A left-turn motorcycle collision is not solved by the phrase “I did not see the bike.” In Houston, wide crossings on Bissonnet and Westheimer, complex signal cycles, and turning traffic on feeder roads make the physical sequence worth tracing carefully before anyone assigns a percentage of responsibility.
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Or call (713) 715-4760A left-turn collision usually has the motorcycle traveling straight while an opposing vehicle turns across its path. Record the lanes, road controls, turn origin, and what was actually seen. Texas Transportation Code §545.152 says an operator intending to turn left must yield to an approaching vehicle that is in the intersection or so close as to be an immediate hazard. The rule does not settle a disputed impact; distance, timing, visibility, and reliable evidence still matter.
Wide arterial crossings on Westheimer, Bissonnet, Long Point, and Richmond Avenue can include several through lanes, turn pockets, driveways, buses, and frontage-road traffic. The City identifies Bissonnet from South Dairy Ashford to Hillcroft as a high-priority High Injury Network corridor that travels through Gulfton. That road-safety designation does not decide a motorcycle collision, but it makes the exact cross streets and direction of travel important. “Near Bissonnet” cannot locate a signal, camera, or driveway opening.
Vehicle marks can test competing accounts. Contact at a car’s front corner, damage farther along its side, a bent fork, a scuffed engine cover, paint transfer, and broken lamp pieces may help locate the first contact. Take wide photos showing lane lines, signals, and debris, then close photos of the contact areas. Do not repair, strip, or release the motorcycle from storage before it has been documented.
A green light alone may not resolve a left-turn dispute: opposing lanes can have protected phases, circular greens, or delayed turns. Preserve video and signal information promptly, then compare it with the physical scene. Businesses, apartments, gas stations, delivery vehicles, and transit facilities may have footage, but none is necessarily retained. Record the camera direction and requested time window rather than assuming a visible camera will answer every question.
The Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report can identify vehicles, witnesses, location, narrative, diagram, and reported factors, but it may omit or condense important detail. Save it with the report number and write a separate contemporaneous account. Keep documents and communications rather than trying to resolve a report disagreement in an argument.
Chapter 33 makes disputed percentages important: §33.001 contains the greater-than-50-percent bar and §33.012 provides for percentage reductions. Neither provision lets a driver choose a percentage by saying the motorcycle was difficult to see. Preserve the location, contact marks, report, medical records, witness information, and footage while an attorney selected by the person calling explains the actual evidence.
Bring the report number, photographs, tow-yard location, insurance cards, witness information, and exact road description to an inquiry. State whether the turn began from an oncoming lane, center lane, driveway, or feeder-road opening. Do not fill gaps in memory with a precise speed or distance merely to make the sequence sound complete.
Left-Turn Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Houston. Call (713) 715-4760 and a Houston lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (713) 715-4760TxDOT's Crash Records Information System, queried on April 17, 2025 for the state's FY2026 highway safety grant application, ranked Harris County first in Texas for crashes involving a motorcycle and another motor vehicle in 2024, with 908. Dallas County was second at 438 and Fort Bend County recorded 74.
Why it matters: More rider-versus-driver collisions happen in this county than anywhere else in Texas, and the great majority of them are the ordinary kind: a car turning or merging into a motorcycle on a surface street or a freeway feeder. That is the crash pattern the explanations on this page are built around, and it is why physical evidence from the vehicles matters more here than a driver's account of not seeing the bike.
Source: egrants.bts.txdot.gov
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 requires a personal injury suit to be brought no later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, and sets the same two-year period for an action for injury resulting in death, running from the date of death.
Why it matters: A two-year filing date is easy to lose track of while treatment, insurance calls, and motorcycle storage compete for attention. Recording the date early helps the person involved seek individualized advice before relying on a general website explanation.
Source: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 a claimant recovers nothing if their percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent, and under 33.012 a claimant below that line has their damages reduced by the percentage of responsibility assigned to them.
Why it matters: A percentage dispute can make the road sequence, vehicle damage, video, and witness accounts important. The helmet statute has its own requirement and statutory exceptions; this site does not make an evidence or damages statement about helmet use.
Sources: statutes.capitol.texas.gov · statutes.capitol.texas.gov
No obligation · Written for Houston · Harris County