Pedestrian hit by a car in Fort Worth: your rights and when to find a lawyer

Last checked November 8, 2026

If a car hit you while you were walking or biking in Fort Worth, drivers had to use care even if you made a mistake.1 Buy the Fort Worth Police report on TxDOT's CRIS site for $6.23 You generally have 2 years to sue.4 A claim against the city needs written notice within 180 days, unless you show good cause.5

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Road map of Fort Worth's city street grid, with major streets where the city studies crashes involving people walking and biking
Tarrant County had 245 fatal pedestrian crashes from 2018 to 2022. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

How often are people on foot hit by cars in Fort Worth?

Far too often. From 2018 through 2022, Tarrant County had 245 fatal crashes involving pedestrians and another 1,686 that did not kill anyone.6 In 2024, 173 pedestrians died across the 12-county North Central Texas region.7 We could not find a current pedestrian count for the City of Fort Worth alone.

City planners have mapped where it happens. Fort Worth's High Injury Network looked at crash data separately for pedestrians and for bicycles, so walking corridors have their own map layer.8 The city adopted its Vision Zero plan on September 30, 2025, with the goal of ending crashes that kill or seriously injure people.910 If your street shows up on that network, it does not prove anyone was careless. It can still support a question about whether a driver should have expected people there.

Who has the right of way when you are walking in Fort Worth?

Where you wereThe Texas rule
Crossing with a Walk signalDrivers must stop and let you cross.11
In a crosswalk with no working signal, on the driver's half of the roadDrivers must stop for you.12
Crossing outside a crosswalkYou must yield to cars, which can affect who gets blamed.13
Anywhere on the roadDrivers must still use care not to hit you.1

That last line matters most for people crossing a wide street between lights, far from any corner. Being outside the crosswalk changes who had to yield. It does not give a driver permission to keep looking at a phone.

Can I still get paid if I was jaywalking in Fort Worth?

Possibly. Texas lets you recover as long as your share of the fault is not more than 50 percent, and any award is reduced by that share.14 Insurance adjusters like to treat jaywalking as the whole story. Lighting, speed, how far the nearest crossing was and whether the driver braked all count too. Go back at the same hour and take pictures of what a driver would have seen.

Do people on bikes have the same rights as cars in Fort Worth?

Mostly, yes. A person on a bike has the same rights and duties as a driver, except where the law says otherwise.15 A slower rider must stay near the right side of the road, with exceptions for turning, passing, hazards and narrow lanes.16 A driver who says you should have been further over may be wrong if the lane was too narrow to share.

Tarrant County counted 16 fatal bike crashes and 648 non-fatal ones from 2018 through 2022.6 Keep your bike as it is after the crash, and save any data from a cycling app or watch. It can show your speed and route.

What if a missing or broken sidewalk put me in the street in Fort Worth?

Tell the investigating officer, and take photos of the gap or damage from where you were forced to step off. Fort Worth's code calls a hazardous sidewalk a nuisance.17 You can report one through the MyFW app under Sidewalk Hazard Repair.18 Do it after you have your pictures, since a fast repair removes the proof.

A claim against the city has a tight clock, and government bodies owe less care on their property than a store owes a shopper.19 State highways are different again. The city's own page notes that TxDOT does not maintain sidewalks under city or county jurisdiction.20

What should I do after being hit by a car in Fort Worth?

  1. Get care first. JPS and Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth are both Level I trauma centers.2122
  2. Ask a family member to go back for witness names and to look for store or doorbell cameras nearby.
  3. Keep your shoes and the clothes you wore. Do not wash them. Pedestrian crashes often turn on visibility.
  4. Give the report time. Fort Worth Police reports can take 14 days to appear, and Records is at 1000 Calvert St., 817-392-4160.2324
  5. Look at your own auto policy too, even if you were on foot. Uninsured motorist coverage may help if the driver has none or the coverage is too small, unless a named insured rejected it in writing.25
  6. Ask for your medical records. JPS takes mail at 1500 S. Main Street, and Texas Health uses Versima.2627

If the driver left, the rules change, and your hit-and-run report needs to happen fast.

What if a city vehicle or Trinity Metro bus hit me while walking in Fort Worth?

Your written notice to the city should describe the injury, the date, the place, how it happened and the amount you would settle for.28 It goes to HR/Risk Management, 200 Texas Street, or [email protected], within 180 days unless you show good cause.29305 Trinity Metro and Tarrant County usually need notice within 6 months.31 Risk Management answers at (817) 392-7402.32

What should I ask a pedestrian accident lawyer in Fort Worth?

  • Which camera footage should we try to get this week?
  • How much of the fault do you think an insurer will try to put on me?
  • Is my own car insurance something we can use?
  • If a broken sidewalk played a part, who controls that stretch?

Questions

Can a pedestrian sue if hit by a car in Fort Worth?

Yes, generally within 2 years.4 If you are more than 50 percent at fault, you cannot recover.14

Do cars have to stop for me at a crosswalk in Fort Worth?

Where there is no working signal, drivers must stop for someone crossing on their half of the road.12

Who writes the report if I was hit on a city street?

