Separate failing to stop from failing to yield

By Jacob Alford

Start by identifying the actual traffic control. Then ask whether the driver stopped, where the stop occurred and whether proceeding was permitted. Running a stop sign, stopping beyond the proper place and stopping before failing to yield describe different conduct. Yellow and red signals also require attention to their actual statutory instructions and exceptions. Use the card that matches the control and movement, not whichever label sounds worst.

Questions this group helps answer:

• Did the officer say I failed to stop or that I stopped and failed to yield?
• What if I stopped beyond the line?
• Which code concerns a red light rather than a stop sign?
• Does a yellow light automatically mean stop?
• Can I turn on red after stopping?
• What must happen at a yield sign?

15. Disregard stop and go signal

Meaning in the report: Failure to comply with a red, yellow or green traffic-control light contributed to the crash.

What needs explaining: Identify the actual signal indication and the duty it imposed. Which signal governed this movement, and what do signal records, video and witnesses show?

Limits and qualifications: A conventional alternating traffic signal is different from a stop sign or flashing red light. A yellow indication is not automatically a red-light violation.

Related law and scope: Read the actual signal phase: (b) circular green; (c) green arrow; (d) steady red and permitted turns; (e) yellow warning; (f) no-turn-on-red notice; (g) nonintersection signals; (i) dark signals with ramp-control and pedestrian-hybrid-beacon exceptions.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 137; Transportation §544.007.

Further care: Yellow under (e) is a warning that green movement is ending or red will follow, not a blanket statutory command to stop. Green does not eliminate yielding duties. Current (b) and (c) require stop-and-yield to lawfully present pedestrians or sidewalk users.

16. Disregard stop sign or light

Meaning in the report: A driver failed to stop for a stop sign or a flashing red light used with or instead of a stop sign.

What needs explaining: If the driver stopped and then failed to yield, the manual directs the officer to code 35 instead. Did the driver fail to stop, stop at the wrong place, or stop and then enter unsafely?

Limits and qualifications: The manual bars this code when the traffic-control field is set to signal light. Keep codes 15, 16, 29 and 35 distinct.

Related law and scope: Flashing red requires a stop with the statutory stop-line/crosswalk/viewpoint hierarchy and then the rules after a stop sign. The most direct stop-sign requirement is §544.010(a), (c), which the factor’s citation list omits.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 137; Transportation §544.008(a); Transportation §545.151; Transportation §545.153; Transportation §544.010(a),(c) (related provision); Transportation §544.008(c) (related provision).

Further care: Factor 16 concerns failure to stop; after a completed stop, the manual directs a failure-to-yield case to 35. Section 544.008(c) excludes railroad crossings from its flashing-signal rules.

25. Failed to heed warning sign or traffic control device

Meaning in the report: Failure to use appropriate caution in obedience to an official warning or control contributed to the crash.

What needs explaining: Identify the actual official device and the conduct expected under it. Was the device visible, in place and applicable, and what did the driver do contrary to it?

Limits and qualifications: A warning and a mandatory traffic instruction may operate differently. Explain the actual rule instead of treating all signs alike.

Related law and scope: An applicable official device placed under the subtitle must be obeyed, subject to traffic/police/escort-flagger direction and authorized-emergency exceptions. A device-dependent provision cannot be enforced if the device was not properly positioned and sufficiently legible to an ordinarily observant person.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 138; Transportation §544.004.

Further care: Identify the actual device and what it legally required. Do not translate every advisory sign into an unconditional traffic offense.

29. Failed to stop at proper place

Meaning in the report: A vehicle did not stop where a sign, signal, flashing red light or railroad crossing required it to stop.

What needs explaining: The issue is the stopping location, which differs from failing to stop at all. Was there a stop line or crosswalk, where was the vehicle stopped, and how did that position affect the crash?

Limits and qualifications: The correct location depends on the controlling device and crossing. Do not apply one distance to all situations.

Related law and scope: The current stop-sign/yield-sign and flashing-red hierarchy is marked stop line, otherwise near-side crosswalk, otherwise nearest place with a view of approaching traffic. Steady red uses its own (d) wording; nonintersection signals use (g). Section 545.251(a) generally requires stopping 15–50 feet from the nearest rail when its triggers apply.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 138; Transportation §544.007(d),(g); Transportation §544.008(a); Transportation §544.010(c); Transportation §545.251(a); Transportation §544.010(a)–(b) (related provision); Transportation §545.251(c) (related provision).

Further care: A yield sign requires a stop only when safety requires under §544.010(b). Do not assume every yield approach requires a stop. Rail crossbuck-only situations have a separate stop-line/15–50-foot rule in §545.251(c).

35. Failed to yield right of way stop sign

Meaning in the report: The vehicle stopped for a stop sign, then failed to yield at the intersection.

What needs explaining: The definition assumes a stop occurred. The current validation rule requires the traffic-control field to be stop sign. After stopping, what traffic was close enough to create an immediate hazard?

Limits and qualifications: Do not describe this as proof that the driver ran the stop sign. Code 16 addresses failing to stop.

Related law and scope: After the required stop, yield to a vehicle already entering from another highway or approaching so closely as to be an immediate hazard to the movement, subject to police/device direction.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 139; Transportation §545.151(a); Transportation §545.153(b); Transportation §544.010(a),(c) (related provision).

Further care: The manual uses 35 after stopping and 16 for no stop. Reaching a stop sign does not itself prove the other traffic had priority, and a prior stop does not authorize unsafe entry.

38. Failed to yield right of way turn on red

Meaning in the report: After stopping at a steady red light, a driver entered to turn without yielding to lawful traffic or pedestrians.

What needs explaining: Separate permission to make the turn, the required stop and the remaining duty to yield. Was a turn on red permitted, was there a stop, and who was lawfully using the intersection?

Limits and qualifications: A permitted turn on red is not a right to proceed ahead of others.

Related law and scope: After the required stop, wait for safe entry and yield to lawfully present adjacent-crosswalk pedestrians/sidewalk users and intersection traffic. Right turns may then occur; left turns require both streets to be one-way and the turn permissible.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 139; Transportation §544.007(d); Transportation §544.007(f) (related provision).

Further care: A posted prohibition under (f) defeats the otherwise permitted turn. Current law expressly includes sidewalk users.

39. Failed to yield right of way yield sign

Meaning in the report: A driver failed to yield at an intersection governed by a yield sign.

What needs explaining: Identify the approaching traffic and whether stopping was necessary for safety. What traffic constituted an immediate hazard, and did the driver slow or stop as needed?

Limits and qualifications: A yield sign does not always require stopping, but it can require a stop under the conditions.

Related law and scope: The operator must slow reasonably for conditions and yield to traffic in the intersection or approaching on another highway closely enough to be an immediate hazard; stop if safety requires under §544.010(b).

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 139; Transportation §545.151(a); Transportation §545.153(c); Transportation §544.010(b),(c) (related provision); Transportation §545.153(d) (related provision).

Further care: Section 545.153(d) gives prima-facie evidence only in its specified collision-after-passing-yield-without-stopping situation. A yield sign is not an unconditional stop sign.

Attorney reviewed by Jacob Alford · November 11, 2026