Skokie, IL Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Village Code Section 106-51 sets out the duties of pedestrians on Skokie streets, and it reaches jaywalking from two directions. Under subsection (a), once an engineering or traffic investigation determines that crossing between intersections poses a safety risk, the Village posts signs and pedestrians must thereafter cross only at a marked crosswalk in that area; the restriction is not automatic everywhere, it takes effect street by street as signs go up. Subsection (b) is broader and unconditional: in any mixed-use or business zoning district, no pedestrian may cross a roadway other than in a crosswalk at all, regardless of signage.

Skokie's downtown and Oakton Street corridors, both zoned business or mixed-use, fall squarely under this rule. The section also bars diagonal shortcuts through subsection (f), which requires pedestrians to cross by a route at right angles to the curb or by the shortest route to the opposite curb unless they are already in a marked crosswalk. Other subsections in the same section address crossing limited-access highways only at built pedestrian facilities, using provided pedestrian bridges, not passing through closed railroad gates, and not stepping off a curb into the path of a vehicle too close to stop. The section was last amended by Ordinance No. 14, so the mixed-use/business district crossing rule is a durable, current requirement, not a stale holdover.