Bakersfield, CA, October 12 – A woman died Saturday evening after she was struck by a car while crossing Rosedale Highway in Bakersfield, according to the California Highway Patrol. The agency said the crash happened as a 2023 Toyota Camry was traveling westbound and the woman entered the highway from the south. She suffered critical injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The CHP said the collision remains under investigation and the woman’s name has not been released.
Bakersfield woman dies after being struck by car on Rosedale Highway
The California Highway Patrol said the collision occurred at about 6:51 p.m. on Saturday, October 10, on Rosedale Highway east of Karla Street in Bakersfield. According to the CHP, a 2023 Toyota Camry was headed west on the highway when the woman moved into its path from the south side of the road, apparently trying to reach the north side. Investigators do not believe she was within a designated pedestrian crossing when the vehicle struck her, the CHP said.
She suffered critical injuries in the collision and died at the scene, the CHP said. Her name has not been released. The driver of the Toyota, identified by the CHP only as a 26-year-old Bakersfield resident, stayed at the scene following the crash and spoke with investigators, the agency said.
The CHP said the circumstances of the crash remain under investigation and that no further details have been made public. The agency has not said whether the driver will face any citation. The woman’s exact age, hometown and the specific reason she entered the roadway outside the pedestrian crossing have not been disclosed by investigators.
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 1 January 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.
