John Roach, Esq. | October 17, 2026 | California Law \ Car Accidents
Bernal Heights Pedestrian Accident Lawyer: 18 People Hit on Cortland Avenue in Five Years
Every weekday morning, a Muni bus pulls up at Cortland Avenue and Folsom Street and lets a group of elementary school kids off into one of the busiest crossings in Bernal Heights. The San Francisco Chronicle recently spent a morning on that corner and watched drivers swing around the stopped bus and roll straight through the stop sign as children stepped into the crosswalk. Police posted at the intersection that same week wrote ten stop-sign tickets before 9:30 a.m.
The Chronicle story is about one corner. The city’s own crash data tells a bigger story about the whole street.
I pulled every police-reported injury crash on Cortland Avenue from San Francisco’s public crash database for the last five years. Eighteen pedestrians have been hit by vehicles on Cortland since October 2021. Two of them died. A third pedestrian was killed in a Cortland crosswalk in 2018. Most of those people were doing exactly what they were supposed to do: crossing in a marked crosswalk, in daylight, while a driver who should have yielded kept going.
As a San Francisco pedestrian accident lawyer who has represented injured people across this city since 2009, I want Bernal Heights residents to understand what the data shows, why this street keeps producing the same kind of crash, and what your rights are if you or someone in your family is hit.
What the Data Shows About Pedestrian Crashes on Cortland Avenue
San Francisco publishes every police-reported traffic crash that causes an injury. I searched that database for every crash where Cortland Avenue was one of the roads involved, from October 16, 2021 through the city’s latest update. Here is what came back for crashes involving people on foot:
| Year | Pedestrians hit on Cortland | Killed |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 |
| 2024 | 6 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 |
| 2026 (through the latest city update) | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 18 | 2 |
Three numbers stand out.
Pedestrian crashes tripled. Cortland went from two pedestrian crashes a year in 2022 and 2023 to six a year in 2024 and 2025. That’s a return to the levels the street saw before the pandemic, when seven or eight pedestrians a year were hit.
Most victims were in the crosswalk. Ten of the eighteen were crossing in a marked crosswalk at an intersection. In nine cases, the police report cites the driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Only three were cited to the pedestrian.
Most of these crashes happened in daylight, with the driver going straight. Eleven of the eighteen happened in daylight. In twelve, the driver was proceeding straight, not turning. That pattern points to speed and inattention on a through-route, not low visibility or a hard-to-see turning movement.
The two deaths in this period both happened at night. A pedestrian was killed near Mission Street and Cortland in June 2024. A 30-year-old father was killed in the crosswalk at Cortland and Anderson Street in October 2025, in a hit-and-run that prompted an emergency community meeting.
One caveat matters. This database only includes crashes where someone was hurt and police filed a report. Near-misses, unreported injuries, and the kids who jumped back to the curb in time are invisible to it. The real exposure on Cortland is higher than any spreadsheet shows.
Why Cortland Avenue Keeps Producing the Same Crash
Cortland runs straight across Bernal Heights from Mission Street to Bayshore Boulevard. Drivers use it as a shortcut between the two, and its steep grades let them build speed coming in from either end. Then, halfway across, the road abruptly turns into a neighborhood main street: cafés, a library branch, parklets, school bus stops, and people crossing at almost every corner.
That design mismatch is the core problem. A road that invites drivers to move fast runs straight through a place where people walk.
The Folsom Street stop sign problem
The intersection the Chronicle featured shows how a single design flaw can make a dangerous street worse. According to the Chronicle, the stop sign facing eastbound drivers at Cortland and Folsom sits at a bus stop. When the 24-Divisadero pulls in, the bus blocks the sign. A driver stuck behind the bus can’t see it, decides to go around, and pulls into the intersection just as kids who got off the bus are stepping into the crosswalk.
The crash data at that exact intersection is thin. The city has only one reported injury crash coded at Cortland and Folsom, a 2026 rear-end collision. But the blocks on either side tell a different story. Five pedestrians have been hit at the adjacent intersections since 2016, including one killed in the crosswalk at Cortland and Ellsworth in 2018. A corner where drivers are already hitting people on both sides, and where the stop sign disappears every time a bus stops, doesn’t need to wait for a tragedy to be called dangerous.
