Houston pedestrian accident lawyer
In 2022, people on foot were about 2% of Houston’s commuters and 36% of the people killed on its streets, according to the city’s own Vision Zero report. If a driver hit you while you were walking, where it happened in Houston decides who wrote the report, which deadline applies and whose insurance pays.
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- Texas Attorney
- Yale B.A. · University of Houston Law Center J.D.
- Habla español
- Updated November 4, 2026
How often are people hit while walking in Houston?
The city’s Vision Zero report, built on TxDOT crash data, counted 115 pedestrians killed and 245 seriously injured on Houston streets in 2022, up from 106 and 221 the year before. Pedestrians were 36% of everyone killed in traffic in Houston that year, while making up about 2% of commuters. That is the most recent year the city has broken its numbers out this way.
The newest state figures show the scale hasn’t changed. TxDOT’s 2025 crash records count 293 people killed and 1,465 seriously injured in crashes inside the City of Houston. Statewide, 695 pedestrians were killed in 2025 and another 1,387 were seriously injured.
Where in Houston are pedestrians hit?
The city has mapped it. Houston’s High Injury Network is about 6% of the city’s streets, where 60% of its traffic deaths and serious injuries happen. Streets the city has named for safety work include Hillcroft Avenue, Telephone Road, Fondren Road, Shepherd and Durham, North Main, Quitman, Bagby, Gray, McKinney, Freeport and Garden City Drive.
The city has also ranked the intersections most dangerous for people walking and biking, using crash data and community input, and studied them in 2018 and 2019. They include Bellaire at Gessner, Long Point at Gessner, Fondren at West Bellfort, Bissonnet at Wilcrest, West at Airline, Fannin at Pierce, Washington at Patterson, 11th at Nicholson, and Shepherd at Allen Parkway and at Memorial Parkway. If you live in southwest Houston, our Gulfton, Sharpstown and Alief page covers those streets; north of the Loop, see Airline and Northline.
The common thread is speed on wide streets. When the city measured traffic on its 35-mph streets, 46% of drivers were going 6 to 10 mph over the limit and another 9% were going 11 or more over. A driver going that fast has less time to see someone in the crosswalk and less room to stop.
What Texas law says at a Houston crosswalk
When you have a Walk signal, a driver must stop and yield to you (Transportation Code § 552.002). Where there is no working signal, a driver must stop and yield to a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk, and may not pass a car that has stopped to let someone cross (§ 552.003). Away from a crosswalk the pedestrian generally yields, and between two signalized intersections the law expects you to cross at a marked crosswalk (§ 552.005). Drivers pulling into or out of a driveway must yield to people on the sidewalk (§ 552.006) — something that matters along Houston’s strip-center arterials. And whatever the signals say, every driver must use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian (§ 552.008).
How those rules play out when the insurer blames you — for crossing mid-block, at night, or against the light — is covered in hit by a car while walking: what are my rights? In short, Texas lets you recover as long as you are not more than 50% responsible.
If the driver drove off
Call 911 so an officer documents it; inside Houston that is HPD. We walk through reporting, Crime Stoppers and the criminal side in hit-and-run in Houston: how to report it and who pays. For your claim, two things matter. Uninsured motorist coverage pays for an unknown driver only when there was actual physical contact (Insurance Code § 1952.104) — and a pedestrian who was struck meets that. Personal injury protection pays medical bills and lost income regardless of fault. Both can come from your own auto policy or one in your household, even though you were walking.
Who responds, and which report you need
Inside city limits it is usually HPD. In unincorporated Harris County it is the Sheriff’s Office or a constable precinct, and DPS works many crashes on state highways. The line is not always where people expect: Aldine is partly city and partly county, and Galena Park has its own police department and its own claim rules. We find the right report; if you were able to get the report number, keep it.
Bus stops, METRORail and city property
Many Houstonians walk to and from a METRO stop. If a METRO bus or train hit you, METRO is a governmental unit: the claim goes through the Texas Tort Claims Act, with written notice due within six months and a cap on damages. If a City of Houston vehicle hit you, the city charter requires written notice, sworn before a notary, within 90 days. And if a broken Walk signal or a dead traffic light was part of it, the Act allows a claim only if the government failed to fix it within a reasonable time after it was notified (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 101.060). We explain each in METRO bus crashes and hit by a city, county or state vehicle. We prepare and send every notice; you never deal with the city or METRO yourself.
Where you will be treated
People on foot take the full force of a car. The most serious injuries in Houston go to the county’s two adult Level I trauma centers: Ben Taub Hospital (Harris Health), re-verified by the state as a Comprehensive Level I Trauma Facility in May 2025, and Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center’s Red Duke Trauma Institute, the city’s only Level I trauma center for both adults and children. Wherever you are treated, make sure the record says you were on foot and hit by a vehicle, and keep the clothes and shoes you were wearing.
Houston, and the rest of Texas
We handle pedestrian cases across Houston and all of Texas. We work by phone, text, email and video call, and in person when needed — including at the hospital or at home if you cannot get around. You talk directly with Jimmy, in English or Spanish, and from the day you hire us every insurer goes through us. We never ask about immigration status, and your right to compensation in Texas does not depend on it. Call Jimmy.
Your next steps
Get evaluated, and say you were on foot
Leg, pelvic, head and internal injuries are common even at city speeds. Make sure the record says how it happened.
Write down the exact corner or address
The street, the nearest cross street, and whether there was a crosswalk, a signal or a bus stop. In Houston, that also tells us which agency and deadline apply.
Save your clothes and shoes
Don't wash or throw them out. The damage can show where and how the impact happened.
Call Jimmy
713-600-6233Do not call the insurance company first. Once you are our client, every call to the adjuster, the other driver's carrier and the police department is ours to make.
Common questions here
I was hit in a crosswalk in Houston. Who is at fault?
I wasn't in a crosswalk. Do I still have a claim?
The driver drove off. Who pays?
I was hit at a METRO stop or by a METRO bus or train.
A City of Houston vehicle hit me. Is the deadline different?
I don't have a car or car insurance. Is there coverage for me?
Which agency has my report?
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