Mountain View, CA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Sec. 47 states plainly that no pedestrian shall cross a roadway other than by a crosswalk in any business district, meaning the mid-block dash that is legal on a quiet residential street becomes a citable jaywalking violation once that street sits within a business district as mapped by the city. The rule does not require the crosswalk to be marked; under the state Vehicle Code definitions the city traffic engineer relies on elsewhere in Chapter 19, an unmarked crosswalk still exists at most intersections, so the requirement is simply to cross at the intersection rather than between blocks.

Mountain View layers a second, location-specific rule on top of the business-district rule: Sec. 1 bans mid-block crossing outright on East Dana Street between Calderon Avenue and Pioneer Way, regardless of zoning, in addition to other prohibitions set forth in the code and the California Vehicle Code. The city traffic engineer separately has authority under Sec. 46 to establish and mark crosswalks and to post signs telling pedestrians not to cross in a particular marked crosswalk, and Sec. 48 requires pedestrians to obey dedicated pedestrian signals where they are installed rather than the vehicle signal at the same intersection.