The Stop For Pedestrians bill is scheduled for a vote on the Texas House floor as soon as Wednesday, May 12th! You can use our letter writing campaign to ask your state representative to help make Texas streets safer for pedestrians, right now.
You can also call your State Representative’s office
to ask them to vote yes on HB 443
For a Link to find your State House Representative, click here
SUGGESTED PHONE MSG FOR TEXAS HOUSE MEMBERS:
Hi Representative __________,
My name is __________. I live in your district, and I’m calling you to urge you to support passage of House Bill 443. Texas is one of the most dangerous states for pedestrians, the legislature must do something specifically to protect all of use when we are pedestrians.
Every kid in Texas deserves to grow up with the liberty of walking or rolling their wheelchair without risking their own death. Every student or teacher deserves reasonably safe accommodation for using crosswalks. Families deserve the closure of clearer legal outcomes to crashes involving pedestrians.
A simple step forward is to switch from a “yield to” to a “stop for” pedestrians, which is exactly what HB 443 would do.
Please ensure drivers stop for pedestrians and support HB 443.
Thank you.
And you can tweet about #HB443, here’s a sample tweet you can use:
Texas is one of the most dangerous states for pedestrians, and we need the #TXLege to protect us when we are walking.
Ask your TX Rep to support #HB443, and change #YieldTo to #StopForPedestrians
@TagYourRepHere please support #HB443https://actionnetwork.org/letters/its-time-to-stop-for-pedestrians-support-texas-hb-443?
You can also add a link about this bill, or add a short video of yourself explaining why it’s so important for drivers to STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS
Texas is one of the most dangerous states for pedestrians, ranked 8th most dangerous in the 2019 Dangerous by Design report by Smart Growth America, moving up a place in the wrong direction since the previous 2016 report.
In terms of total absolute number of pedestrian deaths, Texas saw the third largest amount of people dying while walking between 2005 and 2014, behind only California and Florida.
In 2017, 614 people died while pedestrians in Texas and 1,144 people suffered suspected serious injuries as pedestrians according to TXDOT. Every day about five pedestrians suffer death or serious injury somewhere in Texas.
Along with broader safety measures, the legislature must do something specifically to protect all of use when we are pedestrians.
Every kid in Texas deserves to grow up with the liberty of walking or rolling their wheelchair without risking their own death. Every student or teacher deserves reasonably safe accommodation for using crosswalks. Families deserve the closure of clearer legal outcomes to crashes involving pedestrians.
A simple step forward that was recently done in Illinois is to switch from a “yield to” to a “stop for” pedestrians state. Not only will this change save lives across the state by establishing responsible behavior for vehicle operators, it will provide a cleaner legal framework for police, courts, and the families of victims.
HB 443 is scheduled for a vote on the Texas House floor as early as Wednesday, May 12th – please take action TODAY!
What would HB 443 do?
The Stop for Pedestrians Bill would add two words in four places in the Texas transportation code, like this: “the operator of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing a roadway in a crosswalk.”
There are different sections of the code applying to different types of locations where a person driving a vehicle has a duty to yield to pedestrians. This bill would not change the general framework of where people have that right to cross a street safely.
In places where pedestrians already specifically have the right of way and drivers must yield, the person driving will simply also stop before their vehicle actually impacts a human body. Fees and other legal consequences for not stopping would be the same as those applied today when a person operating a vehicle fails to yield to a pedestrian.
It’s time for Texas drivers to “STOP FOR” pedestrians to make our streets and roads safer for our children, families, and everyone crossing the street.
