Cherry Creek North is built for walking. Shoppers cross Second and Third Avenues between galleries and restaurants, diners step out between parked cars, and garage exits push drivers across sidewalks. Most of the time it works. When it doesn’t, a pedestrian has no metal around them, and injuries from even a slow turn can be serious.
Key facts
- At a crosswalk without working signals, a driver has to slow or stop for a walker already in the driver’s half of the road, or nearing it from the opposite half, under C.R.S. 42-4-802.
- When one car halts at a crosswalk for a walker, cars coming up behind it may not go around it.
- Every driver must exercise due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian and take extra care around children and people who appear confused or impaired, under C.R.S. 42-4-807.
- Since 2025, Colorado bars drivers from holding a phone for calls, texting or watching video while driving, under C.R.S. 42-4-239.
Who has the right-of-way in a crosswalk?
Section 42-4-802(1) covers corners where signals are missing or dark. There, a driver must give way to anyone in the crosswalk on the half of the roadway where the driver is traveling, and to anyone coming from the far side close enough to be in danger, slowing or stopping if that is what it takes. Crosswalks include unmarked crosswalks at intersections, the extension of the sidewalk lines across the street. Many corners in the residential blocks north of Cherry Creek North have no painted lines but are still crosswalks.
At signalized corners, the walk signals control. A pedestrian facing a steady Walk may cross and must be given the right-of-way by all drivers. A pedestrian may not start crossing on a flashing Don’t Walk, but someone already partway across must be allowed to finish, and drivers must yield to that person.
What about the car that stopped for me?
Section 42-4-802(4) bans a classic multi-lane crash. When a vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to let someone cross, the driver of any vehicle approaching from behind may not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle. On wider streets like First Avenue, a driver in the next lane who speeds past a stopped car into a crosswalk has broken this rule.
What duties fall on the pedestrian?
Pedestrians have duties too, and insurers will raise them.
- Under 42-4-802(3), stepping or running off the curb directly in front of a car too near to stop is forbidden.
- Someone crossing mid-block, outside any crosswalk, painted or not, has to let vehicles go first, under C.R.S. 42-4-803.
- On a block with working signals at each end, crossing is allowed only in a painted crosswalk.
- Diagonal crossing is allowed only where signals or signs permit it.
Even when a pedestrian crossed mid-block, the driver still owes due care under 42-4-807. A driver who was looking at a phone or speeding can still carry most of the fault. Colorado bars recovery only if the pedestrian’s share equals or exceeds the driver’s, under C.R.S. 13-21-111.
How does the phone law help?
Section 42-4-239 now bars any driver from using a mobile electronic device while driving a motor vehicle on a public highway, which includes city streets. “Use” means holding the device to talk, watching video other than a map or route display, or reading, writing or sending texts, emails and similar data. Driving does not include sitting lawfully parked or at rest on a shoulder, so stopped at a red light still counts. The fines are $75 for a first offense in 24 months, $150 for a second and $250 for a third, each with a $10 surcharge. A first charge can be dismissed if the driver shows a hands-free accessory or proof of buying one and swears no earlier charge was dismissed that way.
A citation is evidence of carelessness. Phone carrier data, app timestamps and a witness who saw the driver looking down can all support a claim even without a ticket.
Parking garages and driveways
Under C.R.S. 42-4-710, a driver coming out of an alley, driveway, building or parking lot must yield to any pedestrian on or about to enter the sidewalk area before driving across it, and a driver turning in must do the same. The garage owner may have duties of its own about sight lines and signage. If the crash happened inside a private garage rather than on the street, the property owner’s insurer may be involved too.
What insurance covers a pedestrian?
The driver’s liability insurance is the primary target. Your own auto policy’s MedPay and UM or UIM coverage often protect you as a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle, depending on policy wording, and the coverage guide explains how. Colorado UIM adds to the driver’s limits rather than being reduced by them, which matters when a serious injury meets a minimum $25,000 policy.
Does the deadline differ for pedestrians?
A pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle has a claim arising from the use or operation of that vehicle, so the three-year period in C.R.S. 13-80-101 generally applies. If the driver was a city or RTD employee in a government vehicle, the 182-day notice under C.R.S. 24-10-109 comes first. If a scooter or bike rider, not a car, hit you on the sidewalk, plan on two years.
Is a hit-and-run driver a crime victim case?
It can be. Colorado’s crime victim compensation program treats certain traffic offenses as compensable crimes under C.R.S. 24-4.1-102, including driving under the influence, careless driving that causes bodily injury or death, and leaving the scene of a crash that causes injury or death. Losses that may be paid include medical expenses, lost earnings and mental health counseling, under C.R.S. 24-4.1-109. Each judicial district has its own crime victim compensation board, appointed by the district attorney under C.R.S. 24-4.1-103, and approval requires that law enforcement was notified of the crime.
How it plays out on a Denver claim
A man crossing Second Avenue at an unmarked crosswalk is struck by an SUV turning out of a side street. The driver says he “came out of nowhere.” A storefront camera shows the man stepped off the curb when the SUV was still several car lengths away and that the driver never looked right. The driver’s phone shows an active text thread at the moment of impact. The crosswalk rule, the due care statute and the phone law each support the claim, and the pedestrian’s small share of fault, if any, sits far below the 50 percent line.
Checklist
- Note the exact spot of impact, including whether it was a corner with or without paint.
- Photograph signals, signs, parked cars and sight lines from where you stood.
- Ask nearby shops for camera footage within a day or two.
- Write down what the driver said, especially about phones or not seeing you.
- Check your own auto policy for MedPay and UM coverage.
- If the driver fled, report it and ask the victim advocate about compensation.