Whittier Personal Injury Attorney

Drivers who injure someone and flee are a larger problem in Whittier than in almost any California city of similar size. State traffic-safety officials counted 53 hit-and-run injury crashes here in 2023, and only nine of 103 comparable cities had higher figures (OTS). Whittier has roughly 85,815 residents (Census Bureau), so 53 fleeing drivers in one year is a striking figure. A claim with no identified driver proceeds differently, and a Whittier personal injury attorney handling one often spends much of the case negotiating with the injured person’s own insurance company rather than a stranger’s.

Figures from the OTS 2023 crash rankings.

Three of those categories, fleeing drivers, motorcycles and darkness, come together in the example this page follows.

A late-night crash on Whittier Boulevard

Hypothetical example. Marco, 41, is riding his motorcycle home along Whittier Boulevard around 10 p.m. after a late shift. A pickup drifts into his lane, clips his handlebar and speeds off to the east. Marco goes down, breaking his collarbone and badly scraping his left leg. No one gets the full license plate. Marco and the pickup are fictional; the agencies, hospitals, laws and data are real.

Whittier Boulevard is the city’s main east-west street and follows part of the historic El Camino Real (LAist). Because the boulevard is lined with businesses, there are dozens of storefront and parking-lot cameras facing its traffic lanes, which is useful for Marco.

The police investigation

The Whittier Police Department’s Traffic Bureau investigates every traffic collision in the city and, under contract, in neighboring Santa Fe Springs (Whittier PD). In a hit-and-run with injuries, officers look for the physical evidence a fleeing vehicle leaves behind: pieces of a broken mirror or light, paint transferred onto Marco’s motorcycle and the direction of travel that witnesses saw.

Had Marco been on the 605 instead, the CHP’s Santa Fe Springs Area office at 10051 Orr and Day Road would have responded. That office patrols 135 freeway miles on the 5, 105, 605, 60 and 91, which carry roughly 1,202,000 vehicles a day, as well as about 420 miles of county roads in East, South and West Whittier, outside the city limits (CHP).

Two things Marco’s brother does that week prove especially important:

1. He walks both sides of the boulevard for three blocks, writes down every business with a camera facing the street and asks each manager to save the footage from 9:45 to 10:15 p.m.
2. He confirms that a police report was made and obtains its report number, because the insurance statute discussed below depends on prompt reporting.

Treatment at PIH Health Whittier

PIH Health Whittier is more than a hospital here; with roughly 2,600 staff, it employs more people than any other organization in town, and Whittier Hospital Medical Center adds about 850 more (Wikipedia). Neither appears on the state’s list of designated trauma centers, so a rider with life-threatening injuries is taken to a trauma center outside the city.

Marco is treated at PIH Health Whittier and sent home with his arm in a sling and a referral to an orthopedist. The records that follow form the core of his claim: the emergency room note describing a sideswipe by a vehicle, the orthopedic surgeon’s decision about whether the collarbone needs a plate, and the physical therapy that restores his shoulder. Wounds from the pavement and any scarring belong in the file too. Marco keeps a folder at home with the following:

• Discharge papers and the orthopedic referral from PIH Health Whittier
• Dated photographs of his healing leg, taken every few days
• A letter from his employer listing each shift he could not work
• The repair estimate or total-loss letter for the motorcycle, and receipts for the helmet and jacket
• The Traffic Bureau’s report number, written next to each officer’s name

Our motorcycle accident page discusses the injuries riders most often suffer.

Uninsured motorist coverage after a hit-and-run

Many people assume that a hit-and-run with no suspect means there is no claim. That is often wrong.

What the statute requires

Marco’s policy is governed by Insurance Code §11580.2. Two of the statute’s requirements decide Marco’s case: the fleeing pickup must have made physical contact with him or his motorcycle, and the crash must have been reported to police within 24 hours. The pickup struck Marco’s handlebar, and his brother confirmed the report, so both conditions are satisfied.

Who Marco deals with

Those facts change who is on the other side of Marco’s claim.

People are often surprised that their own insurer, after years of premiums, will examine the claim as skeptically as a stranger’s insurer would. Marco’s adjuster asks whether his headlight was on and how fast he was riding. Those are comparative fault questions. If an arbitrator decided that a dim headlight was a tenth of the cause, Marco would still recover nine-tenths of his losses.

Watch out: Uninsured motorist coverage on a motorcycle policy is separate from the coverage on a car policy. Riders who carry the state minimum on the motorcycle and higher limits on the family car are sometimes surprised by which policy applies. Check the declarations page for every vehicle you own.

