--- title: "King City Personal Injury Attorney | Call Jacob" canonical: "https://www.calljacob.com/areas-we-serve/king-city-personal-injury-attorney/" description: "Hurt in King City? Seven common myths about local crash claims, from DUI arrests to the Franciscan Way courthouse, corrected with facts. Free consultation." --- # King City Personal Injury Attorney Monterey County Forty-five people were hurt or killed on King City’s local streets in 2023, a heavy toll for a farm town of **14,002** ([Census 2025](https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/cities/totals/sub-est2025.csv)), and the state’s composite score placed it **11th worst** of 103 peer cities ([OTS 2023](https://www.ots.ca.gov/media-and-research/crash-rankings-results/?wpv-wpcf-year=2023&wpv-wpcf-city_county=King%20City)). That gap between the town’s size and its crash record is the first of several assumptions worth correcting. A King City personal injury attorney hears the same mistaken beliefs from injured people in the south valley again and again, and each one can cost a claim money or time if nobody challenges it. ## Seven beliefs that hurt King City claims Each belief below is followed by what the record actually shows, drawn from OTS data, the CHP, the Superior Court’s rules and the city’s own planning documents. ### “A town this small doesn’t have serious crash numbers” Here is how the south valley town scored, with 1 meaning worst of its 103-city group: Row Count Rank Drinkers 21–34 9 5 Composite 11 Hit-and-run 5 15 Alcohol victims 11 17 Pedestrians under 15 1 20 All victims 45 27 Bicyclists 4 27 Speed 6 36 Forty-five victims put King City 27th among cities of roughly its size, and those counts leave out every collision on U.S. 101 that the CHP handled. The local streets alone produced that record. ### “Five arrests a year proves the roads are sober” Only **5** King City DUI arrests appear in the 2023 OTS data, which earned an 18th. The arrest category runs in reverse, with rank 1 for the fewest arrests, so King City sat among the cities with the fewest DUI arrests in its group. Set that beside the crash side of the ledger, where a fifth-place ranking for nine people hurt by had-been-drinking motorists in their twenties and early thirties and a 17th for eleven alcohol-involved victims point the other way. Few arrests is a fact about enforcement, not proof that impaired drivers are rare. For a claim, that means a drinking driver may never be booked, and proof of alcohol has to be assembled from other sources: - the officer’s observations written into the collision report - open containers noted or photographed at the scene - witnesses who saw the driver earlier that evening - a bar or restaurant receipt - blood tests drawn at the hospital ### “Every report comes from the police station” Not on the highway. The CHP King City Area office at 2 Broadway Circle patrols roughly **60 miles** of US-101, from Soledad to the San Luis Obispo County line, plus SR-198, Jolon Road, Metz Road and a very large unincorporated area of southern Monterey County ([CHP King City](https://www.chp.ca.gov/find-an-office/coastal-division/735-king-city/)). Inside town, on Broadway and the downtown grid, the King City Police Department ([King City Rustler](https://kingcityrustler.com/?p=1363822)) writes the collision report. If the police department has no record of your crash, ask the CHP office on Broadway Circle. ### “My case will be tried on Franciscan Way” The Superior Court does have a King City Courthouse at 250 Franciscan Way, and many people expect to go there. Civil cases do not. Local Rule 6.2(B) gathers the county’s civil work at 1200 Aguajito Road in Monterey ([Local Rules](https://www.monterey.courts.ca.gov/system/files/local-rules/local-rules-jc-january-2026-cycle.pdf)), so an injury suit from a Broadway Street collision is filed and tried up the valley on the Monterey Peninsula rather than at Franciscan Way. ### “Pileups don’t happen on our part of 101” They have. On Feb. 22, 2012, an eight-car crash on US-101 about a mile north of Jolon Road killed three people and injured at least 13 ([CBS News Bay Area](https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/3-killed-in-8-car-crash-on-hwy-101-near-king-city/)). That crash is more than a decade old, and we cite it only to show what multi-vehicle collisions on this corridor can look like. Claims from a pileup involve several drivers and insurers, and fault is often split among them. ### “A farm truck crash is nobody’s fault” Commercial drivers are held to the same duty of care as everyone else, and their employers carry commercial insurance. King City’s planners have designed around that traffic. A roundabout project at Broadway Street, San Antonio Drive, San Lorenzo Park Road and the US-101 northbound ramps was designed to simplify movements for northbound off-ramp traffic and left turns onto the freeway, add crosswalks with pedestrian refuges, and accommodate agricultural trucks at the gateway to the historic downtown ([CEQA filing, 2021](https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2021030557)). **Watch out:** After a collision with a lettuce hauler or farm rig near the Broadway ramps, the name painted on the cab door and the unit number are worth more than any other note you take, because the grower’s dispatch logs, the driver’s hours and the brake inspection records sit in company files until a lawyer demands them. ### “No driver found means no money” King City had **5** hit-and-run injury crashes in 2023, 15th of 103. A phantom driver leaves your own UM coverage to pay in that driver’s place, and insurers generally expect a prompt report to King City police or the CHP before they honor a hit-and-run claim. ## Deadlines that do not wait Two clocks govern nearly every claim from a crash on Broadway, Jolon Road or the freeway: Claim Deadline Driver 2 years ([§335.1](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=335.1)) Public agency 6 months ([§911.2](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=911.2)) Nor does partial blame end things. In a hypothetical example, a King City driver a jury finds 20% responsible for a Broadway Street collision keeps 80% of the proven losses under pure comparative fault ([CACI 