Against a private driver, you have two years from the crash to sue for your injuries and three years for the bike. A claim against the City of Bakersfield, Kern County, Caltrans or Golden Empire Transit must be presented within six months. A Bakersfield bicycle accident lawyer also tracks a separate two-year uninsured motorist deadline.
Robert Hindin & Associates represents people hurt in bicycle crashes across California, including Bakersfield and the rest of Kern County. The firm works from its West Los Angeles office and takes only injured people as clients, never insurers. Robert Hindin has been admitted to the California Bar since 1975. Kyle Hindin was admitted in 2016 and has represented only injured people since.
If a driver, a pothole or a city vehicle knocked you off your bike in Bakersfield, call Robert Hindin & Associates at (310) 473-0337 for a free case review. Have the date of the crash ready, because every deadline on this page counts from it.
Why One Bakersfield Bike Crash Can Carry Four Different Deadlines
Who hit you, and who owns the road where you went down? Those two answers set the calendar for your case. The bicycle accident attorneys at Robert Hindin & Associates start every Bakersfield file by naming each party that could owe you money. Each one runs on its own clock.
These crashes are common here. The California Office of Traffic Safety counted 71 bicyclists killed or injured in Bakersfield in 2023. The same Bakersfield crash rankings show 238 hit-and-run collisions of every kind that killed or injured someone that year. Those numbers explain why the insurance deadlines further down matter so much to local riders. Here are the four clocks, in the order most people run into them.
- A lawsuit against a private driver for your injuries must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
- A claim against a private party for the damaged bike, helmet and gear runs three years under section 338.
- A written claim to a public agency, for injuries or property, must be presented within six months under Government Code section 911.2.
- An uninsured motorist claim needs a lawsuit, an agreement or a formal arbitration demand within two years under Insurance Code section 11580.2.
Plan around the shortest deadline, not the longest. Which of these clocks applies to your crash depends on facts a lawyer has to sort out, starting with the exact location and every vehicle involved.
The Two-Year Statute of Limitations for Suing a Driver in California
Most Bakersfield bike cases involve a driver who turned, drifted or opened a door into a rider. Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives you two years to sue for “injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.” Miss that date, and the court can dismiss the case however clear the fault was.
Two years sounds generous. It rarely is. Treatment, record requests and insurance talks eat months, and a lawsuit takes time to prepare. Whether your case should be filed early depends on details a lawyer needs to review, including how long your treatment will run.
When the Two Years Start After a Crash on Ming Avenue
The clock usually starts on the day of the crash. It does not wait for a diagnosis, a police report or the insurer’s decision. A rider hit on Ming Avenue in March generally has until the same date in March two years later. Symptoms of a traumatic brain injury can surface days after a fall, but the filing period still runs from the crash itself.
Three Years for the Bike, Helmet and Gear Under Section 338
Your bike is property, and property damage runs on a different clock. Code of Civil Procedure section 338, subdivision (c)(1), allows three years for an action for “injuring goods or chattels.” That covers a frame, wheels, a cracked helmet, a bike computer and torn riding clothes. The longer window applies only to private defendants. A property claim against a public agency still falls under the six-month rule.
Riders Under 18 and the Tolling Rule in Section 352
Kids ride bikes, and Bakersfield’s crash data shows it. The same state rankings counted 9 bicyclists under age 15 killed or injured in the city in 2023. California pauses many deadlines for minors, but not all of them. The difference turns on who caused the crash and whether a public agency is involved. Either way, a parent or guardian usually acts for the child, since the injury claim belongs to the child.
A Private Driver Who Hits a Child on a Bike
Code of Civil Procedure section 352, subdivision (a), says the time a person is under the age of majority “is not part of the time limited” to sue. So a child’s two years usually begin at age 18. Parents should not treat that as a reason to wait. Witnesses move, store cameras record over old footage, and damaged bikes get thrown away.
A City Truck or Road Defect That Injures a Child
Section 352, subdivision (b), says that pause does not apply to claims that must first be presented to a public entity. A child hurt by a city vehicle or a broken street still faces the six-month claim. Government Code section 911.6 requires the agency to grant a late claim application when the child was a minor for the whole six months. That application still has to be made within one year of the crash.
The Six-Month Claim When a Bakersfield Public Agency Is Involved
Public agencies play by a different set of rules. Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim for injury to a person or to personal property “not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action.” You cannot jump straight to a lawsuit. The suit comes only after the agency rejects the claim, in writing or by staying silent.
Six months goes fast when you are in a cast. A claim that arrives late, or lands at the wrong office, can sink a case with strong facts. Whether a public agency belongs in your case at all depends on facts a lawyer has to investigate, such as who owns the road and who employed the driver.
