Framingham, MA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Framingham's pedestrian control regulations, Article X of Chapter 550, do not use the word 'jaywalking,' but § 550-57 is the City's mid-block crossing rule. It requires pedestrians to obey officers directing traffic, and it bars crossing a way or roadway outside a marked crosswalk whenever an officer is directing traffic there, a traffic control signal is present, or a marked crosswalk is located within 300 feet of the pedestrian. Outside that 300-foot radius, and where no officer or signal controls the location, the section does not require use of a crosswalk.

The rule also fixes what counts as a 'marked crosswalk' for the whole pedestrian article: an area of roadway reserved for crossing between two solid, reflectorized pavement markings, twelve inches wide in rural areas or at least six inches wide in urban areas, with the two lines set no less than six feet apart. That definition matters because several other pedestrian sections, including the right-of-way rules in § 550-60 and the non-signalized crossing rule in § 550-61, key off whether a crossing point meets this definition.

Violations of the pedestrian control regulations, including § 550-57, are punished under § 550-66 as provided by Massachusetts General Laws c. 90, § 18A, rather than under a City-set dollar fine, and it is City of Framingham police officers, per § 550-64, who are charged with enforcing every section of the pedestrian article.