Yes, partly, and insurers often argue it. Texas pedestrians must yield when crossing outside a crosswalk and obey walk signals, but drivers must still exercise due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian. A pedestrian who shares some fault can still recover, reduced by that share, unless it exceeds 50 percent.
Chapter 552 of the Transportation Code sets the pedestrian rules. Section 552.002 governs walk signals. Section 552.003 requires drivers to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk where no traffic signal is in operation. Section 552.005 requires a pedestrian crossing outside a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to yield the right-of-way to vehicles, and between adjacent signalized intersections, a pedestrian may cross only in a marked crosswalk.
Those rules do not give drivers a license to hit anyone. Section 552.008 requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on a roadway, regardless of whether the pedestrian was where they should have been. A driver who was speeding, distracted, or not watching the road can be mostly or entirely at fault even when the pedestrian crossed mid-block.
Fault is shared under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. If a jury finds the pedestrian 20 percent responsible, recovery is reduced by 20 percent. Only a share greater than 50 percent bars recovery. Insurers use jaywalking, dark clothing, and alcohol to push the pedestrian’s percentage up, so lighting, sight lines, vehicle speed, and video evidence matter.
Beyond the driver’s liability coverage, a pedestrian’s own auto policy may also provide personal injury protection and uninsured motorist benefits depending on its terms, even though the pedestrian was not in a car. Those benefits can matter when the driver carried only minimum limits.
Parking lots and driveways create their own pedestrian cases. A driver backing out of a space or turning into a driveway has a duty to look for people on foot, and the pedestrian crossing rules written for roadways do not neatly apply. Store and apartment complex video often captures these crashes, and the property owner may have its own responsibility if lighting or design contributed.
Owsley Law Firm investigates pedestrian crashes across Texas, including the scene lighting, signal timing, and nearby cameras, and charges no fee unless it wins.
What to do, step by step
- Call 911 and get medical care.
- Note the exact location, crosswalk, and signals.
- Photograph the scene, lighting, and vehicle.
- Ask nearby businesses to keep video.
- Notify your own auto insurer about PIP and uninsured motorist coverage.
Lighting and visibility evidence is often decisive. Streetlights, the driver’s headlights, the pedestrian’s clothing, and the driver’s speed together determine whether the driver could have seen and avoided the pedestrian. A driver going too fast to stop within the range of their headlights may be negligent even on an unlit road.
Alcohol on either side is a common issue. A driver’s impairment can raise exemplary damages questions, and a pedestrian’s impairment is something insurers use to argue shared fault.
Children and older adults are often treated with more care in practice. Juries tend to expect drivers to anticipate that a child may dart into the street near a school or park, or that an older pedestrian may cross slowly. Those expectations can shift the fault analysis toward the driver.
Mistakes that cost people money
- Accepting the driver’s claim that you came out of nowhere.
- Failing to note whether streetlights were working.
- Waiting for video to be overwritten.
- Assuming you have no coverage because you were not driving.
Related questions
Can I recover if I was jaywalking?
Yes, if the driver also failed to exercise due care. Your recovery is reduced by your share of responsibility and barred only if that share exceeds 50 percent.
Who pays if the driver had no insurance?
Your own uninsured motorist coverage may apply even as a pedestrian, depending on your policy’s terms.
Do drivers have to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk?
Where no traffic signal is in operation, Texas requires drivers to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
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