Merced County, CA, October 21 – Two people, a 53-year-old woman and a 3-year-old girl, were hospitalized after a vehicle struck them Tuesday morning at the intersection of Highway 140 and Plainsburg Road in the Platana area of Merced County, the California Highway Patrol reported. The crash occurred around 8:22 a.m. on October 20, 2026, when the pair stepped into the path of an eastbound car approaching the intersection. The woman suffered major injuries, while the girl’s injuries were described as minor.
Merced County Crash Injures Woman, Toddler on Highway 140
According to the California Highway Patrol, the vehicle involved was a 2018 Nissan sedan driven by a 61-year-old Merced woman. She had come to a stop at a stop sign and begun moving through the intersection when the two pedestrians stepped into her path. Her car made contact with both of them as she crossed. She brought the vehicle to a stop right after the impact and stayed at the scene, according to the patrol.
The woman was transported to Doctor’s Medical Center in Modesto, where she was treated for major injuries, the California Highway Patrol said. The girl, who suffered only minor injuries, was taken to Mercy Hospital in Merced out of caution. Patrol officials have not released any further updates on the condition of either victim since the crash.
The California Highway Patrol has not released additional information about the crash, including the identities of those involved or whether any citations were issued. It remains unclear why the woman and child entered the roadway as the vehicle was crossing the intersection. The circumstances surrounding the collision remain under investigation, and no further updates have been made public as of this report.
What California law requires of drivers around pedestrians
Vehicle Code section 21950 requires a driver to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk, or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Subdivision (b) is the one people misread: a pedestrian may walk or run, and doing either does not forfeit the right of way.
Subdivision (c) puts a separate duty on the driver. A driver approaching a pedestrian in any crosswalk must exercise all due care and reduce the speed of the vehicle. That duty applies whether or not the pedestrian had the right of way, and subdivision (d) preserves it: nothing in the section relieves a driver of the duty to use due care for the safety of any pedestrian in the roadway.
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.
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.