Which Agency Gets the Claim for a Bakersfield Bike Crash
The answer depends on who owned the vehicle or controlled the road surface. Bakersfield sits inside a patchwork of city, county and state roads. Unincorporated neighborhoods such as Oildale and Rosedale run right up to city limits, so a short ride can cross three jurisdictions. These are the agencies that come up most often.
- The City of Bakersfield answers for city streets, city bike lanes, traffic signals and city-owned vehicles.
- The County of Kern answers for county roads in unincorporated communities such as Oildale, Rosedale and Lamont.
- Caltrans answers for state highways, including State Route 99 and the State Route 178 spur on 24th Street.
- Golden Empire Transit District, the public bus agency, answers for crashes involving a GET bus.
The Department of General Services runs the state’s Government Claims Program and charges a $25 filing fee. Its claims page sends people with pothole damage on a California highway to Caltrans instead. A claim sent to the wrong office may never reach the right one in time, so confirm who owns the road first.
What Happens After the Claim Reaches the Agency
Filing the claim starts a second set of deadlines, and these are the ones riders lose track of. The agency gets a fixed time to respond. Your deadline to sue then depends on whether the agency mails a written rejection. Both rules come from the Government Claims Act, and both run whether or not you have a lawyer. Write down the date you delivered or mailed the claim, because the first count starts there.
Forty-Five Days for the Board to Act
Government Code section 912.4 gives the agency’s board 45 days after presentation to act on the claim. You and the board can extend that period by written agreement. If the board does nothing, the claim is deemed rejected on the last day of the period. Under this statute, silence counts as an answer.
The Lawsuit Deadline After the Agency Responds
Government Code section 945.6 sets the time to sue once the claim stage ends. Which branch applies depends on one piece of mail. The shorter deadline is tied to a written rejection notice given under section 913. If no proper notice goes out, a longer period applies. Keep every envelope the agency sends, because the mailing date can start your clock.
Six Months After a Written Rejection Notice
When the agency gives proper written notice, you have six months from the date it was personally delivered or deposited in the mail. That means six months from the mailing, not from the day you opened it. A notice sitting unopened on a kitchen counter still runs. Exceptions are narrow, and only a close look at your file shows whether one fits.
Two Years When No Proper Notice Goes Out
If the agency never sends proper written notice, section 945.6 allows two years from the date the cause of action accrued. An agreed extension of the 45-day period does not count toward those two years. Some riders treat the longer window as a safe harbor. It is a fallback, and relying on it means betting the agency got its paperwork wrong.
Asking Permission for a Late Claim Under Section 911.4
Missed the six months? The case is not automatically over. Government Code section 911.4 lets you apply to the agency for leave to present a late claim within a reasonable time, no later than one year after the crash. The application must state the reason for the delay. Under section 911.6, the board has 45 days to decide. It must grant the application in listed situations, such as mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect that did not prejudice the agency. Whether your reason qualifies is a judgment a lawyer has to make on your facts.
Road Hazards, Bike Lanes and the Kern River Parkway Trail
Not every bike crash involves a car. A rider can go down on a pothole, a raised seam, a missing grate or debris in a bike lane. Those cases point at whoever controls the surface, and in Bakersfield that is usually a public agency. That means the six-month claim applies from day one.
Public property claims also come with defenses that driver cases never see. The biggest one for local riders sits along the river. How these rules apply to a specific crash site depends on details a lawyer has to examine, often with photos and maintenance records.
Potholes and Broken Pavement on City Streets
Government Code section 835 makes a public entity liable for a dangerous condition of its property when the injured person proves several elements. The condition must have created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury that happened. You must also show that an agency employee created the condition, or that the agency knew or should have known about it in time to fix it. Take photos on the day of the crash if you can. Crews patch roads, and the evidence disappears with the patch.
Trail Immunity on the Kern River Parkway Trail
The Kern River Parkway Trail runs roughly 30 miles of paved path along the river, from Enos Lane in the west to Lake Ming in the east. Government Code section 831.4 says a public entity is not liable for an injury caused by a condition of “any trail” used for riding and other recreation. California courts have applied that immunity to paved bike paths, including a Class I bike path in Prokop v. City of Los Angeles (2007). A city street is not a trail, so a crack in a Truxtun Avenue bike lane falls under the dangerous condition rules instead.
The immunity covers the condition of the trail itself. It does not protect a driver who hits you where the trail meets a street, and it does not erase a claim against a private party. Whether a hazard counts as part of the trail is a question a lawyer has to work through on the facts.
Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Driver Deadlines in Your Own Auto Policy
What if the driver sped off down Chester Avenue, or had no insurance at all? Your own auto policy may pay. Insurance Code section 11580.2 extends uninsured motorist coverage to the named insured and resident relatives “while occupants of a motor vehicle or otherwise.” Those last two words reach a person riding a bicycle.
