A 69-year-old Oakland man died yesterday after being struck by a car while walking in the street near West MacArthur Boulevard and Webster Street in North Oakland, authorities said. The crash happened around 8:29 PM when a vehicle traveling eastbound on West MacArthur Boulevard hit the man in the roadway. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
The driver remained at the scene, called for help, and is cooperating with the investigation, according to The Mercury News. Oakland police believe drugs or alcohol were not a factor in the crash. Anyone with information has been asked to contact the Oakland Police Department's traffic investigator at 510-777-8570.
A Corridor With a History
The stretch of West MacArthur Boulevard where the man was killed sits just blocks from where a male skateboarder in his 50s died in a collision while crossing the same corridor at 37th Street in February 2025, according to the City of Oakland. MacArthur Boulevard also shows up repeatedly in the city's own safety data: a 10-year OakDOT analysis of multi-lane, unsignaled crosswalks citywide from 2013 to 2023 identified 64 high-injury locations responsible for 112 injuries and nine pedestrian deaths, with MacArthur Boulevard intersections among the corridors flagged as most dangerous, per reporting from The Oaklandside.
Oakland's 2024 High Injury Network found that roughly 6% of city streets account for more than 60% of all severe and fatal traffic crashes, including the Broadway corridor between 7th Street and West MacArthur Boulevard. Under the city's Crash Rapid Response protocol, any collision resulting in a pedestrian or bicyclist death automatically triggers an interdepartmental review by OakDOT to determine whether quick-build safety fixes or other engineering changes are warranted at the site.
Pedestrian Deaths Persist Even as Overall Fatalities Fall
Citywide, Oakland recorded six pedestrian traffic fatalities in the first five months of 2026, following seven pedestrian deaths in all of 2025 and 13 in 2024, according to Oakland Department of Transportation monitoring data. Saturday's death adds to that 2026 tally. Total traffic fatalities in Oakland, meanwhile, have fallen to 23 in 2025 from peak highs of 36 in both 2020 and 2022, a decline that city transportation officials say outpaced state and national averages over the same period, the Oaklandside reported in June.
The trend echoes a broader national shift. Preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association shows U.S. pedestrian fatalities fell 7% in 2025 to 6,732 deaths, marking three straight annual declines, though the total remains 5% above pre-pandemic levels.
Not every recent Oakland crash fits the pattern of a slow, steady improvement. In May, three pedestrians were killed and three others injured when a 17-year-old driver traveling more than 50 mph plowed into a crowd outside a market near International Boulevard and 85th Avenue in East Oakland, according to the Los Angeles Times. Just last week, Hoodline reported on a hit-and-run on East Oakland's deadliest stretch, where the driver fled the scene — a contrast to the West MacArthur Boulevard driver who stayed and called for help.
What the Law Says About Crossing Outside a Crosswalk
It remains unclear whether the man was crossing within a marked crosswalk when he was struck, and the dossier of available reporting does not specify his exact position in the roadway. California law offers a dual framework for evaluating such collisions. Under the state's Freedom to Walk Act, which took effect in 2023, officers are barred from stopping or citing pedestrians for crossing outside a crosswalk unless a reasonably careful person would recognize an immediate danger of collision, according to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
At the same time, California Vehicle Code Section 21954 requires pedestrians crossing outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk to yield to oncoming vehicles that pose an immediate hazard, while still obligating drivers to exercise due care toward all pedestrians, per Justia Law. That dual standard — pedestrian positioning weighed alongside driver conduct — typically shapes how investigators evaluate fatal crashes like Saturday's.
MacArthur Boulevard has drawn scrutiny in Oakland news beyond pedestrian deaths. In January, Hoodline covered a car that plowed into an Oakland boxing gym along the same corridor, and in May 2025, Hoodline reported on the death of an Oakland teacher killed by a suspect fleeing police on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland. Together, the incidents underscore why the roadway keeps surfacing in the city's traffic safety conversations even as overall fatality numbers trend downward.
