Downey Personal Injury Attorney

Between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., Downey streets saw 81 fatal or injury crashes in 2023, the third-highest count among 62 California cities of similar size (OTS). On overall casualties, Downey again came in third. Together those figures point to the people most often hurt here: late-shift workers, people walking home and drivers heading onto the 105. This page organizes the city’s crash data by type of road user, so that a family looking for a Downey personal injury attorney can see where their own situation fits and which records will matter.

At a glance — Downey

• 108,468 people lived here in mid-2025, slightly below the 2020 total (Census)
• Only two cities in Downey’s OTS group had more traffic victims than its 736 in 2023
• Pedestrians accounted for 54 of those victims, the sixth-highest count
• City streets are policed by the Downey Police Department; the freeways belong to the CHP’s Santa Fe Springs Area

Every row comes from the Office of Traffic Safety’s 2023 results for Downey (OTS). OTS counts only city-street crashes, so freeway collisions handled by the CHP are not included.

Who is most at risk on Downey roads

The groups below follow the 2023 rankings, beginning with the highest risk. Freeway commuters and patients in long-term rehabilitation come last, because the state tables do not cover them.

Drivers and passengers at night

A rank of third for total victims, and third again after dark, is not a quirk of small numbers. With 736 people injured in a single year, Downey had more victims than all but two cities in its group. Rear-end and left-turn collisions on the large east-west boulevards account for much of that total, and the intersection with the longest history is Firestone Boulevard at Lakewood Boulevard. A 2018 report in The Downey Patriot, based on 2015 SWITRS data, counted 36 crashes and 32 injuries there in one year and ranked it fourth among California intersections (Downey Patriot). A law firm commissioned that study and the data are now old, so it is best read as history rather than a current ranking. The city later won a Metro grant for the intersection.

Several of the same roads are scheduled for work. The city’s FY2025-26 capital plan funds pavement design on Imperial Highway, Lakewood Boulevard and Washburn Road (Downey Patriot). Construction narrows lanes and changes signal timing, so a passenger injured in a coned-off section of Imperial should also ask who set up the work zone.

Tip: After a night crash, photograph the streetlights and any signal that was dark before you leave. Lighting is difficult to reconstruct weeks later, and the police report may describe it in a single word.

Pedestrians on Florence Avenue

Fifty-four pedestrians were struck in 2023, which ranked Downey sixth of 62. Five were children under 15, and seven were 65 or older. Florence Avenue stands out in the older statewide study, which listed five of its Downey intersections:

• Florence Avenue at Old River School Road
• Florence Avenue at Paramount Boulevard
• Florence Avenue at Little Lake Road
• Florence Avenue at Downey Avenue
• Florence Avenue at Brookshire Avenue

The Brookshire crossing deserves particular attention because PIH Health Downey Hospital is at 11500 Brookshire Ave. (City of Downey), and patients, visitors and staff cross there on foot at every shift change. The intersection of Lakewood and Florence, home since 1953 to the oldest operating McDonald’s in the world (Wikipedia), appears on the same list at number 71. The city has since filed an environmental review to widen it, adding left-turn lanes and a new signal (CEQAnet).

A pedestrian struck in a marked crosswalk will still hear arguments about lighting, phone use and signal timing. Our pedestrian accident page explains how signal-timing records can answer them.

Drivers who leave the scene

In 2023, drivers fled the scene of 64 injury crashes on Downey streets, the 10th-highest count of 62. If the driver is never identified, compensation usually depends on your own policy. Uninsured motorist coverage on a California auto policy normally applies to an unidentified driver, but insurers expect prompt notice and some evidence that contact occurred.

• Phone 911 before leaving the intersection and write down the Downey PD incident number
• Write down which way the car went and any part of the plate
• Ask gas stations and shops facing the intersection to keep their video
• Open an uninsured motorist claim with your auto insurer and note the adjuster’s name
• Leave the damaged bicycle, shoes or clothing as they are

Cyclists and motorcyclists

With 27 cyclists and 24 motorcyclists hurt, Downey’s 2023 rankings for riders (25th and 34th) look unremarkable. That does not make the roads safe for riders. Paramount Boulevard between Firestone and Florence was rebuilt with raised median islands and new left-turn lanes, which the city described as safety work (CEQAnet). Medians change where turning drivers look, and riders are the people they most often miss. A motorcyclist struck by a left-turning car on Paramount will usually hear the driver say, “I never saw him.” Our motorcycle accident page explains how visibility evidence is assembled.

Freeway commuters and transit riders

Three interstates meet in Downey: the 5, the 105 and the 605. The CHP Santa Fe Springs Area, which lists Downey in its territory, reports that its freeways carry about 1,202,000 motorists a day (CHP). A crash in those lanes produces a report from the CHP office at 10051 Orr and Day Road, not from Downey PD. Transit riders face their own rules. The Metro C Line stops at Lakewood Boulevard in the median of the 105 (Wikipedia), and the city operates the Downey LINK shuttle (City of Downey). An injury on a public bus or shuttle begins with a government claim, discussed below.

