Jeanne Avalos, a 46-year-old Kerr County woman, died after being struck by a vehicle while crossing Junction Highway in Kerrville late Saturday night. Kerrville police say the driver who hit her stayed at the scene, cooperated with investigators, and was not impaired — and officers do not anticipate filing charges.
According to WOAI, the Kerrville Police Department responded to the fatal crash at about 9:28 p.m. on September 5 in the 1200 block of Junction Highway. Avalos was crossing the roadway when a vehicle traveling east struck her, the station reports. Passers-by stopped to help her at the scene before she was taken by ambulance to Peterson Regional Medical Center, where she later died from her injuries.
Her family has since been notified of her death, and the crash remains under investigation, per the station's report. The 1200 block of Junction Highway sits along a busy commercial stretch near a Walmart Supercenter, where daily traffic on State Highway 27 tops 14,000 vehicles, according to LoopNet — a multi-lane arterial connecting Kerrville to nearby Ingram.
Why Police Don't Expect Charges
Texas law places the burden on pedestrians who cross outside of marked or unmarked crosswalks. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 552.005, a pedestrian crossing a roadway anywhere other than a crosswalk must yield the right-of-way to vehicles, as explained by FindLaw. That statute helps explain why Kerrville police, who confirmed the driver remained unimpaired and cooperative, are not expected to pursue charges in Avalos's death.
Pedestrian right-of-way violations under Texas law are typically classified as Class C misdemeanors, though it remains unclear whether any citation will be issued in this case. Open questions include whether lighting conditions or vehicle speed played a role in the crash, and whether the Kerrville Police Department's crash reconstruction will turn up additional findings.
A Corridor With a History of Deadly Crashes
Avalos's death adds to a troubling pattern along Junction Highway. In July 2023, a four-vehicle crash in the 2600 block of State Highway 27 killed a 71-year-old Kerrville resident after a pickup truck turned into oncoming traffic, Kerrville police found at the time. And in November 2019, a driver fleeing police off Junction Highway crashed and killed himself and his 14-year-old daughter, an incident the Texas Department of Public Safety helped investigate alongside Kerrville officers, according to KSAT.
Statewide, pedestrian deaths remain a stubborn problem despite modest improvement. The Texas Department of Transportation recorded 772 pedestrian deaths and 1,455 serious injuries on Texas roadways in 2024, with failure to yield right-of-way among the top contributing factors. Pedestrians made up nearly 19% of all traffic fatalities in Texas that year despite being involved in just 1% of total crashes, even as total pedestrian fatalities statewide dropped 5.19% compared to 2023, falling to 768 incidents amid 4,150 total traffic deaths.
Treatment and Ongoing Investigation
Avalos was treated at Peterson Regional Medical Center, a 124-bed facility in Kerrville designated as a Level IV Trauma Center by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Level IV trauma centers are equipped to provide emergency evaluation, stabilization, and advanced life support in rural community settings like Kerr County.
Kerrville has grappled with pedestrian and traffic safety concerns before. Hoodline previously reported on a Kerrville teen struck by a school bus while riding an electric skateboard, and on a fatal March 2024 crash on Holdsworth Drive that killed a teenager. The city also faced scrutiny last fall over state pressure to remove artistic crosswalks along its streets. As the Kerrville Police Department continues investigating Saturday's crash, no additional details on citations, lighting conditions, or speed have been released.
