Bus Strikes and Kills Pedestrian on Houston’s Gulf Freeway at Edgebrook Drive

Texas Transportation Code Section 552.005 requires a pedestrian crossing a roadway outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk to yield the right-of-way to approaching vehicles. HPD says the man in this crash was walking under the freeway, not in a crosswalk, when the bus struck him. Even when a pedestrian lacks the right-of-way, Texas law and courts still examine whether the driver could reasonably have avoided the collision, which is central to sorting out fault. Investigators typically look at visibility, lighting, and the driver’s actions leading up to the turn.

Section 552.008 of the Texas Transportation Code places an independent duty on every driver, including bus operators, to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on the roadway. That duty applies even when a pedestrian is crossing outside a crosswalk, meaning a failure to keep a proper lookout or sound a warning can still support liability. Left turns like the one described by HPD require drivers to scan carefully for pedestrians before completing the maneuver. This statute is often central to establishing negligence against a bus operator or the company that employs them.