Las Cruces, NM Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Sec. 4 of the Las Cruces Code of Ordinances flips the normal right-of-way rule for anyone crossing outside a crosswalk. Subsection A requires that every pedestrian crossing a street 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 street, meaning the pedestrian, not the driver, bears the legal duty to give way. Subsection B applies the same yielding duty where the city has built a pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing near a street.

Between two intersections that both have working traffic-control signals, subsection C bans crossing anywhere except in a marked crosswalk, closing off the mid-block crossing that is common jaywalking in other cities. Subsection D adds a separate diagonal-crossing rule: pedestrians may not cut across an intersection corner to corner unless official traffic-control devices specifically authorize that movement, and if diagonal crossing is authorized, pedestrians must follow the signal timing set for it. This section works together with Sec. 2, which gives pedestrians the right-of-way inside a marked or unmarked crosswalk, and Sec.

1, which subjects pedestrians generally to traffic-control signals. A violation of Sec. 4 is listed by name, 'Crossing at other than crosswalks,' on the city's flat penalty schedule at Sec. 00 assessment that a Las Cruces police officer can issue on the spot; unpaid after 30 days, the case moves to prosecution in Las Cruces Municipal Court.