A driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.Cal. Veh. Code § 21950
Crossing outside a crosswalk
Since 2023 police may stop a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk only when there is an immediate danger of a collision. The crossing rules themselves remain, and pedestrians still have to use due care for their own safety.Cal. Veh. Code §§ 21954, 21955
Where there is no working traffic signal, a driver must stop and yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk who is on the driver’s half of the road or close enough to be in danger.Tex. Transp. Code § 552.003
Crossing outside a crosswalk
A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles. Drivers still have to use due care to avoid hitting anyone on the road.Tex. Transp. Code §§ 552.005, 552.008
A driver must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk who is on, or within one lane of, the driver’s half of the road.RCW 46.61.235
Crossing outside a crosswalk
A pedestrian crossing anywhere else must yield to vehicles. Drivers still have to use due care to avoid hitting anyone on the road.RCW 46.61.240; RCW 46.61.245
What drivers owe people on foot
Every state requires drivers to give way to pedestrians in crosswalks, and a crosswalk does not need paint to exist. In all three states an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection counts.
Driver duties toward pedestrians in a crosswalk
California
Texas
Washington
Pedestrians in a crosswalk
A driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.Cal. Veh. Code § 21950
Where there is no working traffic signal, a driver must stop and yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk who is on the driver’s half of the road or close enough to be in danger.Tex. Transp. Code § 552.003
A driver must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk who is on, or within one lane of, the driver’s half of the road.RCW 46.61.235
The details differ. Washington requires the driver to stop and stay stopped. Texas requires the driver to stop and yield where no signal is working. California requires the driver to yield. In Texas and Washington the duty turns on where the pedestrian is in relation to the driver's half of the road.
If you were outside a crosswalk
Being outside a crosswalk does not end a claim. It changes the argument about fault.
Crossing outside a crosswalk and shared fault
California
Texas
Washington
Crossing outside a crosswalk
Since 2023 police may stop a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk only when there is an immediate danger of a collision. The crossing rules themselves remain, and pedestrians still have to use due care for their own safety.Cal. Veh. Code §§ 21954, 21955
A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles. Drivers still have to use due care to avoid hitting anyone on the road.Tex. Transp. Code §§ 552.005, 552.008
A pedestrian crossing anywhere else must yield to vehicles. Drivers still have to use due care to avoid hitting anyone on the road.RCW 46.61.240; RCW 46.61.245
Texas reduces your damages by your percentage of responsibility. If you are found more than 50 percent responsible, you recover nothing.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012
Your share of fault reduces your damages by that percentage but does not bar your claim. One exception: an injured person who was under the influence can be barred entirely if that was a cause of the injury and they were more than 50 percent at fault.RCW 4.22.005; RCW 5.40.060
Two points are worth holding on to.
First, drivers must use due care for people on the road wherever they are. A driver who was speeding, distracted or impaired can be at fault for hitting someone who crossed mid block.
Second, how much the pedestrian's own share of fault matters depends on the state. In California and Washington it reduces the recovery. In Texas, a pedestrian found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing, so the dispute over percentages is the whole case.
Shared fault: an example
Two example shares of fault. In a real claim the share is decided from the evidence.
If you are found 20 percent at fault. Share of your damages you keep
State
Share of your damages you keep
California
80%
Texas
80%
Washington
80%
If you are found 60 percent at fault. Share of your damages you keep
California's 2023 law limiting when police can stop someone for crossing outside a crosswalk is about enforcement. It did not remove the pedestrian's duty to use care, and it did not change how fault is divided in an injury claim.
Texas also changed its rules in 2025. A person lawfully riding a bicycle, scooter or similar device on a sidewalk now has the same crosswalk protection as a pedestrian.
Which insurance pays when you were walking
People are often surprised that auto insurance pays for an injury to someone who was not in a car. It does, in more than one way.
The driver's liability insurance pays for the harm the driver caused, up to the policy limit.
Your own auto policy often applies even though you were on foot. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments coverage and PIP commonly cover you as a pedestrian, and sometimes a policy held by a relative you live with does too. Read the policy or ask the insurer.
Your health insurance pays for care in the usual way.
Coverage on your own policy that can apply to a pedestrian
California
Texas
Washington
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
Every auto liability policy includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the insurer and a named insured removed or reduced it in a signed written agreement.Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(a)
An auto policy in Texas must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejected it in writing. If you never signed a rejection, you may have this coverage without knowing it.Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101
A new auto policy must include underinsured motorist coverage, which in Washington also covers uninsured, hit and run and phantom vehicles, unless the named insured or spouse rejected it in writing.RCW 48.22.030
Personal injury protection (PIP) is part of every auto policy unless it was rejected in writing. The statute does not require an insurer to provide more than $2,500 per person, and PIP pays no matter who was at fault.Tex. Ins. Code §§ 1952.152, 1952.153, 1952.155
Insurers must offer personal injury protection (PIP) with every auto policy, and it can only be declined in writing. The minimum benefits are $10,000 for medical and hospital care, plus limited amounts for lost income, household services and funeral costs.RCW 48.22.085; RCW 48.22.095
If the driver left
A driver who leaves the scene has broken the law, and may never be found. When that happens, uninsured motorist coverage is usually what pays. Each state attaches conditions to that kind of claim, and some of them run in hours, not months.
