Calabasas Personal Injury Attorney

In November 2025 Calabasas lowered the speed limit on Mulholland Highway to 35 mph in both directions and reduced the limit by 5 mph on stretches of Las Virgenes Road and Parkway Calabasas (The Acorn). For anyone hurt on those roads, the decision is telling: these are the streets where city officials concluded drivers were going too fast. This guide takes each one in turn, along with the 101 and the canyon routes above town, and explains who investigates a crash there, where the injured are treated and which evidence disappears first.

Roads covered on this page

• Speeding and the new limits
• US-101 between Lost Hills and Las Virgenes
• Las Virgenes Road and Malibu Canyon
• Parkway Calabasas and its school crossings
• Mulholland Highway and Stunt Road

The state’s January 2026 estimate put the population at 22,763 (California DOF). OTS placed Calabasas 42nd for total victims in 2023, with 82 people hurt or killed on city streets (OTS). Calabasas contracts with the Sheriff’s Malibu/Lost Hills Station to patrol its streets; the freeway belongs to the CHP.

Speeding and the new limits

In an OTS table, a rank of 1 marks the worst record, and Group E contains 103 small cities. Calabasas placed 68th for pedestrians, 70th for bicyclists and 78th for motorcyclists. Speeding is the exception: twelve injury collisions involved speed, which placed the city 37th (OTS). OTS measures those counts against roughly 242,720 vehicle miles driven in the city each day, heavy traffic for a population of about 23,000.

Source for the table: The Acorn. According to the article, the reductions were based on collision history or other concerns. The date of your crash therefore matters: a collision on October 30, 2025 and one on December 1, 2025 are measured against different posted limits.

US-101 between Lost Hills and Las Virgenes

Early one morning in February 2026, a crash closed every southbound lane of the Ventura Freeway between Lost Hills and Las Virgenes roads (CBS Los Angeles). Because this segment links the San Fernando Valley with Ventura County, the queue that forms behind a closure often produces a second round of rear-end collisions.

On the freeway, the investigating agency is the CHP West Valley Area (580), at 5825 De Soto Ave. in Woodland Hills; its territory includes Calabasas (CHP-west-valley)). The Lost Hills Road interchange was rebuilt because its intersections sat close together under heavy traffic; a two-lane bridge was replaced with a five-lane structure that has bike lanes and a sidewalk (CEQAnet).

If you were hurt on this stretch, gather the following:

• The report number from the CHP officer, which will differ from the Sheriff’s numbering used on city streets
• Photographs showing your lane and your distance from the on-ramp merge
• Names of the drivers stopped behind you, whose dashcams may have recorded the chain reaction
• The location of the tow yard holding your car, before storage fees begin to accumulate

Las Virgenes Road and Malibu Canyon

South of Lost Hills Road, Las Virgenes narrows and curves into Malibu Canyon Road, which NBC4 has described among the area’s narrow, winding canyon routes (NBC Los Angeles). In 2023 a driver was killed near Rondell Street after a car left Las Virgenes and entered a parking lot (The Acorn).

The road is also an evacuation route. During the 2018 Woolsey Fire the entire city was evacuated, and Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road remained closed until November 18 (KTLA). A collision in evacuation traffic raises questions about detours, flaggers and closures that an ordinary crash does not.

Tip: LA Metro Line 161 runs between Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Warner Center (Metro). If a Metro bus struck you, your claim goes first to Metro, a public agency, within six months. It does not go to the city.

Parkway Calabasas and its school crossings

Parkway Calabasas is quieter than the canyon roads, but it runs past homes and a school and carries drop-off traffic. Three pedestrians were injured citywide in 2023, two of them seniors, and those two were enough to rank the city 20th for older pedestrians (OTS). Counts this small vary widely from year to year, so the ranking says more about who walks here than about how dangerous the street is.

The city’s crossings are being rebuilt. State Highway Safety Improvement Program grants totaling $865,530 will fund upgrades at 12 signalized intersections ($152,370) and crossing improvements at 22 intersections, plus guardrail at 3 run-off-road collision sites ($713,160). The locations were chosen through the city’s Local Roadway Safety Plan (Public CEO), and the planned work includes advance warning signs, high-visibility crosswalks and relocated push buttons. If you were struck in a crosswalk, photograph it now, because new paint next month will erase the condition you crossed in. For a person struck on Parkway Calabasas, our pedestrian accident page sets out the proof involved.

The city also operates the fare-free Line 1, weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., as well as the Calabasas Trolley (City of Calabasas). An injury on a city-operated shuttle begins with a written claim to the city.

