Fort Collins, CO Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Section 803 of the Fort Collins Traffic Code, headed Crossing at other than crosswalks, puts the right-of-way burden on the pedestrian rather than banning midblock crossing outright. Subsection (1) states that a pedestrian crossing at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway, so a jaywalker, not the driver, carries the legal fault if a collision results. Subsection (2) extends the same yield duty to a pedestrian who crosses near a location where the City has built a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing, on the theory that the safer route was available.

Subsection (3) is the true prohibition: between adjacent intersections at which traffic control signals are in operation, pedestrians shall not cross at any place except in a marked crosswalk, meaning midblock crossing on a signalized block, unlike an unsignalized one, is flatly illegal regardless of whether the pedestrian yields. Subsection (4) separately bars cutting diagonally across an intersection unless official signage or a pedestrian-control signal specifically authorizes the movement. Section 801 requires pedestrians to obey official traffic control devices generally, and Section 802 covers the flip side, a driver's duty to yield inside a marked crosswalk, showing the two sections work together: drivers yield in crosswalks, pedestrians yield everywhere else.