What is the crosswalk law in Texas, and who has the right of way?

The rule at the crosswalk

Texas law puts it plainly: where there is no traffic signal, or none in operation, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the roadway, or approaching from the other half so closely as to be in danger. Where signals exist, they govern, a WALK or walking-person symbol confers the right of way, and a pedestrian who entered lawfully is entitled to finish crossing as the countdown runs. Drivers approaching a crosswalk with a stopped vehicle ahead of them owe extra caution, because the stopped car is often stopped for a person, and the pass-around strike is one of the ugliest recurring crashes on Houston arterials.

The part nobody knows: invisible crosswalks

Texas defines a crosswalk as the portion of roadway at an intersection within the natural extension of the sidewalks or roadway edges, painted or not. Read that again: nearly every ordinary intersection contains legal crosswalks that have never seen a stripe, and a pedestrian crossing there holds the same right of way as one on fresh white paint. Insurance adjusters routinely deny claims with the sentence there was no crosswalk when the law says there was, and the correction, made with the statute and an intersection photograph, changes the negotiation. It is one of the highest-value pieces of law on this website precisely because so few people, including some who handle claims for a living, know it.

Outside the crosswalk: still not open season

A pedestrian crossing mid-block, outside any crosswalk, must yield to traffic, and the defense will make that statute the whole story. It is half the story. The same chapter commands every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, to sound the horn when necessary, and to use proper precaution around children and obviously confused or incapacitated people. A speeding, texting, or inattentive driver who plows into a mid-block crosser has violated that duty, and under Texas comparative fault, the jaywalking pedestrian recovers, reduced by their share, so long as the driver bears the greater blame. Houston's geography testifies for these cases: quarter-mile blocks, missing sidewalks, transit stops marooned across five lanes, juries understand why people cross where they cross.

What this means after a strike

Right-of-way fights are won with position evidence, where exactly the impact happened, which is why scene photographs, debris fields, camera canvasses, and the crash report's diagram matter enormously and age terribly. Silver Key Law works pedestrian cases with the statutes above and the physics beneath them, and the consultation is free.

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: Hit as a Pedestrian · Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents · 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.