Bakersfield, CA, October 29 – A pickup truck driver died Thursday afternoon after the truck struck the back of another vehicle that had stopped for a crossing guard walking children across a street in northeast Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. The driver was alone in the pickup and suffered major injuries before being pronounced dead by medical personnel. The driver of the other vehicle, the crossing guard, and the children involved were not hurt, police said.
Bakersfield Pickup Driver Dies in Rear-End Crash Near Two Schools
According to the Bakersfield Police Department, the crash took place around 2:22 p.m. in the 1100 block of Columbus Street, near its intersection with Bucknell Street. The location is close to Washington Middle School and Myra A. Noble Elementary School. Police said the pickup had been heading westbound just before it struck the rear of the other vehicle.
The Bakersfield Police Department said investigators believe speed and intoxication were contributing factors in the crash. The department has not released the identity of the pickup driver who died, nor explained how those factors were determined. No information has been released about whether a citation or further enforcement action is expected in the case.
Bakersfield police have not released the type or color of either vehicle involved, the name of the crossing guard, or the number of children who were near the crossing at the time. The department has not said whether additional witnesses have come forward, and no timeline has been given for when the investigation might conclude.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
