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Jaywalking is the act of walking in or crossing a roadway if that act contravenes traffic regulations. The term jay-walker originated in the United States as a derivation of the phrase jay-driver (the word jay meaning a , or rube), referring to people who drove horse-drawn carriages and automobiles on the wrong side of the road. The term is not a historically neutral one.
The arrival of the automobile in the opening decades of the 20th century led to increasingly deadly conflicts in the street, and the public was generally unsympathetic to motorists or to early attempts to legislate pedestrian behavior. In response, the US automobile industry and associated organizations undertook public campaigns to frame pedestrians, newly impugned as jay-walkers, as a problematic element in the new automotive age. The first widely successful criminalization of jaywalking was enacted in Los Angeles in 1925, using legislation drafted by the auto lobby that inspired similar ordinances in other American cities.
Jaywalking laws vary widely by jurisdiction. In many countries, the word is not generally used and, with the exception of certain high-speed roads such as , there are no laws limiting how pedestrians are allowed to cross public highways. Thus, globally speaking, legal texts use different concepts, one of which is Rules applicable to pedestrians, put forward by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. As an example of the subtleties and discrepancies of the laws governing pedestrian road traffic, even as a signing member of the Vienna convention, the United Kingdom does not have jaywalking laws: its Highway Code relies on the pedestrians making their own judgment on whether it is safe to cross based on the Green Cross Code. Some municipalities that previously criminalized jaywalking have legalized or it.
The automobile lobby in the US took up the cause of labeling and scorning jaywalkers in the 1910s and early 1920s In 1912, for instance, Popular Mechanics magazine reported that the term was current in Kansas City: "The city pedestrian who cares not for traffic regulations at street corners, but strays all over the street, crossing in the middle of the block, or attempting to save time by choosing a diagonal route across a street intersection instead of adhering to the regular crossing, is designated as a 'jay walker,' in Kansas City."
In 1915, when New York City’s police commissioner Arthur Woods sought to apply the word "jaywalker" to anyone who crossed the street at mid-block, the New York Times protested, calling it “highly opprobrious” and “a truly shocking name.”
The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary dates to 1917. The word was promoted by the pro-automobile lobby in the 1920s, according to historian and alternative transportation advocate Peter D. Norton. Today, in the US, the word is often used synonymously with its current legal definition, crossing the street illegally.
Originally in the US, the legal rule was that "all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way".Miller McClintock for the Chicago Association of Commerce, "Report and Recommendations of the Metropolitan Street Traffic Survey", p. 133, quoted by . In time, however, streets became the province of vehicular traffic, both practically and legally.
Although about jaywalking vary by locality, the practice cannot simply be explained by corresponding differences in law. For example, Copenhagen and New York City have historically had similar restrictions on jaywalking at signalised crosswalks, but the practice is far more common in New York.
Pedestrians are often forced to walk outside crosswalks, when they are blocked by cars due to traffic congestion or drivers stopping too far forward. The common practice of car-centric traffic-signal synchronisation produces for motorists but not necessarily for pedestrians, who may encounter little or no conflicting traffic at cross streets where signals instruct them to wait.
Pedestrians may dislike crossing at intersections for other reasons, such as discomfort dealing with traffic from several directions (whereas a jaywalker at a location distant from an intersection only needs to observe at most two directions of traffic), or wanting to avoid the extra air emissions generated by vehicles stopping and starting (given that vehicular emissions are significantly less when vehicles are moving at steady speeds). In rural and suburban areas, people may jaywalk due to a lack of sidewalks. Some pedestrians are unwilling to observe lengthy wait times at signals. They are also more likely to make "informal crossings" at wide roads, or at locations where formal crosswalks are too distant to be practical for them to use.
Some crosswalk signals that require a pedestrian to push a button are unusable for orthodox Jews on the Shabbat.
