Brockton, MA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 12 governs pedestrian crossings. Section 12-143 requires a pedestrian to use a marked crosswalk, obey a traffic officer, or follow a traffic control signal whenever an officer, a signal, or a marked crosswalk sits within three hundred feet; crossing anywhere else within that radius is a violation. Section 12-144 covers the rest of the city: where no marked crosswalk is present, a pedestrian crossing the roadway must yield the right of way to all vehicles on that roadway, and where the city has built a pedestrian tunnel or overpass, that structure must be used instead of crossing at street level.

Related sections in the same article reinforce the crossing rules: Section 12-145 bars a pedestrian from suddenly leaving a sidewalk or safety island into the path of a vehicle too close to stop, Section 12-146 requires pedestrians to keep to the right half of a crosswalk, and Section 12-150 makes it unlawful to enter a marked crosswalk or actuate a pedestrian signal without intending to cross. Sections 12-147 and 12-148 add that pedestrians must use an available sidewalk rather than walk in the roadway, and where no sidewalk exists must walk facing oncoming traffic on the unfinished shoulder.

Enforcement rests with city officers under Section 12-138, and the article exempts workers, officers and public-service employees performing their duties, plus pedestrians acting in a genuine emergency, under Section 12-136.