Bakersfield Personal Injury Attorney

Bakersfield police counted 25 traffic deaths on city streets in the first half of 2026, nine of them in June alone, and the department described the increase as alarming (Bakersfield Now). In a city of 422,165 people (Census), that harm does not fall evenly. Pedestrians, the victims of young drinking drivers, motorcyclists and people struck by drivers who flee each face a different risk here, and each kind of claim calls for different evidence. If you are looking for a Bakersfield personal injury attorney, start with the section below that describes how you were hurt.

Source: OTS. Total victims rose from 1,715 in 2022 to 2,073 in 2023, and the city’s composite ranking reached 4th-worst of the 15 largest cities. The table excludes freeway crashes handled by the CHP, so collisions on SR-99 and SR-58 are in addition to these figures.

Pedestrians on Union Avenue and downtown

By the numbers: 170 pedestrians injured or killed in 2023 (7th of 15); 90 injured in the first half of 2026.

A 2026 Smart Growth America report ranked the Bakersfield metro area the third deadliest in the country for pedestrians (Bakersfield Now). Local police figures are consistent with that finding: officers recorded 90 pedestrians injured from January through June 2026, four more than in the same months of 2025 and ten more than in 2024. In 2024, 17 of the city’s 44 fatal collisions killed a pedestrian (Chain Law Firm summary of BPD data).

Union Avenue is named repeatedly. A Bakersfield police traffic sergeant has described it as a concern throughout his career, and one resident described watching three neighbors die at the same Union Avenue intersection over four years. Caltrans is planning mid-block crosswalks and curb extensions there. Downtown, city staff identified H Street and 18th and 19th Streets among current pedestrian-safety projects in July 2026 (Bakersfield Now).

For a pedestrian, that history can be evidence. Planned improvements show that the city or the State recognized a location as dangerous, and a claim that a public entity contributed to your injury must be presented within six months (Gov. Code §911.2). Older pedestrians are at particular risk: 19 people aged 65 and over were struck in 2023, 9th among the large cities.

Victims of young drinking drivers

By the numbers: No large California city had more victims of underage drinking drivers in 2023 than Bakersfield’s 36.

Each of those 36 people was hurt by a driver too young to buy alcohol legally. Bakersfield placed third in two related OTS categories as well: crashes caused by drinking drivers between 21 and 34, and all alcohol-involved crashes, which injured or killed 340 people. There is an encouraging trend as well. Assistant Chief Brent Stratton told the City Council that DUI-involved fatal collisions fell 58%, part of a decline in total fatal crashes from 69 in 2022 to 53 in 2023 and 44 in 2024 (Chain Law Firm summary).

If a young impaired driver injured you, three points usually shape the claim. The criminal case produces blood-alcohol evidence that the civil case can rely on. The driver may be covered under a parent’s policy, or may carry only the minimum limit. And if a 19-year-old’s minimum policy is exhausted, the uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on your own policy may determine whether your surgery is fully paid.

Watch out: Injury collisions continued to rise even as deaths fell: 1,695 in 2022, 1,784 in 2023 and 1,813 in 2024, according to the same council presentation. Fewer fatal crashes has not meant fewer people hurt.

Motorcyclists and bicyclists

By the numbers: 103 motorcyclists and 71 bicyclists injured or killed in 2023; 105 bicycle injury crashes in 2024.

Motorcyclists made up 103 of the city’s 2023 victims, ninth of fifteen. Drivers who say they never saw the motorcycle are a familiar problem statewide. Bakersfield adds long, straight arterials and heavy nighttime traffic, with 216 injury crashes between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. (8th of 15).

Police records for 2024 show cyclists involved in 105 injury crashes, and five people riding bicycles died. The OTS count of 71 injured bicyclists in 2023 placed the city 12th of 15, better than most large cities, but a Golden Empire Transit bus stop or an unlit shoulder can still be the setting for a serious crash. Golden Empire Transit is a public agency, so a crash involving one of its buses also starts the six-month government-claim clock.

Hit-and-run victims

By the numbers: 238 hit-and-run injury crashes in 2023, 8th of 15.