What the city has done
After the 2025 fatal crash, the city painted a double yellow center line along Cortland’s commercial core to stop drivers from weaving around traffic, added flashing beacons at two other intersections, and increased police enforcement. Those are real steps. They don’t change the street’s basic layout, and they don’t move a stop sign that a city bus blocks several times an hour.
Your Rights If You’re Hit as a Pedestrian in Bernal Heights
California law strongly protects people in crosswalks. Under Vehicle Code § 21950, a driver must yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing in any marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Under Vehicle Code § 22450, a driver must come to a complete stop at a stop sign. A driver who rolls a stop sign and hits someone in the crosswalk has violated both.
When a driver violates a safety statute and injures the person the statute was meant to protect, California’s negligence per se doctrine (Evidence Code § 669) lets the violation itself establish a presumption of negligence. In a crosswalk case, that often means the fight is less about who was at fault and more about how badly you were hurt and how much insurance is available.
Insurance companies still try to shift blame onto pedestrians. They’ll argue you were looking at your phone, wearing dark clothing, or stepped out too quickly. California uses pure comparative fault, so even if a jury puts some share of responsibility on you, you can still recover. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage, not barred. The data above is a useful reminder of who usually bears the fault on Cortland: in nine of eighteen crashes, police cited the driver for failing to yield.
What to do in the first hours and days
If you’re hit, your health comes first. Then, as soon as you’re able:
- Call 911 and get a police report. If the crash isn’t reported, it won’t show up anywhere, including the city’s data.
- Get medical care the same day, even if you feel okay. Head injuries and internal injuries often don’t show symptoms right away.
- Photograph the scene: the crosswalk, the stop sign, where the bus was, skid marks, and the vehicle.
- Get witness names and numbers. On a commercial street like Cortland, shopkeepers and their security cameras are often the best witnesses. Footage gets recorded over, sometimes within days.
- Don’t give a recorded statement to the driver’s insurance company before talking to a lawyer.
My guide on what to do after a pedestrian accident in San Francisco walks through each step in more detail.
If the driver leaves the scene
Both fatal crashes on Cortland in the last three years involved a driver who didn’t stay, or whose identity was in question. If you’re hit by a driver who flees, you may still have a claim through your own uninsured motorist coverage, even if you were on foot, not in your car. My hit-and-run guide explains how that coverage works.
When the City Shares Responsibility: The Six-Month Deadline
Most pedestrian cases are against the driver and the driver’s insurance company. You generally have two years to file a lawsuit for personal injury in California under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 (see my statute of limitations guide).
But two situations on Cortland can bring a public entity into the case, and when that happens, the clock is much shorter.
1. A Muni bus or city vehicle is involved. If a Muni bus, a city truck, or any other public vehicle hits you, your claim is against the City and County of San Francisco through the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).
2. The street’s design or condition contributed. California Government Code § 835 makes a public entity liable for a dangerous condition of its property, but only if it created the condition or had notice of it and failed to fix it in time. A stop sign that a city bus predictably blocks is the kind of condition that raises that question. The law also gives cities significant protection. Under Government Code § 830.4, a city is generally not liable simply for failing to install a traffic signal or a stop sign. Whether a sign that’s been installed but is regularly hidden counts as a dangerous condition depends on the facts. That’s a question for a lawyer to evaluate early, not one to guess at.
In either situation, the rules change:
- You must file a written government claim within six months of the injury (Government Code § 911.2). Not two years. Six months.
- If the city rejects the claim, you generally have six months from the date the rejection notice is mailed to file a lawsuit (Government Code § 945.6).
- Missing the six-month deadline can end the claim against the city entirely, even if the case is otherwise strong. A late-claim application is possible within one year, but it’s not guaranteed.
I’ve written a complete guide to the six-month government claim deadline and a separate explainer on Muni bus accident claim deadlines. If a public entity might share responsibility for your injury, my government claims practice page explains how I handle these cases.
The practical lesson: if you’re hit anywhere near a bus stop, a school crossing, or a sign or signal you couldn’t see, talk to a lawyer well before six months have passed. The investigation into whether the city shares fault takes time.
