Clayton County, GA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Clayton County Code § 94-5, carried forward from the 1973 Code § 2-18-15, sets four specific duties for anyone walking on a street in the unincorporated county. First, where a marked crosswalk exists at an intersection, pedestrians must use it and cross at a right angle to the curb, not diagonally or mid-block. Second, wherever a traffic officer is stationed, pedestrians must follow that officer's signals over any conflicting sign or light. Third, where a traffic light is installed and operating, pedestrians must obey it exactly as drivers do.

Fourth, before stepping into the roadway pedestrians must look both directions for oncoming vehicles; the ordinance does grant a pedestrian who has already met a vehicle in the street the right-of-way over it, but only once the pedestrian is lawfully in the crossing, not before looking. Sec. 94-5 carries no fine of its own. Sec. 94-2 sends every violation of chapter 94 to the county's general penalty clause, Sec. 00 fine, six months in the county jail, or both, for a single offense, prosecuted by the state court solicitor named in Sec.

1-13 and heard in magistrate or state court. Because chapter 94 governs only the unincorporated area, a pedestrian in Forest Park, Morrow, Riverdale, Jonesboro, Lake City or Lovejoy is under that city's own traffic code instead of this section.