Texas Transportation Code Section 552.005 requires pedestrians crossing outside marked crosswalks or intersections to yield right-of-way to vehicles; Austin enforces this state statute selectively, with no separate municipal jaywalking ordinance and growing pressure to decriminalize.
Texas Transportation Code Section 552.005 governs pedestrian crossings statewide. Pedestrians may cross between intersections only after yielding to all vehicles in the roadway, and must use marked crosswalks where adjacent intersections are signalized. Austin has no separate jaywalking ordinance. Austin Police generally focus on safety-priority corridors rather than discretionary stops, and Austin's Vision Zero plan emphasizes engineering and signal timing over pedestrian citations. Recent advocacy has pressed Texas legislators to decriminalize crossing, citing racial-disparity studies, but the state statute remains in force. Pedestrian fatalities are a top traffic-safety issue along South Lamar, North Lamar, Riverside, and East Cesar Chavez corridors, where APD targets enforcement against motorist failure-to-yield more often than pedestrians.
Jaywalking is a class C misdemeanor under Texas Transportation Code Section 542.401, fines typically $20-$200 plus court costs. APD reports few citations annually, and Austin Municipal Court often dismisses on first offense. Failure to appear converts to a warrant.
See how Austin's jaywalking rules stack up against other locations.
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