Santa Ana, CA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Santa Ana's pedestrian article treats mid-block and non-crosswalk crossing as conditionally regulated rather than banned outright. Section 36-117, "When pedestrians must use crosswalks," states: "Where signs have been posted prohibiting crossing a street other than in a crosswalk, no pedestrian shall cross a street other than in a crosswalk. " Absent those posted signs, the section imposes no citywide obligation to use a crosswalk. A companion provision, § 36-116, lets the Director of Public Works post signs at or near an intersection directing pedestrians not to cross in an unmarked crosswalk there, which functions the same way, location by location, not blanket.

The Public Works Agency establishes both marked crosswalks at intersections (§ 36-114) and mid-block crosswalks "as the director may determine to be necessary for pedestrian safety, based on engineering studies" (§ 36-115), so a given street may or may not carry the infrastructure a pedestrian needs to comply legally. Because neither § 36-116 nor § 36-117 states its own penalty, a violation defaults to the citywide general penalty in § 1-8, a misdemeanor carrying up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail, though it is routinely charged as a lesser infraction or handled by administrative citation.

Practically, a pedestrian stopped for crossing mid-block in Santa Ana can only be cited where the city has actually posted a "use crosswalk" sign; without that sign in place, § 36-117 does not apply.