Torrance Personal Injury Lawyer

Only seven injury crashes in Torrance during 2023 involved a driver who fled, the lowest hit-and-run count among the 62 cities in its state comparison group, 62nd of 62 (OTS). Drivers here generally stop. The same data contains a more troubling figure: 8 children under 15 were injured or killed while walking, ranking the city 5th-worst in its group, a number every Torrance personal injury lawyer should know.

Together, those figures shape injury claims in a city of 138,391 people (Census). Because the at-fault driver is usually identified, the work is less about finding someone and more about collecting records from the right South Bay offices. Below is the directory our firm works from, followed by the roads, industries and deadlines that shape local cases.

Where Torrance stands in the state rankings

In these tables, a rank of 1 is the worst. Torrance falls in the middle on most categories, with child pedestrians and the unusually low number of drivers who fled as the two exceptions.

Offices that hold your crash records

Torrance Police Department, Traffic Division

The Torrance Police Department investigates collisions on city streets, and its Records section handles requests for traffic accident reports (Torrance PD). Keep the report number somewhere safe; the other driver’s insurer will ask for it before discussing liability.

Highway Patrol office on Hamilton Avenue

Unusually, the CHP’s area office is itself in Torrance, at 19700 South Hamilton Avenue, and the cities it covers include Carson, Gardena and Redondo Beach (CHP). It patrols the San Diego (I-405) and Harbor (I-110) freeways, so a crash on either will carry a CHP report number rather than a city one.

Harbor-UCLA trauma center

The county-operated adult Level I trauma center for the South Bay is at 1000 W. Carson Street (Harbor-UCLA). Ambulances bring the most serious crash injuries here. Request the trauma admission notes along with the discharge summary, because they describe how the injury occurred in the medical team’s own words.

Torrance Memorial

Torrance Memorial is a 512-bed nonprofit hospital affiliated with Cedars-Sinai (local guide). The South Bay’s designated Level I trauma center is Harbor-UCLA, which is why the most severe cases tend to go there. If you were treated and released at Torrance Memorial, those records matter just as much.

Torrance Courthouse

The courthouse is at 825 Maple Avenue, in the Superior Court’s Southwest District (LA Superior Court). Under General Order 2024-GEN-003-00, personal injury cases are filed in the judicial district where the incident occurred (General Order), so cases arising in Torrance are generally filed here rather than downtown.

Torrance Transit

Torrance Transit is a department of the city, not a regional agency (City of Torrance). Because the city operates it, a passenger or motorist injured by a Torrance Transit bus must first present a written government claim, generally within six months (Gov. Code §911.2). Passengers thrown from their seats when a bus brakes hard face issues of their own, which our bus accident page discusses.

Roads that appear in crash reports

We are not aware of a published Local Road Safety Plan or high-injury network for Torrance, so there is no official list of ranked corridors. News coverage fills part of that gap:

Pacific Coast Highway is a state route, so a claim about a road defect there may be directed to Caltrans rather than the city, and the six-month claim rule applies to Caltrans as well. That distinction matters when a project zone such as the Hawthorne intersection is involved.

Tip: With 8 child pedestrians injured in 2023, crashes on school routes are a real local risk. If your child was hit near a school, photograph the crossing-guard positions, signs and any construction barriers the same day, because those details support a pedestrian accident claim.

Gather these before the details fade:

• The Torrance PD or CHP report number, and which agency wrote it
• The bus number and route, if a Torrance Transit bus was involved
• Harbor-UCLA trauma notes or Torrance Memorial emergency records
• Photos of the PCH or Hawthorne work zone, if your crash was near one
• A copy of your SR-1 if you were driving; the DMV requires it within 10 days of an injury crash (DMV)

The refinery, the airport and industrial work

Torrance is more than a residential suburb. The refinery once operated by ExxonMobil, now owned by PBF, exploded on February 18, 2015, injuring four contractors, and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board concluded that the explosion was preventable (CSB). Industrial sites of that kind bring tanker and contractor traffic to local streets and produce workplace injury claims that may involve both workers’ compensation and a third-party case against a contractor or equipment manufacturer. A refinery or plant injury often needs both tracks at once, as our workers’ compensation page describes.

Zamperini Field

About 543 aircraft are based at the city-owned Zamperini Field (City of Torrance), which is also home to Robinson Helicopter Company, described by Wikipedia as the largest U.S. manufacturer of private helicopters (Wikipedia).

