“Jay” refers to a foolish rural person who is unfamiliar with city ways. Jaywalking refers to a pedestrian who violates traffic laws in regards to crossing a street or road. These laws are made to protect individuals from injury or fatalities. Jaywalking is considered an infraction.

Under California state law, a pedestrian may generally cross a roadway anywhere along the road without jaywalking. Pedestrians have the right of way only when traveling within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. All other instances require pedestrians to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on the roadway.

Here are the Vehicle Code Sections that support these laws:

21954. (a) Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.

(b) The provisions of this section shall not relieve the driver of a vehicle from the duty to exercise due care for the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway.

21955. Between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic control signal devices or by police officers, pedestrians shall not cross the roadway at any place except in a crosswalk.

In other words, if a pedestrian is between two adjacent intersections that are both controlled by “traffic control signal devices”, then he or she must cross at the intersection. Then will they have the right of way.

Vehicle Code Section 21462 also states that a pedestrian:

“shall obey the instructions of any official traffic signal applicable to him and placed as provided by law, unless otherwise directed by a police or traffic officer or when it is necessary for the purpose of avoiding a collision or in case of other emergency.” Stop signs are not considered “traffic signals” but “official traffic control devices” instead. Unfortunately, some police officers do consider it a traffic signal and may write a ticket in your name.

One may also be surprised by the section that states that a flashing or steady upraised hand or don’t walk: sign means that one cannot START walking across the crosswalk but may finish walking across. This is surprising to most people as many do start to walk across the cross walk when the hand is flashing.

So yes, you CAN be sited for jaywalking, as crazy as that seems. Someone could be fined no more than $191 for jaywalking in California, depending on jurisdictions.

However, this rule does not relieve driver’s from the duty to be cautious around pedestrians. California instills in its laws the necessary due care toward pedestrians, even if the pedestrian is jaywalking.

It is in driver’s best interest to be alert as possible on when driving and to pay special attention to those not in a vehicle. Pedestrians are no match to the force and weight of vehicles on the road, and often will bare serious injury in cases of collision.