Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Pasadena

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

In the California Office of Traffic Safety rankings for 2023, where rank 1 is the worst in the group, Pasadena ranked 47th of 62 cities its size for motorcyclists killed or injured, with 30 victims, which puts it toward the better end of its group. We are not going to dress that up as a crisis. What matters more for a rider is the city’s wider pattern: Pasadena ranked 7th of 62 for total people killed and injured with 978 victims, and 13th of 62 for speed-related collisions with 125, on roads where the City’s own plan concentrates 80 percent of its severe outcomes on 13 percent of the network. A rider is exposed to that traffic with none of the protection a car gives, so the same collision that dents a bumper breaks bones here.

The practical problem in a motorcycle claim is bias, and it shows up in two places. Adjusters routinely assume the rider was speeding or lane splitting recklessly, and will assign a high comparative fault percentage early, before anyone has examined the evidence. Lane splitting is lawful in California, so the question is whether it was done at a reasonable speed in the conditions, not whether it happened. Juries carry the same assumption. Both are answered the same way: with the physical evidence, the gouge and skid marks, the damage geometry, the helmet, the protective gear and any camera footage, gathered before it disappears. If the road itself contributed, a surface defect, a utility cut, gravel left after works or a signal fault, the defendant may be the City of Pasadena, and Government Code section 911.2 then requires a written claim within six months rather than the usual two years, presented to the City Clerk’s Office at 100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S228, with the claims line on (626) 744-4333.

Where is a Pasadena motorcycle 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, so a serious rider injury is likely treated inside the city. 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 motorcycle accident page. The other collision types with Pasadena’s own published figures: car accidents, pedestrian accidents and bicycle accidents. Mass tort claims are taken on for Pasadena residents as well, and those are set out on the mass torts page.