Taunton, MA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Section 405-101 of the Taunton Code, adopted under Article VI of Chapter 405, sets the rule Taunton police use for what amounts to jaywalking enforcement. Whenever a pedestrian is within 300 feet of a police officer directing traffic, an operating traffic control signal, or a marked crosswalk, that pedestrian is required to use the crosswalk to get across the street; crossing mid-block or at an unmarked point inside that 300-foot radius is not permitted. Outside that radius, or where none of those three conditions exist, a pedestrian may cross elsewhere, but Subsection B flips the right-of-way: anyone crossing outside a marked crosswalk must yield to all vehicles on the roadway rather than the other way around.

The ordinance also addresses how a crossing has to be carried out once a pedestrian is in the crosswalk or near one. Subsection C bars a pedestrian from suddenly leaving a sidewalk or safety island and stepping into the path of a vehicle that is too close for the driver to stop or yield in time, and Subsection D directs pedestrians to keep to the right half of the crosswalk while crossing, the same way traffic keeps to the right on the roadway itself. Where a pedestrian tunnel or overpass has been built at a location, Subsection B requires pedestrians to use it rather than cross at street level.

The rule sits alongside § 405-102 through § 405-107, which cover how pedestrians and drivers behave at signalized crosswalks, actuation buttons, and general duties of care, so an officer citing a pedestrian for an unsafe mid-block crossing can draw on the whole article, not just this one section.