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Texas Pedestrian Accident Lawyer
Fighting for Texas pedestrians and their families
Texas Pedestrian Accident Lawyers
A Texas pedestrian accident lawyer at Goldberg & Loren fights for people struck by vehicles, in a crosswalk, at an intersection, in a parking lot, or by a driver who fled the scene, and you pay nothing unless we win. Pedestrians have almost no protection, so these injuries are often catastrophic, and proving the driver’s fault is the key to the claim.
The driver’s insurer starts building the opposite story within days of the crash, blaming you for stepping out, crossing outside a crosswalk, or looking at a phone, because in Texas that fault translates directly into a smaller check. The earlier a case is built on evidence rather than the adjuster’s account, the harder it becomes for the company to sell a version that never matched what happened.
Matthew Kotzen
A former insurance-defense trial attorney, Matthew Kotzen spent the early part of his career representing insurance companies before switching sides to fight for injured people. He earned his J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University, is a Lifetime Member of Best Attorneys of America, and is admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
Goldberg & Loren Fights for Maximum Compensation
Pay Nothing, Unless We Win
Texas Injury Law at a Glance
| Deadline to file a lawsuit | Two years from the date of the injury (wrongful death: two years from the date of death). Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 |
| Fault rule | Modified comparative responsibility ("51% bar"): you recover only if you are 50% or less at fault, and your award drops by your share. §§ 33.001, 33.012 |
| Pedestrian right-of-way | Texas law spells out who must yield at crosswalks and intersections; a driver who fails to yield is negligent. Tex. Transp. Code ch. 552 |
| Leaving the scene (hit-and-run) | A driver who fails to stop and help after an injury crash commits a felony; you may recover through your own uninsured-motorist coverage. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021 |
Texas Pedestrian Crashes by the Numbers
Most pedestrian injuries come down to a driver who failed to yield, turning without looking, rolling through a crosswalk, or speeding through a parking lot. Texas law spells out who has the right of way at crosswalks and intersections (Tex. Transp. Code ch. 552), and a driver who violates those rules is negligent. A crosswalk does not have to be painted to be legally real. At most ordinary intersections an unmarked crosswalk exists across the line of the sidewalk, and a driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing there just the same. Even a person crossing mid-block still has rights: the driver owes a running duty of due care, must sound the horn when needed, and must take special caution around children and anyone who appears confused or incapacitated. Crossing outside a crosswalk is a factor a jury can weigh, never an automatic forfeiture of the claim.
Because pedestrians rarely carry their own auto liability coverage, these claims usually depend on the at-fault driver’s policy, and proving fault often requires reconstruction when the driver claims the pedestrian “came out of nowhere.” That reconstruction reads the physical scene, the point of impact, the vehicle’s event data recorder, and any camera footage to establish speed and reaction time, because the recordings that decide these cases overwrite within days. Moving early is how that evidence survives.
How Shared Fault Affects a Texas Pedestrian Claim
Texas follows modified comparative responsibility (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012). You can recover as long as your share of the blame stays at 50% or less, and your award is reduced by that share. A driver is never automatically at fault, and a pedestrian can be partly at fault, but a person found 30% responsible on a serious claim still recovers 70% of the damages.
That is why an insurer works so hard to push your percentage past the halfway line, and why every point is worth contesting with evidence. Answering the blame-shifting on your terms, with the street design, the driver’s speed, and the signal timing in full view, is the heart of the case.
In the first days after a crash, a few steps protect both your health and your claim. Get every injury evaluated, even the ones that seem minor next to the obvious trauma, because concussions and internal injuries often surface later and gaps in care settle poorly.
Make sure police document the scene, the signals, and the lighting, photograph the scene and your injuries before anything changes, and collect the names and numbers of witnesses before they scatter.
Do not give the driver’s insurer a recorded statement or accept an early settlement figure before you understand what the claim is worth. None of this requires you to be a lawyer. It only requires matching the insurer’s urgency with your own.
