Palm Desert, CA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Palm Desert's crossing rule is short and location-specific. Section 10.72.020 provides that no pedestrian shall cross a roadway other than by a crosswalk in the central traffic district or in any business district. The section prints no distance from an intersection, no hours and no exceptions, so the test is simply whether the pedestrian crossed the roadway somewhere other than a crosswalk inside one of those two areas.

The central traffic district is defined in § 10.04.020 as the area bounded by Rancho Road and Deep Canyon Road, and the south side of El Paseo and the north side of a line extended along the right-of-way of Allesandro Drive to intersect with Deep Canyon and State Route 74, plus the north side of State Route 74 from El Paseo to Parkview Drive. That puts the El Paseo shopping corridor inside the rule. Chapter 10.04 does not print its own definition of a business district, and § 10.04.010 provides that words not defined in the title but defined in the California Vehicle Code take the Vehicle Code meaning.

A pedestrian is defined in § 10.04.120 as any person afoot, so the rule covers anyone walking, not just adults at an intersection. Where the crosswalks are located is a city traffic engineer decision. Section 10.72.010 directs the traffic engineer to establish, designate and maintain crosswalks at intersections and other places by devices, marks or lines upon the roadway surface, and crosswalks are established at intersections where the traffic engineer determines there is particular hazard to pedestrians crossing the roadway.

Enforcement runs through the police department. Section 10.04.130 defines a police officer as every officer of the police department of the city or any officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations.