Reading, PA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Chapter 576, Part 11 governs pedestrians inside the city's Vehicles and Traffic chapter. Section 576-1101 requires pedestrians to obey installed traffic-control signals wherever the city has them: proceed on green within a crosswalk, do not start crossing on steady yellow, and do not enter the roadway on steady red. Section 576-1102 lets Council designate specific pedestrian-control signal locations by ordinance, though the location table printed in the current code is marked 'Reserved,' meaning no site-specific signal locations are separately listed there today. Section 576-1104(A)(1) then adds the core crosswalk mandate: it is unlawful for any pedestrian to cross a roadway in a business district anywhere in the City except in a crosswalk.

Subsection (A)(2) reserves space for Council to name additional street segments outside the business district where crossing is also crosswalk-only, but that street table is likewise currently 'Reserved,' so today the mandatory-crosswalk rule reaches the business district itself rather than every Reading street. Subsection B clarifies the rule does not let a pedestrian use a crosswalk where § 576-1102 signals otherwise forbid crossing. A related but separate rule sits at § 576-1103: pedestrians may not cross at specific street intersections in unmarked crosswalks, but that intersection table is also 'Reserved' in the current code, so it has no listed locations either.

Any Part 11 violation, including crossing outside a crosswalk in the business district, is punished the same way under § 576-1106: a summary offense with a fine of $5 plus costs upon conviction.