Serious Injuries and Wrongful Death on Cortland
A pedestrian has no protection against a car. Even at city speeds, pedestrians suffer traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, pelvic and leg fractures, and internal injuries. The most serious of those cases often involve pedestrian brain injuries that change a person’s ability to work and live independently.
I’ve handled these cases through settlement and trial. I resolved a $6 million pedestrian traumatic brain injury settlement for a client hit by a vehicle, and I have extensive trial experience with a 9-for-9 jury trial record. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
When a pedestrian is killed, California law allows certain family members to bring a wrongful death claim for the loss of financial support, companionship, and guidance. My guide to wrongful death claims for Bay Area families explains who can file and what the claim covers, and my wrongful death lawyer page explains how I approach these cases.
Why Bernal Heights Families Should Pay Attention Now
Bernal Heights is a walking neighborhood. Kids walk to school. Seniors walk to the library and the market. Families walk down to Mission Street for errands and transit. Cortland Avenue is the spine of all of it.
The data says the street is getting more dangerous for people on foot, not less. The city has had notice of the problem for years: neighbors have raised it at public meetings, the district supervisor’s office has flagged the corridor to SFMTA and the police, and the city’s own crash data has been public the entire time. Notice matters, both for pushing the city to act and, if it doesn’t, for the legal claims of the people who get hurt.
If you were hit on Cortland or anywhere in Bernal Heights, here is what I’d want you to know:
- You likely have strong rights if you were in a crosswalk.
- The driver’s insurance company is not on your side, no matter how friendly the adjuster sounds.
- If a city bus, city vehicle, or the street’s design played any role, a six-month deadline may apply.
- Evidence on a commercial street, especially security video, disappears fast.
I’m a solo lawyer, and I personally handle every case in my office. I offer a free, bilingual consultation in English or Spanish, and there’s no fee unless I recover compensation for you. You can learn more about my background or schedule a free consultation.
Call (415) 851-4557 to talk about what happened.
¿Habla español? Ofrezco consultas gratuitas completamente en español. Visite mi página de abogado de lesiones personales en San Francisco, conozca mi práctica de accidentes de peatones, o solicite su consulta gratuita.
Frequently Asked Questions
San Francisco’s public crash data shows 18 pedestrians hit by vehicles in police-reported injury crashes on Cortland Avenue from October 2021 through the city’s latest 2026 update. Two of them were killed. Pedestrian crashes on Cortland rose from two a year in 2022 and 2023 to six a year in 2024 and 2025.
Not automatically, but California law strongly favors the pedestrian. Vehicle Code § 21950 requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks at intersections. If a driver violated that rule and hit you, the violation can create a presumption of negligence. The insurance company may still argue you share some fault, but under California’s pure comparative fault rule, that only reduces your recovery; it doesn’t bar it.
Possibly. Under Government Code § 835, a city can be liable for a dangerous condition of public property if it created the condition or had notice and failed to fix it. But cities also have legal protections, including Government Code § 830.4, which generally shields them from liability for not installing a traffic signal or stop sign. Whether a claim is viable depends on the specific facts, and a written government claim must be filed within six months of the injury.
You must file a written government claim with the City and County of San Francisco within six months of the injury under Government Code § 911.2. If the city rejects the claim, you generally have six months from the date the rejection notice is mailed to file a lawsuit. Missing the six-month claim deadline can end the claim against the city.
You may still be able to recover through your own uninsured motorist coverage, even though you were walking and not in your car. Report the crash to police immediately, write down anything you remember about the vehicle, and look for nearby security cameras before the footage is overwritten.
Against a private driver, you generally have two years from the date of the injury under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. If a public entity such as the city or SFMTA may be responsible, the six-month government claim deadline applies first.
You’re not required to have one, but you should talk to a lawyer before giving a recorded statement or signing anything. Adjusters are trained to collect statements that minimize your claim. A free consultation costs you nothing and can protect the value of your case.
Yes. I’m a bilingual lawyer, and I handle cases entirely in Spanish for clients who prefer it, from the first consultation through settlement or trial.
Crash figures are from the City and County of San Francisco’s public “Traffic Crashes Resulting in Injury” dataset, which includes police-reported injury crashes only, retrieved October 16, 2026. Counts reflect crashes where Cortland Avenue was recorded as the primary or cross street.