Who owns Whittier Boulevard

Suppose part of Marco’s crash was caused by the road itself, such as a poorly marked lane drop or a signal that was out. The next question is who owned that stretch of pavement on the date of the crash. For decades, Whittier Boulevard was State Route 72 under Caltrans control. LAist reported in March 2025 that Caltrans is transferring a 6.5-mile stretch, from Lockheed Avenue to Valley Home Avenue, to the city along with a maintenance reserve of nearly $17 million, and that local control will allow Whittier to change lanes and intersections without Caltrans approval (LAist).

The answer determines which agency, the state or the city, must receive Marco’s written claim within the six-month period set by Government Code §911.2. A claim sent to the wrong agency wastes time the injured person cannot spare. In any boulevard case involving a road condition, one of the first things a lawyer should do is compare the date of the transfer with the date of the crash.

How the claim is resolved

Marco’s claim can end in one of three ways:

• Uninsured motorist settlement. His insurer pays an agreed amount after reviewing the medical records, wage records and photographs.
• Uninsured motorist arbitration. If Marco and his insurer cannot agree on value or fault, a neutral arbitrator decides, as the statute provides.
• A lawsuit. Should Whittier PD identify the pickup’s driver, the lawsuit against that person must be filed within two years of the night Marco went down, under Code of Civil Procedure §335.1.

Lawsuits arising from Whittier crashes are assigned to the Southeast District under the court’s district-based assignment order (LASC). Check the court’s filing locator to see which Southeast courthouse will hear the case; the Painter Avenue courthouse in Whittier handles limited civil, small claims and traffic matters.

Whichever way the claim ends, Marco’s damages include his medical bills, wages from the shifts he missed, future care for his shoulder, the motorcycle and gear, and pain and suffering.

What Whittier hit-and-run victims ask

Does my uninsured motorist coverage apply if I was on my motorcycle rather than in my car?

That depends on which policy carries the coverage and how it is written. Bring the declarations page for every vehicle in your household to your first meeting with a Whittier motorcycle accident attorney.

What if police identify the pickup driver six months later?

Then the case can be redirected toward the pickup’s owner and whatever policy covers it. Evidence gathered during the uninsured motorist claim, including the storefront footage and debris, can still be used.

I live in East Whittier. Will Whittier police handle my crash?

Probably not. East Whittier lies outside the city limits, and the CHP’s Santa Fe Springs office lists East, South and West Whittier among the areas it covers, so a CHP officer will likely write the report.

Does it matter that Whittier ranks high for alcohol-related crashes?

It provides background. OTS counted 48 people hurt in alcohol-involved crashes in the city, placing it 27th of 103 (OTS). Some late-night hit-and-run drivers flee because they have been drinking, which becomes relevant if the driver is later found and punitive damages are sought.

Is there a fee to meet with a lawyer?

Marco would not be charged for meeting with us. In a case like his, we are paid a percentage of what his insurer or the driver ultimately pays, and if we do not win, there is no fee.

Our Whittier and Southeast District cases

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani represents people injured in car, motorcycle and pedestrian crashes throughout California, including in Uptown Whittier, Friendly Hills and the county areas around the city. If a broken collarbone keeps you off the road, a representative can come to your house. For every Whittier client, we determine whether Whittier PD’s Traffic Bureau or CHP Santa Fe Springs wrote the report and whether Caltrans or the city owned the boulevard on the day of the crash. Our firm also handles rear-end collisions on Whittier Boulevard, Uber and Lyft collisions near Whittier College and wrongful death claims for families throughout the Southeast District. Marco’s brother could call us on his behalf at (888) 952-2952, or begin the online case evaluation from a phone. Si prefiere hablar en español, empiece aquí: calljacob.com/es.

Sources

1. Whittier results in the Group C ranking tables, SWITRS 2023 — OTS
2. Traffic Bureau duties for Whittier and contract city Santa Fe Springs — Whittier Police Department
3. Area 550 service map: five freeways and unincorporated Whittier — CHP
4. Caltrans hands the old Route 72 to Whittier — LAist
5. Whittier city article: employers, colleges, arterials, hills — Wikipedia
6. sub-est2025 incorporated place population file — Census Bureau
7. Uninsured motorist statute, Insurance Code 11580.2 — leginfo
8. CCP 335.1: the deadline Marco faces against an identified driver — leginfo
9. Section 911.2 notice rule for state and city defendants — leginfo
10. Injury-case assignment order, 2024 version — LASC

Marco and the pickup are fictional. The rules summarized here are general California law, offered as background rather than legal advice.