Walking to work near downtown Houston, crossing Westheimer Road in Midtown, or strolling through Hermann Park should be safe. But Houston’s streets tell a different story. When a driver’s recklessness puts you in the hospital, you have legal rights, and Gustin Law Firm is here to help you exercise them. Our principal office is in Houston, Texas, and attorney Carlos Gustin is responsible for the content on this page. If you or someone you love was hurt in a pedestrian accident, call us today at (713) 491-4792 for a free consultation. We handle pedestrian accident cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover money for you. Court costs and litigation expenses are typically deducted from the gross recovery amount at the conclusion of your case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Houston’s streets are among the most dangerous for people on foot in the entire country. In 2025, 300 people died and 1,516 were seriously injured in traffic crashes on Houston roadways, and 99 of those killed were pedestrians. That number is not an outlier. In 2024 alone, 119 pedestrians were killed on Houston city streets, which amounts to nearly one pedestrian death every three days. These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. They are parents, children, coworkers, and neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The causes are well documented. According to data from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the two dominant causes of serious crashes in Houston are speeding and distracted driving<\/a>. Speeding contributed to nearly 24,000 crashes in Houston in 2023, and distracted driving contributed to over 10,000 crashes that same year. When a driver is on their phone or running a red light at 50 miles per hour, a person walking across the street has no protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certain areas of Houston carry a disproportionate share of the danger. Many pedestrian deaths occur on major surface streets, places people need to cross for work, school, or errands. Corridors like Bissonnet Street, Westheimer Road, and stretches of I-45 near Fuqua Street are among the city’s most hazardous. Poor lighting, missing crosswalks, and high-speed road designs all play a role. If you were struck while walking anywhere in Harris County, including the Heights, Third Ward, East Downtown, or along the Beltway 8 corridor, a personal injury lawyer<\/a> at Gustin Law Firm can review your case at no cost to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas law gives pedestrians meaningful legal protections, and understanding those protections matters when you are building a claim. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 552.003, a vehicle operator must stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk when no traffic control signal is present and the pedestrian is on the driver’s half of the road or close enough to be in danger. Under Section 552.002, when a “Walk” signal is displayed, drivers must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas Transportation Code Section 552.008 goes even further. It requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on a roadway, to sound the horn as a warning when necessary, and to take proper precautions when a child or a visibly confused person is on the road. This duty of care applies even when a pedestrian is not in a crosswalk. A driver who ignores that duty and hits someone walking along Almeda Road or crossing near NRG Stadium has violated the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas Transportation Code Section 545.256 also requires drivers emerging from alleys, driveways, and buildings to stop before crossing the sidewalk and yield to pedestrians and sidewalk users. This is particularly relevant in dense Houston neighborhoods like Montrose, Midtown, and the Galleria area, where driveways cut across busy sidewalks constantly. Under Section 545.428, added by the Texas Legislature in 2021 and amended in 2023, a driver who operates a vehicle in a crosswalk area and injures a pedestrian with criminal negligence commits at minimum a Class A misdemeanor, and a state jail felony if the pedestrian suffers serious bodily injury. These criminal provisions can support your civil claim by establishing that the driver broke the law. If you were hurt by a distracted driving<\/a> operator who blew through a crosswalk, these statutes are directly relevant to your case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liability in a Houston pedestrian accident is not always limited to the driver who hit you. Depending on the facts, multiple parties may share responsibility, and identifying all of them is critical to recovering the full compensation you deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The driver is usually the starting point. Speeding, running red lights, failing to yield, and drunk driving accidents<\/a> are all forms of negligence that can make a driver legally liable for your injuries. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 33. That means you can still recover damages even if you were partly at fault, as long as your share of fault is 50 percent or less. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If a jury finds you were 20 percent at fault and your damages total $200,000, you recover $160,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the individual driver, other parties may also be liable. If the driver was on the job at the time of the crash, their employer may be liable under the legal theory of respondeat superior. If the crash involved a rideshare vehicle, the legal analysis becomes more involved, similar to how liability works in uber accidents<\/a> where insurance coverage depends on the driver’s status in the app at the time of the collision. If a poorly designed road or missing crosswalk contributed to the crash, a government entity may bear responsibility, though claims against government bodies involve strict notice requirements and shorter deadlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Property owners, municipalities, and contractors can also face liability when dangerous conditions on or near the roadway contributed to your injury. Gustin Law Firm investigates every angle of your case to make sure no responsible party escapes accountability. We have recovered more than $50 million for injured clients across Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pedestrian accident injuries are often catastrophic. A person struck by a vehicle traveling at highway speed can suffer traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, broken bones, internal organ injuries, and severe burns. These injuries change lives permanently and generate enormous financial costs. Texas law allows injured pedestrians to pursue compensation for all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic damages cover your measurable financial losses. These include past and future medical bills, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, costs of rehabilitation, home modification expenses, and the cost of ongoing care. If your injuries are permanent, a skilled attorney works with medical and economic experts to calculate what your future needs will cost over your lifetime. Do not let an insurance company convince you that a quick settlement covers everything it does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-economic damages compensate you for losses that do not come with a receipt. Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the impact of disfigurement or disability are all recoverable under Texas law. These damages can be substantial in pedestrian cases, where victims often endure months or years of painful recovery. If your accident involved a drunk driver or someone who fled the scene, punitive damages may also be available to punish that conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a pedestrian accident killed a family member, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.002 allows surviving spouses, children, and parents to bring a wrongful death claim. A fatal car accident attorney<\/a> at Gustin Law Firm can walk your family through that process with care and urgency. Survival claims may also allow the estate to recover damages the deceased person experienced before death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas law sets a strict deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of the accident. Miss that deadline, and you lose your right to sue, no matter how serious your injuries or how clear the driver’s fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTexas Laws That Protect Pedestrians on Houston Streets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Who Can Be Held Responsible for Your Pedestrian Accident?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Damages Can You Recover After a Houston Pedestrian Accident?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why Timing Matters: The Texas Statute of Limitations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n