Ames, IA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Ames Municipal Code Sec. 26.65, Manner of Crossing Road, sets two distinct rules for pedestrians on city streets. First, where traffic-control signals are in operation at adjacent intersections, a pedestrian cannot cross the street mid-block between them except within a crosswalk. Second, everywhere else, a pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must take the shortest route straight across to the opposite curb, at right angles to the curb, rather than cutting diagonally or wandering. This sits alongside Sec. 26.64, which separately allocates right-of-way: drivers must yield to pedestrians lawfully in a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, but a pedestrian crossing outside any crosswalk must yield to vehicles on the roadway, and Sec.

26.63 confirms pedestrians are bound by traffic-control signals at intersections. Chapter 26's general penalty clause, Sec. 26.78, makes it a simple misdemeanor to do any act forbidden by the chapter, which covers a Sec. 26.65 violation; Iowa's simple misdemeanor classification carries fines the state sets, and the Ames Police Department writes the citations. The rule traces to Ordinance No. 843, Sec. 187, carried through the 1956 Code and unchanged since. Because Ames sits around Iowa State University with heavy foot traffic on Lincoln Way and through Campustown, officers commonly cite this section where students cut between signalized intersections on Welch Avenue rather than walking to the corner.