California Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
A pedestrian accident in Malibu has resulted in the death of Luis Olmedo, who was hit by an SUV when crossing Pacific Coast Highway. The Malibu pedestrian accident occurred at about 6:45pm yesterday, near Decker Canyon. According to the Ventura County Star, the investigators say that alcohol and speed did not play a part in the Malibu accident. Investigators did apparently say that they believe Olmedo was at fault.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the case and said the man was fishing at El Pescador Beach before he tried to run across PCH. After the man was hit by the car, the driver called 911. Emergency responders were unable to save him and Mr. Olmedo was pronounced dead.
In over 35 years of handling California personal injury accident cases, we have seen many Pacific Coast Highway car accidents. Unfortunately, despite the sometimes heavy police presence, many drivers tend to drive too fast on PCH, leading to many Malibu car accidents. Also, as the main access road for many residents of Malibu, we see a lot of drunk driving arrests and crashes on PCH. So far, however, there is no evidence that speed or alcohol caused this PCH accident.
Many people think that in California, the pedestrian always has the right of way. However, California Vehicle Code Section 21954(a) states that if a pedestrian is outside of a crosswalk, the pedestrian must yield the right of way to any vehicles that pose an immediate hazard. Subsection (b) does clarify that drivers still have the duty to exercise due care when driving. The purpose of this subsection is so that drivers know that, even if the pedestrian may be crossing without yielding to the driver, the driver still has a duty under the law to exercise due care and to try to avoid colliding with the pedestrian. A driver cannot simply state that the pedestrian was outside the crosswalk, so the collision was entirely the pedestrian’s fault.
California Pedestrian accidents are often very serious and involve catastrophic injuries or wrongful death. If you are hit by a car in Malibu, you should contact a Malibu accident lawyer. Our California injury lawyers offer a free consultation to any accident injury victim or their families and we handle Malibu injury accident and Malibu wrongful death cases.