Reviewed by Ryan Orsatti, Texas personal injury attorney.
Quick Answer
- Right of way turns on where you were walking. Where no traffic signal is operating, a driver must stop and yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk under Texas Transportation Code Section 552.003. A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles under Section 552.005.
- Crossing outside a crosswalk does not release the driver. Section 552.008 still requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, to sound the horn when necessary, and to use proper precaution on observing a child or an obviously confused or incapacitated person.
- Sharing part of the blame does not end the claim. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33.001, a claimant is barred only if their own share of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.
- The deadline to file suit is generally two years from the date of the collision under Section 16.003(a).
Key Takeaways
- TxDOT reported 768 pedestrian deaths in Texas in 2024, out of 4,150 total traffic deaths, and no deathless days on Texas roads that year.
- San Antonio’s own Severe Pedestrian Injury Areas report counted 847 severe pedestrian crashes citywide across 2014 through 2018: 258 pedestrian deaths and 589 suspected serious injuries.
- Timing is not random. In that report, 56 percent of severe pedestrian injuries on the identified high risk areas happened in the six hours from 6:00 p.m. to midnight, and 61 percent fell in the months from September through February.
- The insurer’s first move is usually to argue you stepped out, crossed mid block, or wore dark clothing. Chapter 552 answers that argument more precisely than most people expect.
- If the driver had no insurance or too little, your own auto policy may still respond. Texas requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless it was rejected in writing under Texas Insurance Code Section 1952.101.
Who Has the Right of Way Under Texas Law?
Chapter 552 of the Texas Transportation Code governs pedestrians, and the outcome of a fault fight often turns on which section applies to the exact spot where you were struck.
At a signal. Section 552.002 provides that a pedestrian facing a “Walk” signal may proceed across the roadway in the direction of the signal, and that the operator of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right of way to that pedestrian.
In a crosswalk with no signal. Section 552.003 requires a driver to stop and yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk when no traffic control signal is in place or in operation. That duty applies where the pedestrian is either on the half of the roadway the vehicle is traveling on, or approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger. The duty is to stop, not merely to slow.
A crosswalk in Texas is also not only a striped one. Under Section 541.302(2), a crosswalk includes any portion of a roadway marked as a pedestrian crossing, and also the portion of a roadway at an intersection “that is within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway.” An unmarked crosswalk can therefore exist with no paint on the pavement. Where there are no sidewalks on both sides, that unmarked crosswalk generally does not exist, which is why the sidewalk layout at your intersection is worth checking rather than assuming.
Outside a crosswalk. Section 552.005 requires a pedestrian crossing at a place other than a marked or unmarked crosswalk, or where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing is provided, to yield the right of way to vehicles on the highway.
The driver’s duty either way. Section 552.008 is the provision that most often carries a mid block case. It requires the operator of a vehicle to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on a roadway, to give warning by sounding the horn when necessary, and to exercise proper precaution on observing a child or an obviously confused or incapacitated person on a roadway. A pedestrian who failed to yield can still recover from a driver who was speeding, looking at a phone, turning without looking, or who had a clear line of sight and never reacted.
When and Where San Antonio Pedestrians Are Getting Hit
The City of San Antonio studied this directly. Its Severe Pedestrian Injury Areas report, published in 2020 and covering 2014 through 2018, identified 847 severe pedestrian crashes citywide, consisting of 258 pedestrian fatalities (roughly 30 percent) and 589 suspected serious pedestrian injuries (roughly 70 percent).
The patterns in that report are the useful part:
- More than half, 56 percent, of the severe pedestrian injuries in the identified high risk areas occurred in the six hour window from 6:00 p.m. to midnight, with the 8:00 p.m. hour the worst single hour.
- 61 percent of the severe pedestrian injuries in those high risk areas were recorded in the fall and winter months, September through February, when darkness arrives during the evening commute.
- Corridors the report identified among the highest risk include Zarzamora at Cincinnati and Guadalupe, Fredericksburg Road near Bluemel and Winnetka, and Culebra near General McMullen and Navidad.
Those facts matter in a claim, not just in a policy discussion. A collision at 8:00 p.m. in November on a wide multilane arterial with long gaps between marked crossings is a different case from a daylight collision in a striped crosswalk, and it needs different proof: lighting conditions, the distance to the nearest legal crossing, sight lines, the vehicle’s speed, and whether the driver had time to react.
Attorney Insight. In pedestrian files the fault fight is usually decided by evidence that does not survive long. Signal timing data, business and residential camera footage, transit vehicle video, and the scene itself in the same lighting conditions all have short shelf lives, and camera systems commonly overwrite within days. The officer’s on scene conclusion about who failed to yield is an opinion, not a verdict, and it can be re-examined. It rarely can be re-examined using footage nobody preserved.
Does Crossing Outside a Crosswalk End My Claim?
