Rochester, NY Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

City Code § 111-65 sets a location-specific jaywalking rule rather than a blanket ban. In the Central Traffic District (Rochester's downtown core), in any business district, or on a main artery of travel or through street, pedestrians are barred from crossing the roadway anywhere other than at a marked crosswalk. Outside those designated areas, mid-block crossing is not prohibited outright, but the section requires that any pedestrian crossing at a point other than a crosswalk take a route at right angles to the curb, or the shortest route to the opposite curb, rather than crossing at an angle or wandering into moving traffic.

The section was last amended in 1988 (Ord. No. 88-219) after a 1954 amendment, and it sits in Article I of Chapter 111 alongside the City's other pedestrian and traffic rules, including § 111-66, which separately bars boarding or alighting from a vehicle while it is in motion, and § 111-27, which bars driving between the vehicles of a funeral or authorized procession while in motion. Because the crosswalk requirement is tied to specific zones (Central Traffic District, business districts, main arteries and through streets) rather than applying citywide, enforcement in Rochester's residential side streets focuses on the right-angle, shortest-route requirement rather than an outright crossing ban, while downtown and along major commercial corridors, using the crosswalk is mandatory.