 is the worst in the group, Pomona ranked 9th of 62 California cities its size for pedestrians killed or injured, with 69 victims. That places it in the worst sixth of its group. Pedestrians under 15 accounted for 6 of those victims, ranking 17th of 62, which is worse than average for a city this size. Pedestrians aged 65 and over accounted for 6, ranking 26th of 62, which is only slightly worse than average, and that is worth stating plainly rather than inflating. Pomona’s total across all road users was 783 victims, 18th of 62. These rankings are rate based, weighted against population and daily vehicle miles travelled, so they say Pomona is worse than comparable cities rather than that it carries the highest raw counts in the state.

The two Pomona figures that rank worse than its pedestrian figure belong to the same problem. The city ranked 5th of 62 for collisions between 9:00pm and 2:59am, with 106 of them, and 8th of 62 for hit and run, with 94. A person on foot is the road user least protected in a dark-hours crash and the one a driver who decides to leave is most likely to get away from. So a Pomona pedestrian case often begins with two things missing: an independent witness and an identified defendant.

That shapes the work from the first week. The injuries in a pedestrian impact outrun the vehicle damage, because a body absorbs energy a bumper would shrug off, which means the medical picture is usually serious while the liability picture is still thin. The evidence that fills it in is physical and perishable: the point of impact on the vehicle, where the person came to rest relative to the crossing, the state of the markings and signals, and whatever camera covered the junction. None of that survives a few weeks of ordinary street life.

The liability argument is usually about right of way. A driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, and a pedestrian must not leave a kerb or place of safety suddenly into the path of a vehicle close enough to be a hazard. Both duties sit in the California Vehicle Code, and an insurer’s case is almost always an attempt to move your crossing from the first duty to the second. Where the crossing itself contributed, through signal timing, missing or faded markings, obstructed sight lines or lighting, the potential defendant is a public entity rather than a driver, and which entity it is depends on who owns the street.

That ownership question is live in Pomona. The City runs its own municipal police department rather than a Sheriff’s contract, so a collision on a city street is investigated by the Pomona Police Department. A collision on a state highway, including the crossings, ramps and frontage of State Route 71 inside the city limits, State Route 60 between Phillips Ranch Road and Reservoir Street, Interstate 10 and State Route 57, is normally a California Highway Patrol matter on a roadway Caltrans owns rather than the City.

Where is a Pomona pedestrian accident case filed, and what are the deadlines?

The deadlines follow the defendant. Against a driver you generally have two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Against any public entity, Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim within six months of the injury and the shorter deadline governs. A claim against the City of Pomona is presented to the Pomona City Clerk’s Office, which the City’s own department listing names as the office that processes damage claims. The Clerk’s address, counter hours, accepted filing methods and the City’s own claim form are not published in a form we are willing to quote, so confirm those with the City Clerk’s Office directly.

California is a pure comparative fault state, so even a finding that you crossed carelessly reduces a recovery rather than ending the claim. Filing stays local: under Los Angeles Superior Court Local Rule 2.3(a)(1)(A), effective 1 January 2026, an unlimited civil case for bodily injury or wrongful death must be filed in the judicial district where the incident arose, which makes a Pomona case an East District case at Pomona Courthouse South, 400 Civic Center Plaza.

For the wider picture on this city see the Pomona personal injury page, and for how these claims are run generally see the Los Angeles pedestrian accident practice. Pomona’s other collision pages cover car, bicycle and motorcycle claims. If your matter is a drug, device or product claim rather than a collision, Broukhim Legal PC also takes on mass tort and complex litigation work for people living in and around Pomona.