Many American newspapers publish stories that are critical of pedestrian road users' safety practices, while police departments often instigate education and enforcement campaigns to curb jaywalking. While nearly 60% of American pedestrian deaths occur outside of crosswalks, fewer than 20% occur in close proximity to a crosswalk.
Israeli courts have ruled that the legislature left the term "nearby" deliberately vague and it must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Local government units may explicitly prohibit jaywalking in their localities through local ordinances, such as Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Ordinance No. 1 series of 1995, which supplements city and municipal anti-jaywalking ordinances in Metro Manila on major roads. The ordinance prohibits crossing a street, thoroughfare, or highway outside of crosswalks (except crossing straight at an intersection corner) and crossing under a footbridge. It also prohibits crossing against traffic signals or hand signals of traffic enforcers and walking outside sidewalks in a manner that obstructs, inconveniences, or prevents free passage of vehicles.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of the Philippines exemplified Article 2179 of the Civil Code of the Philippines in the context of jaywalking, ruling that a pedestrian who is injured as a result of jaywalking may forfeit the right to recover damages if their own negligence contributed to the injury. Alternatively, the pedestrian may only recover partial damages if the vehicle driver is found to have contributory negligence.
Pedestrians account for 10% of motorway fatalities: 217 pedestrian fatalities on EU motorways in 2012 and 847 between 2010 and 2012. The rate is 20% in Poland, 17% in Great Britain, 15% in Spain and 10% in France. These include vehicle users who leave their vehicles after they have broken down, workers in work zones and individuals who illegally enter the motorway on foot.
More rules apply at night, on countryside roads, to groups of marching people, etc. Disregarding those rules may be punished by a fine of the lowest grade (" contravention de première classe": 11 to 17€, or 33€ if paid late) but few people were ever fined for such behavior; any actual fines were usually because they showed contempt instead of apologising or providing some valid safety reason. On the other hand, drivers must always let pedestrians cross if they have already started or if they clearly demonstrate the intention to do so, even when the pedestrian is disregarding the rules, and will bear full responsibility if an accident occurs.
On French motorways, pedestrians are banned; in case of breakdown motorists are required to leave the car and walk away to safety, behind fences or lines marking the road boundaries, where no car can hit them. Nonetheless, some pedestrians are injured on motorways: in 2016, on the tolled motorway network:
Depending on the situation on the street, pedestrians may not cross the street except at intersections or within the markings of traffic signals or crosswalks. Pedestrians who cross the street at intersections or crossings must use existing traffic signals or crosswalks. Cars and bikes are required by law to give way to pedestrians (but not bicycle riders) at zebra crossings unless there is a traffic light. If one wants to cross the street outside the markings of traffic lights or crosswalks, one must carefully observe before and during the crossing that the road is clear, and wait before crossing if a vehicle approaches. A pedestrian may not interrupt the flow of traffic., cases at verkehrslexikon.de
Although being within 15 meters is not considered "at" the crosswalk or traffic light, pedestrians may not cross the street within 30 meters of a crosswalk or 40 meters of a traffic light. During heavy traffic, pedestrians may not cross the street, as they might have to stop on a traffic lane. Typical fines for not using existing crosswalks or traffic lights in Germany are between 5€ and 10€.
In Norway, a red man at the crossing is the signal for pedestrians not to begin crossing if it would impede cars or entail danger, (ch 12 §24, no. 1086 covers pedestrian signals) but a person may walk across if there are no cars nearby. Risking oneself by running across in front of cars is not legal. Cyclists are required to stop at red lights, but because not everyone is aware of that, the Norwegian national cyclists' organisation has proposed to end confusion by prohibiting all people from crossing at red lights.
In Denmark, it is illegal to cross the road outside of a pedestrian crossing if one is nearby.
In Sweden, it is illegal, but not punishable, for a pedestrian to cross at a red light. However, if doing this causes a traffic accident, the pedestrian could be convicted of negligence in traffic.
