What are my rights if I was hit by a car as a pedestrian?

The duties drivers owe you

Texas law sets the rules of engagement: drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks with the signal, and the law imposes the broader command that every driver exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, sounding the horn when necessary and taking special precautions around children and obviously confused or incapacitated people. That due-care duty exists even when a pedestrian is somewhere the driver did not expect, which matters, because the entire defense playbook in these cases is built on where you were standing.

The blame-the-victim defense, and its limits

Expect it immediately: you were outside the crosswalk, wearing dark clothes, looking at your phone. Texas comparative fault gives the argument teeth, a finding over 50 percent ends the claim, so it must be answered, not waved off. The answers come from physics and geometry: vehicle speed reconstructed from damage and throw distance, sight lines and lighting measured at the scene, driver phone records subpoenaed, and the simple question of what an attentive driver traveling at a lawful speed would have seen in time to avoid. Jaywalking does not forfeit a case; it opens a percentage fight, and percentage fights are won with evidence gathered early.

Coverage most pedestrians never think to check

A pedestrian case rises or falls on the driver's liability limits, and the injuries are frequently catastrophic against minimum policies. Two rescues exist. Your own auto policy, or a resident family member's, follows you on foot: its uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage responds when the driver who hit you carries nothing or too little, and it treats a hit-and-run driver as uninsured. PIP and MedPay pay medical bills regardless of fault. People who assume their car insurance is only about their car routinely leave six figures unclaimed. Reading every household policy is step one of every pedestrian case this firm takes.

Build the scene before it heals

Pedestrian scenes are perishable: skid marks fade, debris gets swept, area cameras overwrite in days, and memory of light and speed goes soft fast. Photographs from the ground level where you stood, doorbell and business camera canvasses, and prompt scene measurement pay for themselves many times over. The injuries in these cases are too serious to litigate on the driver's version of events.

Injured in Arizona? Some rules on this page are Texas-specific. Arizona differs on points that change outcomes, including pure comparative fault and government-claim deadlines. See our Arizona answers or call (888) 508-6967.

Related: Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents · Uninsured Drivers · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions

This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.