No. It changes the arithmetic and it raises the work required, but it does not end the claim.
Texas applies proportionate responsibility (each party is assigned a percentage of the blame, and a recovery is reduced by the claimant’s share). Section 33.001 provides that “a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.” A pedestrian assigned 30 percent of the responsibility still recovers, with damages reduced accordingly. An adjuster who tells you that stepping outside a crosswalk means you have no case is describing a rule Texas does not have.
What the driver’s insurer will do is build toward the 51 percent line. Expect the file to emphasize dark clothing, a missing crosswalk, alcohol, headphones, a phone, and any statement you gave from a hospital bed. The counterweight is Section 552.008 and the physical evidence: speed, point of impact, throw distance, braking or the absence of it, sight lines, and street lighting.
Which Chapter 552 Rule Applies to Your Collision?
| Where you were struck | Controlling rule | Who must yield | What the case usually turns on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossing on a “Walk” signal | Sec. 552.002 | Driver must stop and yield | Signal timing, turning driver’s line of sight |
| Marked or unmarked crosswalk, no signal operating | Sec. 552.003 | Driver must stop and yield | Whether an unmarked crosswalk existed at that intersection |
| Mid block, no crosswalk nearby | Sec. 552.005 and Sec. 552.008 | Pedestrian must yield, driver still owes due care | Driver speed, reaction time, lighting, distance to a legal crossing |
| Child or visibly impaired person in the roadway | Sec. 552.008 | Driver owes heightened precaution | What the driver could see and when |
| Driver left the scene | Sec. 550.021 (duty to stop and render aid) plus your own policy | Unidentified driver, then UM coverage | Identifying the vehicle, and your policy’s UM terms |
What to Do in the First 72 Hours After Being Hit While Walking
- Accept transport and get evaluated the same day. Pedestrian impacts produce head injuries and internal injuries that do not announce themselves at the scene.
- Make sure a crash report exists and get the report number before you leave, along with the responding agency.
- Photograph the location from your own approach and from the driver’s approach, including lighting, signals, striping, and the nearest legal crossing.
- Identify witnesses and any nearby business, apartment, bus, or doorbell camera, and write down the addresses. Footage is often overwritten within days.
- Give no recorded statement to the driver’s insurer while you are medicated or still being evaluated.
- Locate your own auto policy, including any household policy, and check for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage plus any medical payments coverage.
- Keep discharge instructions, referrals, and receipts, and follow the treatment plan. Gaps in care are the argument insurers make most often about the injury itself.
- Send preservation requests for camera footage and vehicle data before anyone reasonably expects you to have hired a lawyer.
What Insurance Pays When a Driver Hits a Pedestrian?
There is usually more than one source, and they interact.
The driver’s liability coverage. The first source, and often not enough on its own. Pedestrian injuries skew severe, and Texas minimum limits are frequently exhausted by the hospital bill alone.
Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Section 1952.101 of the Texas Insurance Code requires an insurer not to deliver an automobile liability policy in Texas unless it provides uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, unless any insured named in the policy rejects the coverage in writing. Whether that coverage reaches you while you were on foot depends on how your policy defines an insured, so the policy language controls and needs to be read rather than assumed. This is also the coverage that matters most in a hit and run.
Medical payments coverage or personal injury protection. Often available under your own auto policy regardless of fault, and useful for early bills.
What gets paid back out of a recovery. A health plan may assert subrogation (an insurer’s right to be repaid from your settlement). A hospital may file a lien. Under Texas Property Code Chapter 55, a hospital lien attaches only where the injured person is admitted not later than 72 hours after the accident, and Section 55.004 caps the lien at the lesser of the hospital’s charges for the first 100 days of hospitalization or 50 percent of all amounts recovered. Those caps are routinely overlooked, and applying them changes what actually reaches the injured person. For people treated in the University Health system, the firm’s explanation of CareLink financial assistance after an accident covers a program that comes up constantly in San Antonio pedestrian cases.
How Long Do I Have to File a Pedestrian Accident Claim in Texas?
Generally two years. Section 16.003(a) requires suit for personal injury to be brought “not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues.” Where the collision causes death, Section 16.003(b) applies the same two year period, running from the date of death.
A claim against a governmental unit is different and much faster. Notice requirements under the Texas Tort Claims Act (the law setting the limited circumstances in which a government entity can be sued, along with the short notice deadlines that come with it) can apply, and some cities set a notice window measured in months rather than years. If a city vehicle, a transit vehicle, or a road condition may be involved, that question needs answering in the first weeks, not the second year.
Attorney Insight. The most damaging document in a pedestrian file is usually the recorded statement taken in the first week. Adjusters ask a reasonable sounding sequence: where were you crossing, did you look, were you in a hurry, had you had anything to drink. Answers given on pain medication, by someone with a head injury who does not yet know they have one, are then quoted back for two years as though they were considered testimony. Declining to give that statement until you have counsel and a diagnosis is not evasive. It is the single cheapest protective step available.