Rules for claims against an unidentified driver
California
Texas
Washington
Hit and run and unidentified drivers
To use uninsured motorist coverage for a driver who was never identified, there must have been physical contact with that vehicle, the crash must be reported to the police within 24 hours, and a sworn statement must be filed with your insurer within 30 days after that.Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(b)
To use uninsured motorist coverage for a driver who was never identified, Texas requires actual physical contact between that driver’s vehicle and you or your property, such as your vehicle.Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.104(3)
When the other vehicle never touched yours (a phantom vehicle), your claim needs evidence beyond your own account, and the crash must be reported to law enforcement within 72 hours.RCW 48.22.030(8)
Report a hit and run to the police immediately, and tell your own insurer promptly. Write down everything you remember about the vehicle, and look for cameras on nearby buildings before the footage is overwritten. More on a driver who left and was never found.
Public roads and government claims
Sometimes the road itself is part of the cause: a signal that was not working, a crosswalk with no lighting, a sightline blocked by something the city should have dealt with. Claims against a city, a county or the state follow different rules with much shorter time limits.
Claims against a government agency
California
Texas
Washington
Claims against a government agency
A written claim must be presented to the city, county, state agency or other public entity within six months. If the entity sends a proper written rejection, a lawsuit generally has to be filed within six months of that notice. A request to file late must be made within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the claim arose. The statute leaves a few narrow kinds of time out of that year.Cal. Gov. Code §§ 911.2, 911.4, 945.6
A city, county, school district or state agency must receive notice of the claim within six months of the incident. The notice describes the injury or damage, the time and place, and what happened. A city’s charter can set its own notice period, which may be shorter, so do not assume you have the full six months.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101
Before suing a city, county or other local government, you must present a tort claim form to its designated agent and then wait 60 calendar days. Claims against the State go to the Office of Risk Management with the same 60 day wait. The form has to be presented within the normal limitation period, and that period is paused during the 60 days.RCW 4.96.020; RCW 4.92.100; RCW 4.92.110
The same rules apply if the vehicle that hit you was a city bus, a police car or another government vehicle.
What to do after being hit
Call 911 and accept medical care. Pedestrian injuries are often more serious than they first seem.
Get the driver's name, license, plate and insurance, or as much of the plate and vehicle description as you can.
Photograph where you were, the crosswalk or the lack of one, the signals, and the lighting.
Get names and numbers of witnesses.
Keep your shoes and clothing as they are.
Tell your own auto insurer, if you have one, even though you were on foot.
Deadlines
The clocks that can be running
More than one deadline can apply to the same event. The bars share one scale: the full width is 3 years.
Notice to your own insurer
Right away Policies require prompt notice of a crash.
Claims against a government agency
California
6 monthsfor a written claim or notice
Texas
6 monthsfor a written claim or notice. A city can set a shorter period.
Washington
60 day waitafter the form, before a lawsuit
Deadline to sue for an injury
California
2 years
Texas
2 years
Washington
3 years
Deadline for a claim under your own policy
Its own deadline It runs on your policy’s terms and on rules of its own, and it is not always longer than the lawsuit deadline.
For an uninsured motorist claim, one of three things must happen within two years of the crash: a lawsuit is filed against the uninsured driver, an agreement on the amount is reached with your insurer, or arbitration is formally started in writing by certified mail.Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(i)
Being outside a crosswalk does not end a claim. It changes the argument about fault. In California and Washington your share of the fault reduces what you recover, and in Texas a pedestrian found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing. Drivers still have to use due care to avoid hitting anyone on the road.
Who pays my medical bills if a car hit me while I was walking?
The driver’s liability insurance pays for the harm the driver caused, up to the policy limit. While that claim is being worked out, coverage on your own auto policy and your health insurance can pay for care.
Does my own car insurance cover me as a pedestrian?
Often it does. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments coverage and PIP commonly cover you as a pedestrian, and sometimes a policy held by a relative you live with does too. Read the policy or ask the insurer.
What if the driver who hit me drove off?
Report it to the police immediately and tell your own insurer promptly. Uninsured motorist coverage is usually what pays, and each state attaches conditions. California requires a police report within 24 hours and a sworn statement to your insurer within 30 days after that, and California and Texas both require physical contact with the vehicle. Washington adds rules for a vehicle that never touched you: evidence beyond your own account and a report to law enforcement within 72 hours.
Do drivers have to stop for someone in a crosswalk?
Drivers must give way to pedestrians in crosswalks in all three states, and an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection counts. Washington requires the driver to stop and stay stopped. Texas requires the driver to stop and yield where no signal is working, and California requires the driver to yield.
I was hit by a city bus or another government vehicle. Is the deadline different?
Yes, and it is much shorter. In California a written claim must be presented to the public entity within six months. In Texas the agency must receive notice within six months, and a city’s charter can set a shorter period. In Washington you must present a claim form and then wait 60 days before a lawsuit can be filed.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit after being hit by a car?
Generally two years in California and Texas and three years in Washington. A government claim or a claim under your own policy can have an earlier deadline.
Sources
Primary sources for the rules on this page. Checked on the dates shown.
This site gives general legal information. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Deadlines depend on the facts. Some are much shorter than the general rule. Do not rely on this page to decide how long you can wait.
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