Syracuse, NY Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Article XIII of the Traffic Code, 'Pedestrians' Rights and Duties,' sets the rules Syracuse uses to police jaywalking. Section 15-264, titled 'Yield right-of-way,' provides that every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked or unmarked crossing must yield to vehicles already on the roadway; the duty runs one direction, from the pedestrian crossing mid-block to the traffic that has the right-of-way, though the statute also preserves a driver's separate duty of due care. Where a marked or unmarked crosswalk does exist, § 15-262 flips the right-of-way the other way, requiring a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing within it, except where a peace officer or traffic-control signal is regulating movement.

At signalized intersections, § 15-261 layers on a second rule: pedestrians may only cross on a green or 'Walk' signal, and drivers must yield to pedestrians who started crossing on that signal. Section 15-265 restates the reciprocal duty, that pedestrians must yield to vehicles proceeding on a green or 'Go' signal in all other cases. Read together, the articles mean a pedestrian who steps into the roadway away from a crosswalk, or against a red or 'Don't Walk' signal at a controlled intersection, has failed the ordinance's yield duty and bears the right-of-way burden if a collision or near-miss follows.

The Syracuse Police Department enforces the article as part of the general traffic code, and a violation is classified with the rest of Chapter 15's provisions as a traffic infraction under § 15-1(32) unless state law separately makes the conduct a misdemeanor or felony.