Jaywalking in NYC Now 100% Legal – What About New England States?

If you Google "jaywalking" you would find the definition to be: "cross or walk in the street or road unlawfully or without regard for approaching traffic."

AKA not walking in a crosswalk.

Well, what if I told you that jaywalking is no longer "unlawful?"

Because it is not... not in New York City anyway.

According to an NPR article, jaywalking in NYC became 100% legal last week after a bill was passed last month to stop ticketing people in violation of the former law.

There were a few reasons to change the law, noted by NPR:

• Use the NYC police force to regulate more "concerning" law violations
• Minimize discriminatory enforcement (as 77% of the ticketed violators were black or Hispanic people)
• "Better use" of city/police resources
• It is hard to regulate hundreds of thousands of offenders in the first place - aka - everyone in NYC jaywalks

Before this law change, a $250 fine could be handed to a jaywalker in NYC at the discretion of a local police officer... but again, no more.

Will this law be moving across the country and changing the laws in New England states?

Here is where it gets complicated.

Jaywalking should not be "allowed," but if it is a law, how do you enforce it?

If you have ever driven around NYC, Boston, Portsmouth, or even Manchester, NH, during peak commuting hours you know that vehicle and pedestrian accidents are always inches or seconds away.

I think that there will be more accidents in NYC knowing that people can run across any street without fear of a fine. But again, how do you regulate it?

To NYC's point, they could not spend all day and night every day handing out $250 fines to thousands of people, but does that mean they should just allow it?

Probably not.

Fortunately, excluding a few bigger cities (Portland, Boston, Manchester, Worcester, Providence, etc..) we do not have the traffic that NYC does.

I could not find anything online as to what fines are for this violation in NH; however, in Massachusetts, if you are caught jaywalking a $1 fine could be given to you for your first offense.

For your second offense a whopping $2...and so on, according to the MA Legislature article.