Muncie, IN Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Chapter 73 of the Muncie City Code, Pedestrians, was rewritten in full by Ordinance No. 57-21, adopted by the Common Council on June 6, 2022, replacing the pedestrian rules that had run since the 1968 Code of Ordinances and a 1991 amendment. Section 73.01, Crossing at right angles, is the operative rule: a pedestrian who is not in a marked crosswalk must cross by a route at right angles to the curb, or by the shortest direct route to the opposite curb. Angling across an intersection, cutting a corner, or wandering diagonally between blocks anywhere in the City of Muncie is a violation of that section even where no crosswalk exists, because the ordinance sets the right-angle rule as the default for uncontrolled crossings.

Where a marked crosswalk is present, the exception in § 73.01 lets a pedestrian use it instead of the right-angle path. Enforcement is a Muncie Police Department matter: an officer who observes a pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk without following the right-angle or shortest-route rule can issue a citation. Section 73.99, the chapter's penalty clause, sets the fine at not more than $100.00 per violation for anyone who intentionally or negligently violates any provision of Chapter 73, and it treats a continuing violation as a fresh offense for every day it persists.

A separate cross-reference also ties Chapter 73 back to the citywide traffic penalty at § 70.99. Because the whole chapter was consolidated into one ordinance in 2022, the crosswalk rule, the right-angle rule, and the $100.00 cap all sit together in the same short chapter rather than being scattered across older, superseded sections.