Hit-and-Run: What to Do When the Driver Flees
A driver who hits a pedestrian and leaves is committing a crime: failing to stop and render aid after an injury crash is a felony in Texas (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021). But a criminal case does not pay your bills, a civil claim does. Even when the driver is never found, you may be able to recover through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, which Texas insurers are required to offer.
We move fast to pull traffic and business camera footage, canvass for witnesses, and work with police to identify the vehicle, while building the UM claim in parallel so your recovery does not depend on catching the driver.
A partial plate, a distinctive vehicle caught on video, or paint transfer left at the scene identifies fleeing drivers more often than people expect, and even when it does not, the UM claim is designed to step in so the crash does not become your financial burden alone.
Table of Contents
Fatal Pedestrian Crashes and Wrongful Death
When a pedestrian is killed, Texas law allows the surviving spouse, children, or parents to bring a wrongful death claim against the at-fault driver (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004), and a separate survival claim can recover for what the person suffered before death.
A wrongful death claim can pursue the family’s lost financial support, companionship, and funeral and burial costs, while the survival claim covers the pain the person endured and the medical care provided in between.
The blame-shifting does not stop because the case is now about a life, so careful proof of the driver’s fault matters most in exactly these cases, and the same two-year deadline applies, measured in most cases from the date of death.
The Injuries and Losses a Pedestrian Claim Covers
A pedestrian absorbs the full force of a vehicle strike with no frame, airbag, or seatbelt, and many victims are struck twice, first by the vehicle and again by the pavement. Broken legs and pelvises, spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injuries are common even at city speeds, and their effects can last for years.
A full claim reaches past the first hospital bill to future surgeries, rehabilitation, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, pain, and the disruption to daily life, because a settlement that closes before the full course of treatment is known leaves an injured person to pay for the crash out of pocket.
Documenting every category, with the imaging and physician records that connect each injury to the crash, is what protects the claim from a low early offer.
Who Pays for a Texas Pedestrian Injury
Usually the at-fault driver’s auto insurance; in a hit-and-run, your own UM/UIM coverage; and where a business created the hazard (a poorly lit lot, an obstructed crosswalk), a premises claim may apply too.
Many people never realize their own auto policy follows them on foot, and personal injury protection can cover medical bills and part of your lost wages regardless of fault while the claim develops. We review every policy in the household and identify every source of coverage rather than accepting the first answer an adjuster gives.
Questions People Ask
You may still recover through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, which Texas insurers must offer, even if the driver is never identified. Leaving the scene of an injury crash is also a felony (§ 550.021), and we work with police to find the vehicle.
Often yes. Crash reconstruction, camera footage, and witness accounts frequently disprove that defense, and Texas lets you recover as long as you were 50% or less at fault (§ 33.001).
Usually the at-fault driver’s auto policy, since pedestrians rarely carry applicable coverage of their own. In a hit-and-run, your own UM coverage may apply.
Two years from the date of the crash (§ 16.003), and two years from the date of death for a fatal pedestrian claim.
Frequently, yes — failure to yield, turning without looking, and distraction cause most pedestrian injuries. Texas law spells out who must yield at crosswalks and intersections (Transp. Code ch. 552), and a driver who violates those rules is negligent.
After dark. The large majority of fatal pedestrian crashes in Texas happen at night, when drivers see pedestrians late — a factor we document because it often shifts fault back onto the driver.
Legal Sources & References
The Texas laws described on this page are cited to official primary sources and were last reviewed on August 2, 2026.
- Statute of limitations, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
- Comparative responsibility, §§ 33.001, 33.012
- Pedestrian right-of-way, Tex. Transp. Code ch. 552
- Failure to stop and render aid (hit-and-run), Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021
- Wrongful death, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004
- Texas crash data, TxDOT
- Texas pedestrian crash data, TxDOT Pedestrian Safety
Goldberg & Loren
211 Ranch Rd 620 S, Suite #230
Lakeway, TX 78734
(512) 254-4424
A person walking has no bumper, no airbag, no steel around them — when a driver isn't paying attention, the harm is life-changing. I fight for injured pedestrians across Texas, and it costs you nothing unless we win.