Jaywalking Is Now Finally Legal In This New York City

Forget the crosswalks, if you see a your break in traffic go right ahead and walk.

If you've ever been walking down the sidewalk here in New York and needed to cross the street do you just go ahead and cross, or do you wait until you find a crosswalk? I think most of us wait to find the crosswalk with the little boxes that tell us when to go, but there are also those people that just jump right out into the road go for it.

For the longest time I remember being told that you needed a crosswalk or you were breaking the law. Apparently there was actually no "law" to break. More so guidelines to make sure people weren't just jumping out into traffic.

Pedestrians crossing at any point other than a marked crosswalk/unmarked intersection crosswalk shall yield right of way to vehicles.

No pedestrian shall cross a roadway intersection diagonally unless authorized by official traffic-control devices, and when authorized, only in accord with such traffic-control devices

That is right from the New York Vehicle Traffic Law 1150.

I've never had an issue with jaywalking in Albany, but in New York City it is pretty big. They've had their own laws and penalties in place for jaywalking for some time, but no longer.

Jaywalking is now totally legal in New York City.

Now, for the sake of common sense let's not encourage people to do dangerous things and walk into a busy road, but now in NYC you can cross anywhere.

The new law permits pedestrians to cross a roadway at any point, including outside of a crosswalk. It also allows for crossing against traffic signals and specifically states that doing so is no longer a violation of the city’s administrative code.

Just so we're also clear, pedestrians do not have the right of way unless crossing in a designated zone. The big plus here is that if you're in or around New York City and see an opening you can no longer get a ticket for crossing the road. Chickens have never been happier.