On motorways, fines may vary based on the situation. A driver driving at 100 km/h on a road with a 120 km/h speed limit, if the light visibility is 60 m and the braking distance is 65 m, may be fined for not noticing a person on the road. Even if that person is suicidal, as in a court case in 2017, that fact does not matter. A fine of 210 Swiss francs fine is cheaper than the court costs. However, such circumstances may also be considered to be exceptional and unpredictable.
The term "jaywalking" can be obscure to those not exposed to American culture. There is no law preventing such an act. British citizens, like citizens from other countries where it is not an offence, are more prone to infringe jaywalking laws abroad. Transport for London identified tourists visiting London as being particularly vulnerable due to the personal assessment of risk expected of all pedestrians who cross roads. Some tourists copy locals' most risky crossing stunts, falsely assuming there was no advanced risk assessment involved or a higher right-of-way to vehicles, without understanding they have less right-of-way in all but a few places and times. A third reason is that many visitors are not used to all traffic driving on the left. Recent changes to the Highway Code have given priority to pedestrians waiting to cross a road.
A 2014 YouGov poll found 77% of Britons believed walking on roads when it is safe to do so should remain legal; 14% favored making it illegal. A similar US YouGov poll found 30% believed "jaywalking" should be legal—in most settlements, there is next to no centuries-old societal norm of specific roads on which it may in daytime be safe to walk, such as horse-frequented, cobbled or hump-calmed rural village.
When crossing, pedestrians are expected to use their judgement and wait until it is safe to cross. Under Rule 170 of the Highway Code, if a pedestrian is waiting to cross or has already started crossing the road (from either side) across a side street into which a car is about to turn, vehicles should always give way and let them leave the road safely. (Prior to January 2022 this only applied for pedestrians who had already started to cross the road). In UK schools children are taught to cross roads safely through the Green Cross Code. British children are taught to "Stop, Look and Listen" before crossing a road, as demonstrated in the Think! campaign.
Unlike the rest of the UK, in Northern Ireland jaywalking is an offence. This is through article 38 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, which states "If a pedestrian through his own negligence on a road endangers his own safety, or that of any other person, he is guilty of an offence." In both 2005 and 2006, hundreds of fines were issued for jaywalking, however from 2018 onwards this had reduced to approximately 50 per year.
Section 144 of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act permits pedestrians to cross a roadway when they are not adjacent to a marked crosswalk and they yield to oncoming traffic, although the same section also requires them to use a marked crosswalk to cross the roadway when they are near one. Similar traffic regulations also exist in Quebec's highway safety code, and Saskatchewan's Traffic Safety Act. Most of these provincial regulations, in addition to municipal by-laws, do not use the term jaywalking to describe when a pedestrian unlawfully crosses a roadway.
As a result of differing provincial/territorial regulations and/or municipal by-laws, the fine that is charged for crossing a motorway varies across the country, from Canadian dollar30 in Quebec, to C$697.50 in Nova Scotia. In Ontario, motorway crossing related fines are typically charged under section 144 of the Highway Traffic Act, or a municipal by-law, with an average fine of C$35; although the maximum fine a pedestrian can be charged under the Ontario's Highway Traffic Act is C$50.
At a signaled crossing, a pedestrian is subject to the applicable pedestrian traffic signal or, if no pedestrian signal is displayed, the signal indications for the parallel vehicular movement. A pedestrian signal permits a pedestrian to begin crossing a street during the "Walk" display; pedestrians are usually considered to be "jaywalking" only if they enter the crosswalk some other time. The meanings of pedestrian signal indications are summarised in Section 4E.02 of the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
Jaywalking is considered an infraction, but in some jurisdictions, it is a misdemeanor or requires a court appearance. The penalty is usually a fine. In some cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston, although prohibited, "jaywalking" has been so common that police generally cite or detain jaywalkers only if their behavior is considered excessively dangerous or disruptive, such as running out in front of a moving vehicle or crossing after the light is about to change to allow cross traffic to proceed. Penalties for jaywalking vary by state, and, within a state, may vary by county or municipality. A sampling of US cities found fines ranging from $1 to $1,000.