Mulholland Highway and Stunt Road

On weekends, thousands of motorcyclists ride Mulholland Highway through the Santa Monica Mountains (NBC Los Angeles). One rider died on Stunt Road about a mile uphill from Mulholland (Patch). Yet only 2 motorcyclist victims were recorded inside city limits in 2023, which is why the city sits 78th of 103 on that list. The explanation is geography: much of Mulholland and Stunt lies outside the city line, so those crashes are not counted in the city’s figures.

For an injured rider, that same geography determines the investigating agency, the report and sometimes the public entity responsible for the road. Check the information slip the deputy or officer gave you; the agency named on it is the one whose records you will need. Our motorcycle accident page addresses the helmet, lane-position and bias arguments that insurance adjusters often raise against riders.

Questions about Mulholland, the 101 and local crossings

Does the new 35 mph limit on Mulholland help my claim?

It provides the standard. A driver clocked or reconstructed at 45 mph in a 35 zone after November 2025 was exceeding the posted limit by 10 mph, which is easier to prove than driving “too fast for conditions.”

I was rear-ended in the 101 traffic near Lost Hills. Who has the report?

If the collision happened on the freeway or a ramp, the CHP West Valley office in Woodland Hills has it. Deputies from the Lost Hills station take reports on surface streets.

My child was hit near Bay Laurel Elementary. Is the deadline different?

For your child’s own lawsuit, yes; the filing period for a minor is calculated differently. A claim against the city over that crossing is another matter, and its six-month deadline does not pause because the injured person is a child.

Is the city responsible for a faded crosswalk or a missing guardrail?

Sometimes, if the condition was dangerous and the city knew about it. The grant list of run-off-road sites and crossings shows the city had already studied several locations, which is all the more reason to file the six-month claim on time.

Where reports, treatment and lawsuits are handled

A Calabasas case is generally filed in whichever judicial district contains the place of the collision, so an auto accident attorney in Calabasas should confirm that district before filing rather than assume a downtown courtroom.

Claim deadlines and comparative fault

1. Six months when a public agency shares responsibility, such as a city shuttle, a Parkway crosswalk, a canyon guardrail, a Metro 161 bus or Caltrans on the 101 (Gov. Code §911.2).
2. Two years for an injured Mulholland rider or Las Virgenes commuter to file a lawsuit (CCP §335.1).
3. Three years to recover the cost of a wrecked motorcycle, bicycle or car (CCP §338).

A rider carrying a little extra speed through a Mulholland curve is not shut out of a claim. California law still allows that rider to recover the share of the loss caused by the driver who crossed the double yellow line (CACI 405). If that driver’s bodily injury liability coverage is too small, or the driver disappears into the canyon, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage can make up the difference.

Retaining a Calabasas personal injury attorney

We represent Calabasas residents, Old Town commuters and weekend riders injured anywhere from the Lost Hills interchange to the top of Stunt Road. On the 101, Las Virgenes and the canyon roads, that means car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian collisions, along with wrongful death claims when a canyon crash takes a life. When a Metro 161 bus or a city shuttle is involved, we file the six-month claim with the correct agency before pursuing any private driver. The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) obtains the CHP or Sheriff’s report, asks businesses and dashcam owners along the road to preserve their footage, collects the emergency room records from Northridge or Woodland Hills and responds to the adjuster who wants a recorded statement. A first conversation about a Lost Hills or Mulholland crash is free, and we collect a fee only when the case is won. If you are recovering from surgery at home in Mont Calabasas or Old Town, a representative can come to you.

If the crash happened on the 101 or Las Virgenes Road, a Calabasas car accident lawyer can review it by phone at (888) 952-2952, or you can describe it through our online case evaluator. Clients who would rather read in Spanish can begin at calljacob.com/es before calling about a canyon or freeway crash.

Sources

1. DOF E-1 estimates — DOF
2. Rankings, 2023 — OTS
3. Take your pedal off the metal — The Acorn
4. 101 traffic alert — CBS LA
5. Area 580-west-valley) — CHP
6. Lost Hills interchange — CEQAnet
7. Sunday mess on Mulholland — NBC4
8. Woolsey evacuations lifted — KTLA
9. Line 161 — Metro
10. HSIP grants to Calabasas — Public CEO
11. Line 1 — City
12. Stunt Road fatality — Patch
13. Lost Hills Station — LASD
14. Trauma umbrella map — DHS
15. PI hub notice — LASC
16. Gov. Code 911.2 — Legislature
17. CCP 335.1 — Legislature
18. CCP 338 — Legislature
19. CACI 405 — Justia

Speed limits, agencies and deadlines are described here in general terms; none of it is legal advice for your particular case.