Lakewood Personal Injury Attorney

After dark is when Lakewood’s streets are at their worst. In 2023 the city placed 17th of 103 comparable California cities for injury crashes between 9 at night and 3 in the morning, a worse standing than in any other category the Office of Traffic Safety ranks and well above its middling composite rank of 53rd (OTS).

Questions on this page

• Why are so many Lakewood crashes at night?
• Who writes the crash report in Lakewood?
• What changes on the 605 or the 91?
• Do the new roundabouts affect a claim?
• What if an e-bike was involved?
• Where would a lawsuit be filed?
• Representing Lakewood residents, shoppers and commuters

Each answer below comes from Lakewood’s own public records, and together they cover what people usually ask a Lakewood personal injury attorney in a first call: who took the report, which agency covers the 605, what the roundabout construction means for fault and where a case would be heard.

Why are so many Lakewood crashes at night?

Those 47 night crashes came in a year when 433 people were killed or injured on Lakewood streets (23rd of 103), yet the city ranked only 60th for alcohol-involved victims and 72nd for speed-related crashes, so the night figure does not line up neatly with drinking or speeding and the data offers no explanation of its own (OTS). Each category, read from an injured person’s side:

Watch out: When a driver flees on Del Amo, Bellflower Boulevard or Carson Street, report it to the Sheriff’s Lakewood Station the same day and notify your own insurer promptly, because an uninsured motorist claim depends on that timely report.

Note: None of the 605 or 91 traffic appears in these numbers, because OTS city rankings leave out freeway collisions the CHP handles.

What the night pattern tells an injured person is where the proof will come from. After dark on Del Amo Boulevard or South Street there are fewer bystanders, and the arguments an adjuster raises later tend to be about what each driver could see. Lakewood Center, open since 1951 and still one of the largest shopping malls in the country, pulls heavy traffic onto Lakewood Boulevard and Del Amo Boulevard (Wikipedia), and the stores, restaurants and parking structures around it keep cameras running late. Footage from those systems is recorded over on a schedule, so a request in the first days after a mall-area crash is worth far more than one made a month later.

Who writes the crash report in Lakewood?

Lakewood has never had a police department of its own. In 1954 it became the first city in the United States to contract out every municipal service, law enforcement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department included, an arrangement still called the Lakewood Plan (Wikipedia). The city also pays for Sky Knight, which in 1966 became the nation’s first day-and-night city helicopter patrol.

On city streets, collisions are investigated by deputies from the Sheriff’s Lakewood Station, whose number the city publishes as (562) 623-3500 (City of Lakewood). That has two practical effects:

1. At the scene, ask the Lakewood Station deputy for an incident number and a name; the Sheriff’s records staff, not Lakewood City Hall, will want both when you request the report.
2. If a Sheriff’s patrol car hit you, the responsible public entity is Los Angeles County, and the six-month claim period described below runs against the County rather than the city.

What changes on the 605 or the 91?

Interstate 605 crosses the eastern part of the city, and the Studebaker Road and Centralia Street corridor carries drivers to the 605 bridge (City of Lakewood). One drive home can therefore involve two separate report systems:

The CHP’s Santa Fe Springs Area, on Orr and Day Road, lists Lakewood among the cities it serves and also patrols I-5, I-105 and SR-60. A rear-end collision on the 605 becomes a CHP record while a sideswipe a block later on Studebaker becomes a Sheriff’s record, so we confirm which agency wrote it before ordering anything.

Because Lakewood Boulevard also carries the State Route 19 designation, a pothole, signal or lane-design problem there raises a threshold question of whether the state or the city controls that stretch, and we answer it before any government claim is filed, since the claim has to reach the entity that actually owns the road.

Do the new roundabouts affect a claim?

Construction can change the fault picture, and Lakewood has several street projects under way at once (City of Lakewood):

• Palo Verde Avenue, South Street to Carson Street. Traffic and pedestrian safety upgrades with multiple roundabouts, first tested as quick-build features, with construction expected through the end of 2026.
• Studebaker Road and Centralia Street, Del Amo Boulevard to the I-605 bridge. A traffic-calming project with roundabouts, under construction through 2026.
• Lakewood Boulevard. Walkways to shopping centers, street improvements and undergrounding of Edison lines to improve pedestrian access and safety.

The intersection of Del Amo Boulevard and Lakewood Boulevard has its own environmental file. The city’s project there adds dual left-turn lanes on all four approaches and a Del Amo bike lane, and its traffic study forecast the intersection at level of service F, the most congested grade, in both the morning and evening peaks by 2035 (CEQAnet).

None of this proves that a road or a contractor caused your crash, and a driver who misjudged a new roundabout is ordinarily still the one at fault. If missing signs, an unprotected work area or a poorly marked lane shift on Palo Verde or Studebaker played a part, though, the City of Lakewood or its contractor may share responsibility, and a claim against the city has to be presented within six months of the injury (Government Code §911.2). Photographs of cones, barricades and detour signs taken in the first days are often the only record of how the work zone looked, because the layout shifts as construction moves down the street.

What if an e-bike was involved?

The city and the Sheriff’s Lakewood Station have announced a zero-tolerance policy on unsafe e-bike riding, with citations and impounds. City code bans e-bikes on sidewalks and in parks and recreation areas, and parents can be cited for their children’s violations (City of Lakewood).