405](https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/400/405/)). ## Getting around King City ### Buses and trains King City has Monterey-Salinas Transit bus service and an Amtrak Thruway connection; passenger trains pass through without stopping, and a King City Multimodal Transportation Center and station are planned ([King City overview](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_City,_California)). ### Schools and safety planning Students are part of the picture too: TAMC’s 2026 Regional Vision Zero plan reports walking school buses at Santa Lucia Elementary in 2026, a school traffic garden in King City and an adopted Local Road Safety Plan ([TAMC regional plan](https://www.tamcmonterey.org/files/d1bff70b6/Regional+Vision+Zero+Safety+Action+Plan.pdf)). **Tip:** MST is a public transit agency, so an injury on one of its King City buses, or from one, falls under the six-month claim rule; jot down the route, the bus number on the front and the time you boarded. ## Other King City questions ### Is there a trauma hospital closer than Salinas? No. Patients needing a trauma team from King City travel north, since Level II Natividad Medical Center in Salinas is the only Monterey County hospital the EMSA designation list includes ([EMSA](https://emsa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2025/08/California-Designated-ACS-Verified-Trauma-Centers-8.22.25.pdf)). ### The driver who hit me had been drinking but wasn’t arrested. Can I still prove it? Often, yes, through the officer’s notes, witnesses, receipts and medical records. The lack of an arrest does not decide the civil case. ### I was hurt on Jolon Road outside town. Who has the report? The CHP King City Area, which covers Jolon Road and the rural area around it. ### Our son was hit walking near Santa Lucia Elementary. Where do we begin? With his doctor, and then with the King City police report. After that: - ask the school whether a walking school bus volunteer or crossing guard saw the crash - save the attendance office’s printout of every class he missed while recovering - photograph the crossing he used before anything about it changes ## Representing King City crash victims The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) represents people hurt in King City and along the south valley’s US-101 corridor, on Broadway Street, the San Antonio Drive ramps, Jolon Road, Metz Road and SR-198. On a King City case we find out first whether the King City Police Department or CHP King City took the report, collect alcohol evidence beyond the arrest record when the other driver had been drinking, and identify the trucking company and its insurer when farm traffic was involved. With alcohol rows ranked 5th and 17th and ag trucks on the ramps, our King City work centers on drinking-driver [car accidents](https://www.calljacob.com/personal-injury/car-accidents/), drivers who fled and [truck accidents](https://www.calljacob.com/personal-injury/truck-accidents/). We also represent children hurt walking to Santa Lucia Elementary, cyclists struck on the downtown grid, motorcyclists who went down on SR-198 or Jolon Road, passengers hurt in MST [bus accidents](https://www.calljacob.com/personal-injury/bus-accident/), shoppers injured in falls at Broadway businesses, dog bite victims, and families pursuing wrongful death claims after a fatal US-101 wreck. Nobody pays to sit down with Call Jacob about a King City crash, and our fee comes only from a recovery, so you pay nothing unless we win. Reach a King City car accident lawyer at **(888) 952-2952** or through the [case evaluator](https://www.calljacob.com/case-evaluator/); a representative will meet you at home in King City if travel is hard right now, and Spanish-language help is at [calljacob.com/es](https://www.calljacob.com/es/). _Each myth above is answered with general King City information; your own crash still deserves advice from a lawyer who has seen the report._ ## Sources 1. [Census 2025](https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/cities/totals/sub-est2025.csv) — Census Bureau 2. [King City, 2023](https://www.ots.ca.gov/media-and-research/crash-rankings-results/?wpv-wpcf-year=2023&wpv-wpcf-city_county=King%20City) — OTS 3. [Area 735](https://www.chp.ca.gov/find-an-office/coastal-division/735-king-city/) — CHP 4. [King City police](https://kingcityrustler.com/?p=1363822) — King City Rustler 5. [Local Rules](https://www.monterey.courts.ca.gov/system/files/local-rules/local-rules-jc-january-2026-cycle.pdf) — Monterey court 6. [2012 pileup report](https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/3-killed-in-8-car-crash-on-hwy-101-near-king-city/) — CBS News 7. [Roundabout CEQA filing](https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2021030557) — CEQAnet 8. [CCP §335.1](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=335.1) — Legislature 9. [Gov. Code §911.2](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=911.2) — Legislature 10. [CACI 405](https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/400/405/) — Justia 11. [King City article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_City,_California) — Wikipedia 12. [Vision Zero](https://www.tamcmonterey.org/files/d1bff70b6/Regional+Vision+Zero+Safety+Action+Plan.pdf) — TAMC 13. [Trauma centers](https://emsa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2025/08/California-Designated-ACS-Verified-Trauma-Centers-8.22.25.pdf) — EMSA ## Find Out How Much Your Case Is Worth Complete the form for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. ## What Our Clients Say ![Google](/images/optimized/google-logo.png) "Not gonna lie it’s been about three years, but when I say, I finally feel part of a family the Jacob family is one of the best law firms ever they helped me with legal advice and they also help me with life advice..so if you need anything like the commercial say call Jacob lol" ![Google](/images/optimized/google-logo.png) "I want to thank you for assisting me with the traffic collision - were I was rear ended by a 18 Wheeler whom to failed to stop. Thank you for taking my stress out and immediately making the necessary arrangements regarding my pain on my back which resulted from the traffic collision and my vehicle to get repair. 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