Usually Fort Worth Police, and you buy it through TxDOT's CRIS site.2

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Fort Worth

Hit while walking or biking

Texas

Sources

  1. Tex. Transp. Code § 552.008, checked 2026-11-08. “the operator of a vehicle shall: (1) exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian on a roadway;”
  2. Fort Worth Police, Get a Copy of My Accident Report, checked 2026-11-08. “Effective December 15, 2024, requestors should use the website below to request an accident report(s)”
  3. Fort Worth Police, FAQs, checked 2026-11-08. “for $6.00. If your search for a report returns no results, the report has not been approved.”
  4. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003, checked 2026-11-08. “not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues”
  5. Fort Worth City Charter, Chapter XXVII, Section 25, checked 2026-11-08. “within one hundred eighty (180) days after the same has been sustained, unless good cause is shown”
  6. NCTCOG, 2018-2022 Bicycle and Pedestrian Crashes by County, checked 2026-11-08. “Tarrant 16 245 648 1,686 2,595”
  7. NCTCOG, Regional Crash Fact Sheet, Calendar Year 2024, checked 2026-11-08. “Pedestrian fatalities totaled 173 in 2024.”
  8. City of Fort Worth, Pedestrian HIN layer, checked 2026-11-08. “by-mode for vehicle-only, pedestrians, and bicycles”
  9. City of Fort Worth, Informal Report 26-0064, checked 2026-11-08. “serves as the safety component of the MTP and was adopted on September 30, 2025”
  10. City of Fort Worth, Citywide Vision Zero Open House, checked 2026-11-08. “goal to completely eliminate crashes resulting in someone being killed or seriously injured”
  11. Tex. Transp. Code § 552.002(b), checked 2026-11-08. “A pedestrian or sidewalk user facing a "Walk" signal may proceed across a roadway in the direction of the signal, and the operator of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right-of-way to the pedestrian or sidewalk user.”
  12. Tex. Transp. Code § 552.003(a), checked 2026-11-08. “The operator of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing a roadway in a crosswalk if: (1) no traffic control signal is in place or in operation; and (2) the pedestrian is: (A) on the half of the roadway in which the vehicle is traveling”
  13. Tex. Transp. Code § 552.005(a), checked 2026-11-08. “A pedestrian shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle on the highway if crossing a roadway at a place: (1) other than in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection”
  14. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001, checked 2026-11-08. “a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent”
  15. Tex. Transp. Code § 551.101(a), checked 2026-11-08. “A person operating a bicycle has the rights and duties applicable to a driver operating a vehicle under this subtitle”
  16. Tex. Transp. Code § 551.103(a), checked 2026-11-08. “a person operating a bicycle on a roadway who is moving slower than the other traffic on the roadway shall ride as near as practicable to the right curb or edge of the roadway, unless:”
  17. Fort Worth City Code § 30-1, checked 2026-11-08. “Any sidewalk, parkway, driveway or curb which has become or is defective, unsafe or hazardous is declared a nuisance.”
  18. City of Fort Worth, MyFW, checked 2026-11-08. “Sidewalk Hazard Repair Please use this service request to report sidewalk repairs.”
  19. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.022(a), checked 2026-11-08. “if a claim arises from a premise defect, the governmental unit owes to the claimant only the duty that a private person owes to a licensee on private property, unless the claimant pays for the use of the premises.”
  20. City of Fort Worth, MyFW, checked 2026-11-08. “TxDOT does not maintain roads, sidewalks, or pedestrian or bike paths in cities within city/town or county jurisdiction.”
  21. Texas DSHS, Texas Trauma Facilities, checked 2026-11-08. “JOHN PETER SMITH HOSPITAL 11/1/2028 E FORT WORTH 76104”
  22. Texas DSHS, Texas Trauma Facilities, checked 2026-11-08. “TEXAS HEALTH HARRIS METHODIST HOSPITAL FORT WORTH 1/1/2029 E FORT WORTH 76104”
  23. Fort Worth Police, Get a Copy of My Accident Report, checked 2026-11-08. “It can take up to 14 days from the date of the crash for your crash to appear in the search results.”
  24. Fort Worth Police, Contact, checked 2026-11-08. “Police Reports and Records 817-392-4160 1000 Calvert St., 76107”
  25. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101(b)-(c), checked 2026-11-08. “unless the insurer provides uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in the policy or supplemental to the policy. (c) The coverage required by this subchapter does not apply if any insured named in the insurance policy rejects the coverage in writing.”
  26. JPS Health Network, Patient Records, checked 2026-11-08. “JPS Health Network Health Information Management 1500 S. Main Street Fort Worth, TX 76104”
  27. Texas Health, Request Medical Records, checked 2026-11-08. “Texas Health has partnered with Versima”
  28. Fort Worth City Charter, Chapter XXVII, Section 25, checked 2026-11-08. “the amount of damages, the amount for which the claimant will settle”
  29. City of Fort Worth, Notice of Claim Form, checked 2026-11-08. “HR/Risk Management 200 Texas Street Fort Worth, Texas 76102”
  30. City of Fort Worth, Notice of Claim Form, checked 2026-11-08. “[email protected]”
  31. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101, checked 2026-11-08. “not later than six months after the day that the incident giving rise to the claim occurred”
  32. City of Fort Worth, Notice of Claim Form, checked 2026-11-08. “Office (817) 392-7402”

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