CALIFORNIA, USA — Californians will soon be able to jaywalk without getting a ticket from the police, if it’s safe to do so. The change comes after Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147 into law. It defines when an officer can stop and cite a pedestrian for jaywalking.
“In the back of my mind, I know it's illegal, and I could get a ticket,” said Kimiyo Machado.
She lives in Sacramento and said she crosses the street in the middle of the block rather than in a crosswalk.
“If I’m doing it safely and there are no cars and I do check my surroundings and make sure there are not any cops looking for me…, yeah, I do it all the time,” Machado said.
Aniya Simon, who also lives in Sacramento, agrees.
“It should be decriminalized. If you're not hurting anybody, harming anyone or harming yourself, then there should be no issue with you crossing the street,” Simon said.
Assemblymember Phil Ting wrote the bill. He said police disproportionately ticket low-income and people of color for jaywalking.
“This enforcement happens in selective communities, selective neighborhoods and often neighborhoods where there's less pedestrian infrastructure, less crosswalks and less streetlights. This is really not very equitable,” he said.
In 2017, a white officer accused Nandi Cain Jr., a Black man, of jaywalking in Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood. Video showed police beating Cain, resulting in a $550,000 settlement with the city.
“It's disheartening, especially because I have kids and we push the issue of making sure you follow the law and follow the rules, because we don't want you to end up not coming home just because you jaywalked,” Machado said.
AB 2147 marked the second time Assemblymember Ting attempted to decriminalize jaywalking in California. Now, with Newsom’s signature, the law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
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