Southaven, MS Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

The City of Southaven, DeSoto County, Mississippi, regulates jaywalking in Chapter 6, Pedestrians, of Title IX. Section 9-374 sets the route: no pedestrian crosses a roadway at any place other than by a route at right angles to the curb or by the shortest route to the opposite curb, except in a crosswalk. Section 9-375(a) adds the yield rule: a pedestrian crossing at any point other than within a marked crosswalk at an intersection yields the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway. Subsection (b) puts the same duty on a pedestrian crossing where a pedestrian funnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided.

Section 9-376 contains the outright prohibitions. Between adjacent intersections at which traffic-control signals are in operation, pedestrians cross only in a crosswalk. On any street the traffic safety coordinator designates, no pedestrian crosses other than in a crosswalk. Section 9-375(c) confirms that the yield rules do not apply under the conditions in Section 9-376, where pedestrians are prohibited from crossing at certain designated places.

Drivers carry duties too. Section 9-372 requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, and it bars passing a vehicle that is stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross. It also forbids a pedestrian from suddenly leaving a curb or other place of safety and walking or running into the path of a vehicle so close that the driver cannot yield. Under Section 9-373, pedestrians use the right half of a crosswalk whenever practicable.

Three related rules sit nearby. Section 9-378(a) makes it unlawful to walk along and upon a roadway where sidewalks are provided, and where there are no sidewalks a pedestrian walks when practicable on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic. Section 9-377 bars pedestrians from passing through, around, over or under a closed railroad crossing gate or barrier. Section 9-379 bars standing in a roadway to solicit a ride, employment or business from the occupant of a vehicle.