Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents
The driver’s insurer will say you stepped out, or that you should not have been in the lane. Arizona law answers both of those, and the answers are not what most people assume.
What Arizona Law Actually Says
- Crosswalks
- Exist at most intersections even with no paint on the road
- Passing a bicycle
- Not less than three feet
- Partly at fault
- Reduces a recovery, does not bar it
- Deadline
- Two years, and 180 days if a government is involved
A person on foot or on a bike has no metal around them and no airbag. The legal argument that follows is almost always about fault, and Arizona’s fault rules are more favourable here than people expect.
The Crosswalk Is Often There Without The Paint
Arizona defines a crosswalk in A.R.S. 28-601, and the definition has two halves. One is the obvious one: any part of a roadway marked for pedestrian crossing. The other is the part that decides cases. At an intersection, the crosswalk includes the part of the roadway inside the prolongation of the sidewalk lines on opposite sides of the street, measured from the curbs.
In plain terms, if there is a sidewalk on both sides, the space between them at the corner is a crosswalk whether or not anyone painted it.
A.R.S. 28-792 then requires a driver, where signals are absent or not working, to yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk, slowing down or stopping if that is what yielding takes. The same section carries the other half honestly: a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb and walk or run into the path of a vehicle so close that the driver cannot yield.
Crossing Mid-Block Does Not Hand The Driver A Defence
A.R.S. 28-793 says a pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked or unmarked crosswalk yields to vehicles. That is real, and an insurer will lead with it.
What the insurer will not mention is A.R.S. 28-794, which opens with the word notwithstanding. Whatever else the chapter says, every driver must exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian on a roadway, must sound the horn when necessary, and must take proper precaution on seeing a child or a confused or incapacitated person.
What that means in practice
Right of way and due care are two different questions. A pedestrian can fail the first and still recover, because the driver owed the second.
“He was jaywalking” is where the analysis starts, not where it ends.
The child clause
The statute singles out children and people who appear confused or incapacitated, and requires extra precaution on seeing them.
In a case involving a child near a school, a park or a bus stop, that sentence carries weight.
Passing A Bicycle Has A Measurement
A.R.S. 28-735 requires a driver overtaking a bicycle going the same direction to leave a safe distance of not less than three feet until safely past. It is a distance, not a judgment call.
The statute adds civil penalties where a violation causes harm: up to $500 where it causes serious physical injury, up to $1,000 where it causes death.
One qualifier belongs here so nobody is misled. Subsection C says those penalties do not apply to a cyclist injured in a vehicular traffic lane where a designated bicycle lane or path was present and passable.
A Cyclist Is Not Required To Hug The Curb
The standard argument after a bicycle crash is that the rider should not have been out in the lane. A.R.S. 28-812 gives a person riding on a roadway all the rights and all the duties of a driver. A.R.S. 28-815 then says a cyclist riding slower than traffic keeps as close as practicable to the right-hand curb, and lists four situations where that does not apply.
Those four are worth knowing, because they cover most of the reasons a rider is where they are.
Passing
Overtaking another bicycle or a vehicle going the same way.
Turning left
Preparing for a left turn at an intersection, a private road or a driveway.
Avoiding hazards
Reasonably necessary to avoid fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, other bicycles, pedestrians, animals or surface hazards. A door about to open counts.
A lane too narrow to share
Where the lane is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within it.
Partly At Fault Reduces The Case, It Does Not End It
Arizona uses pure comparative fault under A.R.S. 12-2505. A claimant’s share of fault reduces the recovery in proportion to that share and does not bar the claim.
Two arguments come up constantly in these cases. Dark clothing, and no helmet. Neither is a violation of anything in the statutes we read. What Arizona does require of a bicycle at night is lighting: A.R.S. 28-817 calls for a white front lamp visible at five hundred feet and an approved red rear reflector.
An insurer is free to argue about visibility. That is an argument about percentage, in front of people who get to weigh it, and it is not the end of a claim.
The Policy That Pays May Be Your Own
Many of these crashes involve a driver with the state minimum or with nothing at all. The person on foot or on a bike is left with injuries that outrun the policy.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is worth checking even though you were not in a car. A.R.S. 20-259.01 requires insurers to make that coverage available and, where it is bought, it extends to and covers all persons insured under the policy. Whether it reaches you while you were walking or riding turns on how your policy defines who is insured, which is a question about your declarations page rather than about the crash. Bring the policy and we will read it with you.
Two Years, And Far Less Against A Public Entity
A.R.S. 12-542 gives two years for injuries to the person. Under A.R.S. 12-502, if the injured person is under eighteen or of unsound mind when the claim accrues, that period of disability does not count against the limit, which matters in cases involving children.
A city bus, a school district vehicle, a county truck or a police cruiser changes the arithmetic entirely. A.R.S. 12-821.01 requires a notice of claim within 180 days after the cause of action accrues, stating facts sufficient to explain the basis of the claim and a specific amount it can be settled for. Late is barred. A.R.S. 12-821 then requires any action to be brought within one year.
Questions People Ask
There was no painted crosswalk. Do I still have a case?+
Possibly, and the reason is the definition in A.R.S. 28-601. At an intersection with sidewalks, the unmarked continuation of those sidewalks across the road is a crosswalk.
Where you were standing and walking matters more than whether anyone painted the asphalt.
The driver says I came out of nowhere.+
That statement is a claim about speed, sightlines and attention, and it is testable. Skid marks, the point of impact, vehicle damage, lighting and any camera on a nearby building all speak to it. It is also not a complete answer, because A.R.S. 28-794 requires due care from the driver regardless.
I was not wearing a helmet.+
Arizona’s bicycle equipment statute, A.R.S. 28-817, addresses lighting and reflectors. Whatever an insurer argues about a helmet, comparative fault means it goes to the size of the recovery, not to whether you have a claim.
My bike had no lights and it was getting dark.+
Then part of the fault may be yours, and under A.R.S. 12-2505 that reduces the claim in proportion. It does not end it. Tell us early rather than late, because a fact we know about is one we can deal with.
The driver had no insurance.+
Check your own auto policy for uninsured motorist coverage, and check any policy in your household. Coverage follows the people a policy insures, so it can reach you even though you were on foot or on a bike. Bring the declarations page.
I was hit by a city bus.+
Then the clock is 180 days for the notice of claim and one year for the lawsuit, under A.R.S. 12-821.01 and 12-821. Those deadlines run quietly and they are the most common way a strong case is lost.
My child was hit walking to school.+
A.R.S. 28-794 requires a driver to take proper precaution on observing a child on a roadway, which is directly on point.
A child’s own claim also has the tolling protection in A.R.S. 12-502. If a school district or other public entity is involved, the short government deadlines still need attention now rather than later.
How long do I have?+
Two years for most claims, and six months to file a notice of claim if a public entity is involved. Evidence in these cases fades faster than either deadline, since cameras overwrite and vehicles get repaired.
