Jackson, TN Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Jackson Municipal Code § 15-1005 tells pedestrians in the City of Jackson, Tennessee exactly how they may cross a street outside a marked crosswalk: only at right angles to the curb, or by the shortest path to the opposite curb, unless they use a crosswalk instead. Diagonal or mid-block angled crossing away from those two paths is what the code and residents call jaywalking. The one carve-out sits in the same section: where traffic-control signals have stopped vehicles moving in every direction at an intersection, a pedestrian may cross within the area common to both intersecting roadways without following the right-angle rule.

Related sections narrow the picture further. Under § 15-1006, a pedestrian who crosses outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield the right-of-way to every vehicle on the roadway, so a legal crossing under § 15-1005 still carries the burden of yielding. Section 15-1007(2) tightens this again inside any business district, where pedestrians may not cross anywhere except in a crosswalk, closing off the right-angle option entirely downtown. Jackson Police Department officers enforce these pedestrian rules alongside the vehicle right-of-way duties in §§ 15-1002 and 15-1011, which require drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and to exercise due care generally.