Prince William County, VA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

County Code Sec. 13-403 sets the county's mid-block and intersection crossing rules for pedestrians. Subsection (a) directs pedestrians not to carelessly or maliciously interfere with the orderly passage of vehicles and to cross, wherever possible, only at intersections or marked crosswalks. But it also builds in a real protection: where an intersection contains no marked crosswalk, a pedestrian is not guilty of negligence as a matter of law for crossing at that intersection, or between intersections, provided the crossing is by the most direct route.

Subsection (b) allows pedestrians to cross an intersection diagonally once all traffic entering it has been halted by lights, semaphores, or an officer's signal. Subsection (c), added by Ord. No. 21-32 effective July 1, 2021, bars a law-enforcement officer from stopping a pedestrian for a violation of this section at all, and makes any evidence discovered from such a stop, even with the person's consent, inadmissible in any trial or hearing. The section derives from Code 1965 Sec. 1-151 and tracks the authority and language of Virginia Code Sec.

2-923. It works alongside the county's separate right-of-way rule in Sec. 13-404, which requires drivers to stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks and at unmarked crossings on roads posted 35 mph or under, and Sec. 13-405, which bars stepping into a travel lane where an approaching driver's view is obscured by a parked vehicle or obstruction.