California Decriminalizes Safe Jaywalking

California has significantly loosened its jaywalking laws.

On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom officially signed AB 2147, aka the Freedom to Walk Act. The legislation essentially decriminalizes jaywalking in most instances, as it allows pedestrians to walk outside the designated intersections without being ticketed. However, there are some cases in which jaywalking citations will be issued. 

Los Angeles Times reports a person can disregard crossing points as long as it’s safe to do so. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) states a peace officer cannot stop a pedestrian for jaywalking “unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.”

Newsom rejected a similar bill in 2021, despite activists’ claims that the state’s jaywalking laws disproportionately affected marginalized and lower-income groups. Ting’s office cited data from the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act, which showed that Black Californians are up to four and a half times more likely to be stopped for jaywalking than white pedestrians.

“It should not be a criminal offense to safely cross the street,” Ting said in a statement. “When expensive tickets and unnecessary confrontations with police impact only certain communities, it’s time to reconsider how we use our law enforcement resources and whether our jaywalking laws really do protect pedestrians. Plus, we should be encouraging people to get out of their cars and walk for health and environmental reasons.”

The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.