Memphis, TN Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Chapter 11-28 of the Memphis Code sets out pedestrian rules, and Sec. 11-28-4 is the city's mid-block-crossing provision, carried over from Code 1967 § 23-261 and consolidated by Ord. No. 5401 in 2011. Subsection A applies a true jaywalking ban only "between adjacent intersections at which traffic-control signals are in operation", inside that stretch, a pedestrian must cross in a marked crosswalk and nowhere else. Outside a signalized block, subsection B allows crossing at any point but shifts the right-of-way to vehicles: the pedestrian "shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway," reversing the driver-yields rule that applies inside marked and unmarked crosswalks under Sec.

11-28-3. Subsection C applies the same yield duty where the city has built a pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing, a pedestrian who crosses at street level instead must yield to traffic. Related sections in the same chapter reinforce the restriction: Sec. 11-28-2 requires pedestrians who do use a marked crosswalk to stay within its lines and, where practical, walk on the right half, while Sec. 11-28-5 separately bars walking in the roadway itself where a sidewalk exists. The citation schedule at Sec. 11-8-5 lists "Crossing at other than crosswalks" (Sec. 00 range set for most other pedestrian sections.