Read pedestrian and crossing factors carefully

By Jacob Alford

Identify the crossing, traffic control and person involved. A marked crosswalk, an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection and a crossing elsewhere can raise different questions. The current manual restricts use of codes 36 and 59 for pedalcyclist unit entries; that database rule does not itself settle a cyclist’s legal rights. Keep the traffic-law inquiry and reporting rule separate.

Questions this group helps answer:

• When must a driver stop and yield to a pedestrian?
• What if the person was outside a marked crosswalk?
• What changes with a crossing signal?
• Does a pedestrian factor eliminate the driver’s duty of care?
• Why should a cyclist not automatically be treated as a pedestrian for these codes?

36. Failed to yield right of way to pedestrian

Meaning in the report: A vehicle failed to yield to a pedestrian lawfully using the highway.

What needs explaining: Determine the crossing, signal, sidewalk or other setting and the applicable pedestrian duty. The manual disallows this factor for a unit described as a pedalcyclist. Where was the pedestrian, what indication controlled, and when could the driver perceive the person?

Limits and qualifications: Current law can require stopping and yielding, not just yielding. Check the present statutory wording and incident-date law.

Related law and scope: Duties depend on signals, crosswalk location, pedestrian position and driveway/sidewalk circumstances. Current provisions repeatedly require stop and yield, not merely yield. Section 552.003(b) prohibits a sudden curb departure making stopping/yielding impossible; §552.008 preserves driver due care notwithstanding other chapter provisions.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 139; Transportation §544.007; Transportation §552.001; Transportation §552.002; Transportation §552.003(a),(c); Transportation §552.006(c); Transportation §552.008; Transportation §552.010; Transportation §552.003(b) (related provision); Transportation §541.001(3),(6) (related provision); Transportation §541.302(2) (related provision); Transportation §552.0035 (related provision); Transportation §552.0036 (related provision); Transportation §545.256 (related provision).

Further care: Legally on the highway is not a full right-of-way test and does not eliminate due care toward other pedestrians. Sudden-entry and signal rules still apply. The 2025 sidewalk-user provisions do not change TxDOT’s factor 36/59 pedalcyclist reporting restrictions. Pedestrian means person on foot; sidewalk user is separately defined.

59. Pedestrian failed to yield right of way to vehicle

Meaning in the report: A pedestrian failed to yield as required and that contributed.

What needs explaining: Apply the particular crossing or signal rule. The manual bars this code for a unit described as a pedalcyclist. Was the pedestrian within a crosswalk, following a signal, between controlled intersections or crossing elsewhere?

Limits and qualifications: A pedestrian duty does not erase the driver’s independent duty of care. Avoid saying a pedestrian is always at fault outside a crosswalk.

Related law and scope: Section 552.003 establishes qualifying crosswalk priority and (b)’s sudden-entry prohibition. Section 552.005(a) assigns pedestrian yielding duties outside a marked or intersection-unmarked crosswalk and where a pedestrian tunnel/overpass exists; (b)–(c) restrict other crossing patterns. Section 552.004 merely says use the right half of a crosswalk if possible.

Sources: TxDOT definition, page 141; Transportation §552.003; Transportation §552.004; Transportation §552.005; Transportation §552.001 (related provision); Transportation §552.002 (related provision); Transportation §552.008 (related provision); Transportation §541.001(3),(6) (related provision); Transportation §541.302(2) (related provision); Transportation §552.0035 (related provision); Transportation §552.0036 (related provision).

Further care: §552.004 is not a general pedestrian-yield statute. Nor does every pedestrian crossing create an obligation to yield to vehicles. Driver due care survives under §552.008. Marked and legally unmarked crosswalks count; signal law and 2025 sidewalk-user rules must be distinguished from pedestrian reporting codes.

Attorney reviewed by Jacob Alford · November 11, 2026