That coverage comes with deadlines of its own, separate from the lawsuit rules above. They live in the statute, and adjusters enforce them. Whether your policy covers a particular crash turns on its exact wording, so have a lawyer read it against the facts.
Reporting a Hit-and-Run Inside City Limits or in Oildale and Rosedale
For a crash with an unidentified driver, section 11580.2, subdivision (b), requires physical contact with the vehicle and a report within 24 hours. The report goes to the police department of the city where the crash happened. In unincorporated territory, it goes to the county sheriff or the California Highway Patrol. Within 30 days, you or someone acting for you must also file a sworn statement with your insurer.
Location decides the agency. The Bakersfield Police Department handles city streets, and the city’s website routes accident report requests to an online LexisNexis portal. The CHP Bakersfield Area office at 9855 Compagnoni Street covers State Route 99, State Route 58 and unincorporated communities including Rosedale, Oildale and Lamont. A crash a block outside city limits can belong to a different agency, so write down the report number and the agency’s name.
The Two-Year Uninsured Motorist Deadline Most Riders Miss
Opening a claim with your adjuster does not protect your uninsured motorist coverage. Under section 11580.2, subdivision (i)(1), no uninsured motorist claim accrues unless one of three things happens within two years of the crash.
- You file a lawsuit for bodily injury against the uninsured motorist.
- You and the insurer reach an agreement on the amount due under the policy.
- You formally start arbitration by notifying the insurer in writing by certified mail, return receipt requested.
With a hit-and-run driver, there is often no one to sue and no agreement in sight. That leaves the certified-mail arbitration demand as the step that protects the claim. Courts can excuse a missed deadline in limited situations, such as waiver or estoppel by the insurer, but those arguments rise or fall on evidence about how the insurer handled your claim.
Where a Bakersfield Bicycle Accident Lawyer Files Your Case in Kern County
A crash in Bakersfield usually leads to Kern County Superior Court. The court lists the Metro Justice Building at 1215 Truxtun Avenue as its Bakersfield civil location. It also takes civil filings at its Lamont branch on Main Street. A complaint filed there on time is what stops the two-year clock. A demand letter to an insurer does not.
The court sorts civil cases by amount. Limited civil cases run up to $35,000, and unlimited cases cover anything above that. Small claims, where you appear without a lawyer, top out at $12,500 for an individual. Which track fits depends on the injuries and the coverage involved, and a lawyer has to weigh both before choosing. The firm’s Bakersfield personal injury attorneys prepare these filings for injured riders and drivers.
Questions Bakersfield Cyclists Ask About Claim Deadlines
These are the deadline questions that come up most after a bike crash in Bakersfield. The answers below are general information about California law. Your own deadlines depend on the facts of your crash, so treat each answer as a starting point for a conversation with a lawyer.
Does Negotiating With the Insurance Adjuster Pause the Two-Year Deadline?
Usually not. Settlement talks do not stop the period in Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. A filed lawsuit or a signed settlement is what ends the risk.
Does a Waiver I Signed for a Group Ride Protect the City?
Not from its duty to keep the road safe. The California Supreme Court decided Whitehead v. City of Oakland (2025) 17 Cal.5th 735 after a cyclist hit a pothole on an organized ride. It held that a release signed with the ride organizer could not excuse the city’s negligent breach of its duty under Government Code section 835. The city can still raise other defenses.
How Long Does a Family Have if a Bike Crash Was Fatal?
Section 335.1 also covers an action for the death of an individual, so the general period is two years. A claim against a public agency still needs the six-month presentation first. The firm’s wrongful death attorneys handle fatal crashes involving motor vehicles.
Can I Take the Bike Damage to Small Claims Court in Kern County?
Often, yes, if the amount fits under the $12,500 limit for an individual. Section 338 gives you three years for property damage against a private party. Before you sign anything to settle the bike, read the release, because some releases cover every claim from the crash.
Talk to a Bakersfield Bicycle Accident Lawyer Before the Six-Month Mark
The six-month claim is the deadline most likely to end a Bakersfield bike case before it starts. A Bakersfield bicycle accident lawyer at Robert Hindin & Associates can identify every party involved and find out who owns the road. The firm can then calendar each deadline that applies to your crash. That includes the certified-mail arbitration demand after a hit-and-run.
Robert Hindin has been admitted to the California Bar since 1975. Kyle Hindin has been named to Super Lawyers Rising Stars every year from 2022 through 2026, and he is a member of CAALA. You can read about the firm’s attorneys and their backgrounds before you call. The firm never represents insurers, offers Spanish-language support, and serves clients statewide from 11400 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90064.
Call Robert Hindin & Associates at (310) 473-0337 for a free consultation, or send the crash details through the firm’s contact page. Keep the crash date, the report number and any letter from an agency or insurer nearby. Those three items tell a lawyer which clock is running fastest.