Enforcement of jaywalking laws varies by city. In 2017, a Boston Globe reporter spent the day attempting to get a $1 citation for jaywalking in downtown Boston traffic. The reporter walked against lights, crossed in the middle of streets, and across the middle of blocks and did not receive a ticket, even when committing infractions in front of police officers. Conversely, 463 people received a court summons for jaywalking in New York City in 2023; the following year, city council passed legislation allowing pedestrians to cross the street at any time without adhering to traffic signals.
Jaywalking at a signalized intersection may carry higher fines in some jurisdictions for disobeying the signalized controls. Many jurisdictions have a separate law defining the difference between jaywalking, or "disobedience of traffic signal controls." Some jurisdictions may fine pedestrians up to the same amount as a vehicle running a red light, but no driving points are issued, as the pedestrian was not driving at the time.
In the United States, jaywalking is mainly an urban issue (71%), but it can also be a suburban or rural issue when no pavement is available.
In the United States, jaywalking might be understood as:
However other pedestrian behavior might be considered as unsafe while not qualified of jaywalking, for instance, failure of drivers to yield for pedestrians, jogging/walking in the wrong direction, working on a parked car, leaning on a parked car, pushing a disabled car, standing between parked cars, and standing in a road.
Some pedestrian factors that lead to a jaywalking behavior were found to be pedestrian perceptions of risk, consumption of alcohol, perceptions of crossing devices, speed and pace of life, speed versus crossing-device speed, perceptions of enforcement risk, unawareness of pedestrian laws and safety, following the leader.
Some known environmental factors include absence of midblock crosswalks, width of roads, poor timing of crossing signals, poor conditions of sidewalks, absence of sidewalks in certain areas, capacity of sidewalks, weather, people with limited mobility, people with occupational risks, children and teens, parking areas near shopping centers, street repair and construction sites, major highways, one-way streets, location of attractions, and unlawful street-vending.
California Assembly member Phil Ting proposed decriminalizing jaywalking. The bill, AB 2147, The Freedom To Walk Act, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, took effect on January 1, 2023.
Seattle City Council members Bruce Harrell and Lorena González raised issues of bias in jaywalking tickets in that city as well.
Crossing the street more than 20 metres from a signal or crossing is generally legal in Australia. "Jaywalking" is not a legal term in NSW I am advised by the NSW Police Force that `jaywalking' is not a specific legal term used in the Road Rules 2008. or Australia. WalkSydney has claimed the common use of the American term in Australia leads people to the false belief that the same rules apply to people in Australia.
Common terms in use for starting to walk across a road at a signal when a red light is displayed include 'unsafe crossing', 'unsafe crossing behaviour' and 'crossing against the light'.
More than 8000 people in the Sydney CBD received fines for illegally crossing city streets from November 2013 to October 2015. More than double this figure received cautions. NSW Police issued 790 traffic fines in a two-week blitz in 2016 between August 8 and August 22 for pedestrian offences including crossing against the lights or "not at proper crossing zones", according to a spokesman for NSW Police. A similar operation over two weeks in August 2015 resulted in 244 infringements for pedestrian offences.
Some roads with a record of pedestrian accidents feature fences in the center to discourage pedestrians, but there is no law against crossing them.Australian Road Rules Feb 2012, Part 14 Division 1 States set their own fines for starting to cross the road when a signal is red. The fine in Victoria is 2 . The fine is $50 in Western Australia.
In Hobart, Tasmania increasing the number of pedestrians crossing mid-block was considered a success metric, which is considered 'jaywalking' in other jurisdictions around the world. Increasing numbers of people crossing mid-block was understood to indicate improvements in perceived safety.
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