That policy cuts both ways in a claim. If an e-bike rider on a Lakewood sidewalk struck you, the ban is strong evidence of the rider’s fault. If your child was the rider and a driver hit them, expect the insurer to point to the same ordinance.

Tip: Photograph exactly where the e-bike ended up, whether on the sidewalk, in a bike lane or in the traffic lane, and keep the bike itself if the Sheriff’s deputies did not impound it. Its position and damage are often the best evidence of who moved into whose path.

California applies pure comparative fault, so a 14-year-old cited for sidewalk riding can still recover for injuries a careless driver caused, with the award reduced by whatever share of blame is assigned to the rider (CACI 405).

Two dozen cyclists were killed or injured on Lakewood streets in 2023, three of them younger than 15 (OTS), and our bicycle accident page describes the evidence we collect for riders and their parents.

Shorter answers

Lakewood Village has a Lakewood name. Is it part of the city?

No. Lakewood Village was annexed to Long Beach (Wikipedia), so a dangerous-road claim arising on its streets goes to Long Beach rather than to Lakewood.

I was riding a bus to the Del Amo station when it crashed. Who pays?

Long Beach Transit routes 191 and 192 connect Lakewood to the Metro A Line at Del Amo, and the city runs Lakewood DASH for seniors and riders with disabilities (City of Lakewood). Because a bus operated by a public agency triggers the six-month claim rule, passengers hurt on one of those trips should find out quickly who ran the vehicle; our bus accident page explains the passenger side of these claims.

I was taken to UCI Health – Lakewood, not a trauma center. Does that weaken my case?

No. A patient might start at UCI Health – Lakewood, the hospital inside the city, and later move to MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, which the state lists as a Level II trauma center (EMSA). An insurer looks for a complete, consistent record of care, not for the name of the first hospital.

The insurer wants a recorded statement about my night crash. Should I give one?

Not before you speak with a lawyer. In a collision after dark, the adjuster’s questions about lighting, distance and when you first saw the other car are aimed at shifting fault onto you, and a casual answer recorded in the first week is hard to take back.

My mother was hit crossing a boulevard. Does her age matter?

Yes, mainly on the medical side. Three of the 23 pedestrians injured on Lakewood streets in 2023 were 65 or older (OTS), and a hip fracture or head injury at that age heals slowly, which the value of a claim has to reflect.

Where would a lawsuit be filed?

Should settlement talks fail, the lawsuit goes to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, whose 2024 order on personal injury filings ties the courthouse to the location of the collision or fall rather than to where either party lives (LASC General Order). We have not confirmed which district courthouse handles Lakewood cases, and a collision near the city limits could land in a different district than one beside Lakewood Center, so we check the exact crash location against the order before filing.

The deadlines that apply to Lakewood crashes:

• Six months for a claim against the City of Lakewood over a work-zone or road-design problem, or against Los Angeles County for a crash involving a Sheriff’s vehicle (Government Code §911.2).
• Two years to file suit against the driver who hit you, or against a Lakewood Center tenant or landlord whose hazard caused a fall (CCP §335.1).
• Three years if the only loss is the vehicle; injured children follow their own timetable.

Representing Lakewood residents, shoppers and commuters

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) represents people hurt in Lakewood, from families in the original Lakewood Park tract to shoppers and employees at Lakewood Center and commuters who use the 605. On a Lakewood case we request the Lakewood Station report or the CHP Santa Fe Springs report, ask nearby businesses for night footage and check whether a city construction zone was in play before the six-month claim window closes.

The data points first to car accidents, hit-and-runs and night collisions on Lakewood Boulevard, Del Amo and South Street, and that is where much of our Lakewood work begins. Our Lakewood clients also include:

• motorcycle riders struck by left-turning drivers on the arterials
• pedestrians struck crossing toward the mall, and children on bicycles and e-bikes
• Uber and Lyft passengers, and Long Beach Transit riders
• shoppers hurt in a slip-and-fall at Lakewood Center or another retail property
• dog bite victims attacked while walking in the Lakewood Park tract
• spouses, parents and children bringing a wrongful death case

Someone searching for a Lakewood car accident lawyer after a collision at Del Amo and Lakewood Boulevard can start with us at no cost.

Hold on to the discharge instructions from UCI Health – Lakewood or MemorialCare Long Beach; our staff orders the imaging, billing and physician records from there. You pay nothing unless we win, and a representative can meet you at home. Phone (888) 952-2952 with your Lakewood Station incident number or CHP report number in hand, or use the online case evaluator if writing it out is easier. En español.

Everything above is general information compiled from OTS, Sheriff, CHP, court and City of Lakewood sources, offered without reviewing your facts; it is not legal advice.

Sources

1. Vintage 2025 estimates — Census
2. 2023 rankings — OTS
3. Lakewood — Wikipedia
4. E-bike safety — City of Lakewood
5. Capital projects — City of Lakewood
6. Area 550 — CHP
7. SCH 2017051080 — CEQAnet
8. 2024-GEN-003-00 — LA Superior Court
9. Transit guide — City of Lakewood
10. EMSA trauma list — EMSA
11. Government Code §911.2 — Legislature
12. CCP §335.1 — Legislature
13. CACI 405 — Justia