Patients in long-term rehabilitation

Downey is home to Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center on Imperial Highway, a county hospital known for spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation that has no emergency department (Wikipedia). For trauma surgery, the closest designated center is St. Francis Medical Center, a Level II hospital just west of the city (EMSA). A seriously injured patient may be treated at both, first in trauma surgery and then through weeks of therapy. Those stays produce the largest bills in a claim and the strongest evidence of future care costs. Our pages on brain injuries and spinal cord injuries explain how a life-care plan is valued.

Answers for people hurt in Downey

I was hurt on the 605 near the Firestone ramp. Will Downey police handle it?

Almost certainly not. The interstate lanes belong to the Santa Fe Springs Area, so expect a CHP report and CHP officer notes. A crash on a surface street a few hundred feet away would go to Downey PD.

Can Downey’s own safety planning be used as evidence?

The City Council adopted an updated plan by Resolution No. 24-8265 (City of Downey). The plan does not prove that any driver was careless. It is most useful in a claim against the city itself, as a record of which intersections its engineers had already identified.

My father was struck walking to PIH Health on Brookshire. What records should we request?

Start with the Downey PD report and the PIH Health emergency chart, including every X-ray and scan. Seven Downey pedestrians aged 65 or older were injured or killed in 2023, and older pedestrians often suffer fractures that require months of therapy, so keep every therapy bill.

A Downey LINK shuttle hit my car. Whom do I notify, and by when?

A government claim must first be filed with the city within six months, whether you file it yourself or an auto accident attorney in Downey files it for you. Call Jacob prepares that claim as part of the case, because missing the deadline can end the claim against the city entirely.

Does it matter that the other driver was drunk?

It can. Downey recorded 58 alcohol-involved injury victims and 182 DUI arrests in 2023. When a criminal court convicts the driver of DUI, that conviction makes fault much harder to dispute, and serious cases may justify asking for punitive damages.

Time limits and the Southeast District courts

1. Two years to file a lawsuit against the careless driver, whether the collision happened on Firestone or in a Florence Avenue parking lot (CCP §335.1).
2. Six months when the claim is against the city, LA Metro or the county, for example over a dark signal on Florence or a collision with a Downey LINK shuttle (Gov. Code §911.2).
3. Ten days for each driver to file an SR-1 with the DMV, even if Downey PD already wrote a report (DMV).
4. Three years to sue over a damaged car alone; a child hurt in a Downey crash is on a separate schedule.
5. Shared fault reduces an award but does not eliminate it. A Brookshire Avenue pedestrian found one-fifth at fault would still collect 80% of the proven damages (CACI 405).

Where a lawsuit is filed depends on where the crash occurred. Under the Superior Court’s personal injury hub reforms, a crash on a Downey street is generally assigned to a Southeast District courtroom (LA Superior Court). The Downey courthouse on Imperial Highway hears smaller disputes, and the district’s other courthouse is on Norwalk Boulevard (LA County; LA County).

Call Jacob’s work for injured Downey residents

On a Downey case, our first requests go to Downey PD or the Santa Fe Springs CHP office for the report, to shops along Firestone or Florence for their camera footage, and to PIH Health, Kaiser Downey or St. Francis for the medical chart. The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) also speaks with the insurance adjuster for you, so you are not asked for a recorded statement while still taking pain medication. Whether you need a Downey car accident lawyer after a rear-end collision on Lakewood Boulevard or help after a crosswalk injury near PIH, the first meeting is free, and under our contingency fee you pay nothing unless we win. If travel is difficult, a representative can visit you at home or at Rancho Los Amigos. To begin, call (888) 952-2952 or describe the crash through our free case evaluator; our page on car accident claims covers the process in more detail, and Spanish readers will find it at calljacob.com/es.

We represent people injured at Firestone and Lakewood, riders on Paramount Boulevard and pedestrians on Florence Avenue, and we pursue wrongful death claims for families who lose someone in a crash on the 105 or 605. Call Jacob also handles premises cases, such as a fall in a Lakewood Boulevard parking lot, and bus claims involving the Downey LINK shuttle.

Sources

1. Census V2025 file — Census Bureau
2. OTS Downey 2023 — OTS
3. Firestone-Lakewood study — The Downey Patriot
4. Roadway and alley upgrades — The Downey Patriot
5. Downey hospitals — City of Downey
6. Oldest McDonald’s restaurant — Wikipedia
7. Florence-Lakewood widening — CEQAnet
8. Paramount medians — CEQAnet
9. CHP Area 550 — CHP
10. Lakewood Boulevard station — Wikipedia
11. Downey LINK — City of Downey
12. Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center — Wikipedia
13. EMSA trauma list — EMSA
14. CCP §335.1 — Legislature
15. Gov. Code §911.2 — Legislature
16. Form SR-1 — DMV
17. CACI 405 — Justia
18. LASC PI hubs — LASC
19. Downey courthouse listing — LA County
20. Norwalk courthouse listing — LA County
21. Resolution 24-8265 — City of Downey

The information above describes Downey crash data and California law in general terms and is not legal advice for any individual case.