When the driver who fled is never identified, recovery usually comes from your own uninsured motorist coverage, which has conditions of its own. The City of Bakersfield lists the police Traffic Division at 1601 Truxtun Avenue. Take these steps promptly:

• Report the crash to the BPD Traffic Division, or to the CHP if it happened on SR-99, SR-58 or the Westside Parkway
• Notify your own insurer in writing, within the policy’s notice period, that the other driver fled
• Ask nearby homeowners to save doorbell or porch-camera video from that hour
• Keep any paint transfer or broken vehicle parts, which can help identify the car later

Drivers on SR-99, SR-58 and the Centennial Corridor

The freeways are patrolled by the CHP Bakersfield Area, 9855 Compagnoni Street, which covers SR-99 and SR-58 and communities including Rosedale, Oildale and Lamont, across terrain ranging from the valley floor to mountains near 10,000 feet (CHP). The Centennial Corridor, which opened in February 2024, connects SR-58 to the Westside Parkway and has changed cross-town traffic patterns (KGET). New interchanges and merges bring unfamiliar lane layouts, so photographs of the lanes and signs are worth taking after a crash.

Excessive speed was a factor in 199 local injury crashes in 2023, an 11th-of-15 ranking that is better than the city’s alcohol figures. Since about October 2023 the city has run HSIP-funded Street Safety Improvement Projects (City of Bakersfield), and the records from those projects can show what the city knew about a particular intersection. Those files are among the first records an auto accident attorney in Bakersfield should request after a crash at a project intersection.

Hospital care and the Kern County court

Seriously injured crash victims in Bakersfield are usually taken to Kern Medical, the teaching hospital that serves as the area’s only Level II trauma center (Kern Medical). Its emergency and trauma records form the core of a severe-injury claim.

Lawsuits are filed in Kern County Superior Court, whose Metropolitan Division building is at 1415 Truxtun Avenue, a short distance from police headquarters (Kern County Superior Court). The department that will hear an unlimited civil injury case is confirmed with the court at filing, and a case against a private driver generally must be on file there within two years (CCP §335.1, statute). California also divides fault: if a jury finds a pedestrian crossing Union Avenue 15% responsible, the driver still pays the remaining 85% of proven damages (CACI 405).

How we represent injured people in Bakersfield

Call Jacob represents the people behind these numbers, from a pedestrian struck on Union Avenue to a family whose car was crushed by a big rig near the SR-58 interchange. We handle car accidents, motorcycle crashes and truck accidents on SR-99 and SR-58, pursue wrongful death claims for families who lost someone in one of the city’s fatal crashes, and take rideshare and hit-and-run cases for people treated at Kern Medical.

Each type of road user needs a different first step. For a pedestrian on Union Avenue, it is the Caltrans and city project files. For someone hurt by a teenage drinking driver, it is the criminal case and the parents’ insurance policy. For a hit-and-run victim, it is prompt notice to your own insurer. The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) takes those steps for you, along with obtaining the police or CHP report from Truxtun Avenue or Compagnoni Street and your Kern Medical records, while you recover.

Our fee is contingent on recovering money for you, and the first consultation is free. We can visit you at home in Rosedale, Oildale or east Bakersfield. To discuss a Bakersfield crash, call (888) 952-2952, or describe what happened through our case evaluator. We also serve Spanish-speaking families in Kern County (calljacob.com/es).

Questions we often hear in Bakersfield

I was hit crossing Union Avenue. Do the planned Caltrans improvements help my case?

Planned curb extensions and mid-block crossings show that the stretch was studied. Whether that supports a claim against the State depends on the exact location, and the six-month deadline begins on the day of the crash.

The teenager who hit me had been drinking. Will his parents’ insurance pay?

When a family car is driven with permission, the household’s liability coverage usually applies. When the parents carry low limits, the shortfall can be claimed under your own underinsured motorist coverage.

My crash was on the new Centennial Corridor. Who has the report?

The CHP Bakersfield Area office on Compagnoni Street writes collision reports for state highways, and the new SR-58 alignment is a state highway.

After Kern Medical discharges me, can I choose my own doctors?

Ambulances generally take major trauma patients to Kern Medical as the area’s only Level II center. For follow-up care, you may choose your own orthopedists, therapists and pain specialists; keep every bill.

Sources

1. Deadly-crash spike — Bakersfield Now
2. Rankings, 2023 — OTS
3. Third-deadliest for pedestrians — Bakersfield Now
4. BPD figures summary — Chain Law Firm
5. Pedestrian-safety efforts — Bakersfield Now
6. Gov. Code 911.2 — Legislature
7. Police — City
8. Area 420 — CHP
9. Centennial Corridor opens — KGET
10. Street safety projects — City
11. Emergency services — Kern Medical
12. Metropolitan Division — Kern court
13. CCP 335.1 — Legislature
14. CACI 405 — Justia
15. Vintage 2025 file — Census

These risk profiles draw on public crash data and summarize California law; they are not legal advice about your crash.