Working With a San Antonio Pedestrian Accident Lawyer
Pedestrian cases are fault fights layered on top of serious injuries. The driver’s insurer starts from the position that the person walking caused it, the evidence that answers that position sits on cameras that overwrite within days, and the coverage that actually pays the claim is often the injured person’s own policy rather than the driver’s. Ryan Orsatti Law represents people hurt while walking in San Antonio and across Texas, and its San Antonio pedestrian accident lawyer page covers how the firm handles these claims. The firm also handles car accident, truck and 18 wheeler, bicycle, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death matters. On a pedestrian file that means preserving footage and vehicle data early, reconstructing the crossing and the lighting rather than accepting a one line conclusion in a report, reading the applicable Chapter 552 section against the exact point of impact, opening every available coverage including your own, and holding liens and subrogation claims to their statutory limits.
If you or a family member was hit while walking in San Antonio, you can talk through your options with Ryan Orsatti Law in a free consultation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day, and consultations are available in English and Spanish. The firm works on a contingency fee. You pay nothing unless the firm recovers money for you, and that covers case expenses as well as the fee: if there is no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fee and no case expenses. Ask for the fee agreement and read the fee and expense section before you sign anything.
Spanish-language version of this practice area: Abogado de Accidentes Peatonales en San Antonio.
Frequently Asked Questions About San Antonio Pedestrian Accidents
Can I still recover if I was jaywalking in Texas?
Often yes. A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield under Section 552.005, but the driver still owes a duty of due care under Section 552.008. Texas bars recovery only where the claimant’s own responsibility is greater than 50 percent under Section 33.001. Speed, inattention, and reaction time can leave most of the responsibility with the driver.
Does a driver have to stop for me in an unmarked crosswalk?
Yes, where no signal is operating. Section 552.003 requires a driver to stop and yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and under Section 541.302(2) a crosswalk includes the part of an intersection lying within the connections of the sidewalk lines on opposite sides of the road. Painted lines are not required, but sidewalks on both sides generally are, so confirm the layout at your intersection.
What if the driver who hit me left the scene?
Leaving is itself an offense. Section 550.021 requires a driver in a collision likely to cause injury to stop immediately, and failing to do so is a felony where the collision causes serious bodily injury or death. For the claim, your own auto policy becomes the focus, because Texas requires uninsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejected it in writing under Section 1952.101.
Who pays my medical bills while the claim is pending?
Usually your health insurance, any medical payments coverage on an auto policy, or a hospital’s own financial assistance program, with reimbursement sorted out later. A hospital may file a lien under Texas Property Code Chapter 55, which applies only where admission occurred within 72 hours and is capped at the lesser of the first 100 days of charges or 50 percent of the recovery.
How much are pedestrian accident cases worth in San Antonio?
There is no standard figure, and any specific number quoted before the medical picture is complete is guesswork. Value depends on the injuries and their permanence, the treatment required, lost earnings, the responsibility split, and the coverage actually available. Two collisions at the same intersection can resolve very differently based on those variables alone.
Should I talk to the driver’s insurance adjuster first?
Not before you have a diagnosis and advice. Early recorded statements are taken while people are medicated, incompletely evaluated, and unaware of a head injury, and those answers get quoted for the life of the claim. You can report the collision to your own insurer as your policy requires while declining a recorded interview with the other side.
Source Notes
- Texas Transportation Code Chapter 552, pedestrians, including Sec. 552.002, Sec. 552.003, Sec. 552.005, and Sec. 552.008: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Transportation Code Sec. 541.302(2), definition of crosswalk (Texas Constitution and Statutes, statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
- Texas Transportation Code Sec. 550.021, collision involving personal injury or death, duty to stop (Texas Constitution and Statutes, statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
- Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Sec. 16.003, two year limitations period: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Sec. 33.001, proportionate responsibility (Texas Constitution and Statutes, statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
- Texas Insurance Code Sec. 1952.101, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage required (Texas Constitution and Statutes, statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
- Texas Property Code Chapter 55, hospital and emergency medical services liens, including Sec. 55.002 and Sec. 55.004: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- TxDOT, Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Facts, calendar year 2024 summary: txdot.gov
- TxDOT, Pedestrian and Pedalcyclist Injuries and Crashes 2024: txdot.gov
- City of San Antonio, Severe Pedestrian Injury Areas report: sa.gov
Contact
Ryan Orsatti Law
4634 De Zavala Rd, San Antonio, TX 78249
Phone: 210-525-1200
ryanorsattilaw.com
Responsible attorney: Ryan Orsatti. Principal office: San Antonio, Texas.
This blog is for informational purposes only, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee future results.