Deadlines in a Torrance bus case

Hypothetical example: A cyclist from Walteria is struck by a Torrance Transit bus making a right turn on a Saturday in March. Her written claim to the city is due six months later, in September. If the city rejects it, a separate and shorter period begins for filing a lawsuit. Had a private delivery van hit her instead, she would generally have two years to sue under CCP §335.1, and three years for damage to her bicycle.

California’s pure comparative negligence rule would then divide responsibility. If a jury assigned her 15% of the fault for riding outside the bike lane, her damages would be reduced by 15%, not eliminated (CACI 405). Our bicycle accident page works through this rule in other cycling situations.

What Torrance clients often ask

My crash was on the 405 near Crenshaw. Is the Torrance police report the right one?

Probably not. Freeway collisions are handled by the CHP, and its South Los Angeles Area office on Hamilton Avenue covers that stretch. Request the report there.

The driver who hit me stayed at the scene. Do I still need a Torrance car accident lawyer?

Not necessarily. A driver who stops is easy to identify, but that does not make the insurer cooperative. If you face surgery, lost wages or a dispute over fault, a free consultation is worthwhile.

I was hurt at the refinery while working as a contractor. Can I recover?

Possibly in two ways: through workers’ compensation from your employer, and through a third-party claim if another company’s negligence caused the injury. The two systems follow different rules.

My 10-year-old was hit walking home near Torrance Boulevard. Is the deadline the same?

The deadline for a child’s own injury claim is calculated differently from an adult’s, and a parent may have a separate claim for medical bills. Ask early rather than assume.

What happens if my case goes to trial?

Trials are the exception, but a Torrance case that is filed would generally be heard at the Maple Avenue courthouse in the Southwest District.

Sources

1. 2023 rankings: last of 62 for hit-and-run, 5th for young walkers — California Office of Traffic Safety
2. Midyear 2025 resident count for incorporated places — US Census Bureau
3. Requesting a traffic accident report — Torrance Police Department
4. Hamilton Avenue office and the cities it covers — CHP
5. South Bay Level I trauma service — Harbor-UCLA
6. Torrance Memorial and Harbor-UCLA overview — Bluestem Hotel
7. Maple Avenue courthouse details — LA Superior Court
8. General Order 2024-GEN-003-00 on injury filings — LA Superior Court
9. Municipal bus service — City of Torrance
10. Public-entity claim timing, §911.2 — California Legislature
11. PCH hit-and-run and DUI arrest — ABC7
12. PCH/Hawthorne intersection project alert — City of Rancho Palos Verdes
13. Four-vehicle crash at 190th and Crenshaw — CBS Los Angeles
14. Pedestrian, 63, killed on Torrance Boulevard — Patch
15. Final report on the 2015 refinery explosion — U.S. Chemical Safety Board
16. Zamperini Field — City of Torrance
17. Robinson Helicopter Company — Wikipedia
18. Two-year injury statute, §335.1 — California Legislature
19. CACI No. 405, plaintiff’s own negligence — Justia
20. Motorist’s own collision filing with the state — California DMV

We wrote this directory to help people hurt on Torrance streets and freeways find their records; it is general information, not legal advice.

Representing injured people in Torrance

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) represents injured people across California, including in Torrance, Carson and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. When a Torrance Transit bus is involved, we file the written claim with the city before the six-month deadline and pursue the private insurers separately. Traffic crashes are only part of our work in Torrance: we also handle slip-and-fall cases in stores and parking structures, dog bites in neighborhoods such as Walteria, and wrongful death claims for South Bay families. On a Torrance case, we obtain the Torrance PD or CHP report, secure records from Harbor-UCLA or Torrance Memorial, preserve dashcam and storefront video, and handle the calls from the insurance adjuster. If the other driver’s bodily injury limits are too low, we look to your UM/UIM coverage, and we negotiate medical liens before a settlement is finalized.

The consultation is free, and whether you are a retiree in Walteria or a commuter near Del Amo, you pay nothing up front; our fee is owed only if we win. A representative can meet you at home or at work if that is easier. Call (888) 952-2952 from home or a hospital waiting room, or use our free case evaluator. Nuestro sitio en español está en calljacob.com/es.