Lafayette, IN Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Lafayette Municipal Code § 7.08.030, "When pedestrians yield right-of-way," flips the usual rule: a pedestrian crossing a roadway anywhere other than a crosswalk, or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, must yield to all vehicles on the roadway, the opposite of the right-of-way pedestrians get inside a crosswalk under § 7.08.020. Section 7.08.030(B) ties that duty to § 7.08.060, which bars pedestrians from crossing anywhere except a crosswalk between adjacent intersections where traffic-control signals are operating, effectively banning mid-block crossing on signaled stretches. Even where mid-block crossing is not flatly barred, § 7.08.040 requires it to be done "at right angles to the curb or by the shortest route to the opposite curb," so a diagonal jaywalk is its own separate violation from crossing outside the crosswalk in the first place.

Lafayette police officers enforce the pedestrian chapter, and § 7.08.070 separately bars walking along a roadway where a sidewalk exists and bars standing in the roadway to flag down a ride. Violations of §§ 7.08.030, 7.08.040 and 7.08.060 are each penalized under § 7.08.990, the Title 7 general penalty: a minimum fine of $10 and a maximum of $1,000 for any traffic-title violation without its own specified penalty, and the code states these fines "cannot be waived or suspended." That $10 to $1,000 range, rather than a flat fee, gives officers and the court discretion tied to the circumstances of the crossing, such as whether it created a hazard to the pedestrian or to traffic.