Car Accidents in Los Angeles: 2023 Data and How a Claim Works

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System records every fatal crash on public roads. For 2023, crashes coded to the city of Los Angeles account for 341 deaths in 321 fatal crashes, the highest of any city in the country. Los Angeles County as a whole, with its 87 other cities and unincorporated areas, adds many more.

The defining fact is the pedestrian and cyclist share. Of the 321 fatal crashes, 168 involved at least one person not in a vehicle, a 52 percent share that no other large city matches. The most common first harmful event, 228 crashes, was something other than a collision with another moving vehicle, which in Los Angeles mostly means a pedestrian. Angle collisions, 52, and rear-end collisions, 18, were far behind.

Night is the other common factor: 242 fatal crashes, three quarters of the total, occurred in dark conditions. Ninety-six were intersection-related and 109 were on a weekend. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes in Los Angeles, reported through the state's SWITRS system, are many times more numerous.

FARS roadway coding shows where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. The list is a mix of freeways and the long north-south surface arterials of South and Central Los Angeles.

• US-101 (Hollywood and Ventura Freeways): 11 fatal crashes.
• Western Avenue: 8 fatal crashes along the arterial through Koreatown, Mid-City and South LA.
• Vermont Avenue: 7 fatal crashes on the parallel corridor.
• I-405 (San Diego Freeway): 6 fatal crashes.
• Imperial Highway: 6 fatal crashes in the south of the city.
• La Brea Avenue: 6 fatal crashes.

A pedestrian struck by a driver has an injury claim against the driver's liability insurer, and the common defenses are that the pedestrian was outside a crosswalk, crossed against the signal, was in dark clothing, or stepped out suddenly. California law gives pedestrians the right of way in marked and unmarked crosswalks at intersections but also requires them not to leave a curb suddenly into the path of a vehicle, and the fault argument runs on exactly where the person was.

California's pure comparative negligence rule keeps these claims alive even when the pedestrian shares fault. A pedestrian found 40 percent at fault for crossing mid-block still recovers 60 percent, and a jury's view of a driver who hit a person on a wide, poorly lit arterial at night is often less forgiving than the insurer's opening position.

Pedestrians and cyclists frequently have coverage they do not know about. The uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on their own or a household member's auto policy applies when they are struck by a vehicle, and California's minimum liability limits are low, so that coverage is often the larger source. Hit-and-run crashes, common in Los Angeles, are uninsured motorist claims if reported to police promptly.

Suppose you were crossing Western Avenue at night, mid-block, when a driver traveling well over the limit struck you. You suffered a fractured leg requiring surgery and a head injury, with $140,000 in medical bills and six months off work. The driver's insurer argued you were outside a crosswalk and assigned you 50 percent of the fault.

Under California's pure comparative rule, even a 50 percent share leaves a recovery of half the damages. The driver's speed, established from the crash reconstruction and a nearby business camera obtained in the first week, and the absence of a crosswalk for a long stretch of the avenue, reduced your share in negotiation. The driver carried California's minimum $30,000 per person liability limit, which was paid within weeks; the rest of the claim ran against your own household auto policy's underinsured motorist coverage.

A separate question was whether the city's street design, with no protected crossing for several blocks, contributed. That is a claim against the City of Los Angeles, and it required a government claim form filed within six months of the crash, well before the two-year deadline for the claim against the driver. All figures are hypothetical.

Los Angeles crashes, especially pedestrian crashes, depend on evidence that is gone within days and on a government deadline measured in months.

• Get the LAPD or CHP report number; LAPD traffic division reports are obtained from the division that handled the crash.
• Identify every camera facing the location, including businesses, transit buses and traffic cameras, and have preservation requests sent within days.
• Photograph the lighting, the nearest crosswalk and its distance, the signal and the position of the vehicle.
• Get witness names; pedestrian crashes at night are usually one account against another without them.
• Check your own and your household members' auto policies for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, even if you were on foot.
• Report any hit-and-run to police immediately; uninsured motorist claims for unidentified drivers require a prompt report.
• If a street design, signal, lighting or crossing issue contributed, file a government claim within six months.

California is a fault state, not no-fault. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery, and medical payments coverage on your own policy, if purchased, pays early bills. California's minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage, raised at the start of 2025 from the long-standing lower limits. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must be offered and is on most policies unless rejected in writing.

Fault follows pure comparative negligence under California law: recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault with no cutoff. The injury deadline is two years from the crash under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1. Claims against a public entity, including the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Caltrans and LA Metro, require a written government claim within six months under Gov. Code § 911.2, and a lawsuit within six months of the claim's rejection; the general two-year deadline does not apply to them.

Crashes in the other cities of Los Angeles County, from Long Beach to Pomona, Lancaster and Palmdale, each of which appears in the FARS top 150, follow the same California rules. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the California Division of Workers' Compensation with a one-year claim deadline.

A Los Angeles claim is often a pedestrian or night crash with a fault argument, a minimum-limits driver and a possible government defendant on a six-month clock. The questions to answer early are what the cameras show, what coverage exists on both sides including your own household policies, and whether the street itself is part of the claim. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in California, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash in Los Angeles, as a driver, passenger, pedestrian or cyclist, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.