Executive Summary

While media coverage of pedestrian injuries and fatalities focuses on the actions of the pedestrians—noting if they were or were not in a marked crosswalk—little attention is paid to traffic safety and infrastructure solutions. This “victim-blaming” is in part due to jaywalking laws. 

Jaywalking laws prohibit pedestrians from crossing a street outside of designated crosswalks or against traffic signals. Although jaywalking is foundational to the way many Americans understand roadway safety, it is a relatively young concept. Jaywalking laws were enacted in the 1920s following a lobbying campaign by the auto industry to shift the blame onto pedestrians for the national rise in traffic fatalities. 

Analysis of court records from 2018 to 2023 indicates that the number of jaywalking-related citations given in Hawaiʻi is significantly higher than other localities in the U.S. During this time period, 5,028 jaywalking citations were given per year in Hawaiʻi, which amounts to 349 jaywalking tickets given for every 100,000 people. In comparison, in Washington state, on average only six jaywalking tickets are given for every 100,000 people.

Unfortunately, jaywalking laws have done little to prevent the nation’s growing traffic violence. Although jaywalking is often cited by government enforcement officials as a tool to keep pedestrians safe, analysis of pedestrian tickets in cities such as Jacksonville show there is no strong relationship between where jaywalking tickets are being issued and where pedestrians are being killed. 

Moreover, in nearly every city where these laws have been studied, jaywalking tickets have been found to disproportionately impact people of color. For these reasons, jaywalking laws are classified by transportation scholar Charles Brown as an “arrested mobility” policy—transportation-related practices that are inequitably enforced and lead to limited mobility, opportunity, and access for people of color.

To address these issues, legislation to repeal or reform jaywalking laws has been enacted in Virginia, California, Nevada, Denver, Anchorage, and in Kansas City. Legislation is also being proposed in New York City, Washington (state) and Hawaiʻi. As of early 2024, about 52 million Americans now live in places where jaywalking has been decriminalized in some form.

In this report, we summarize the history of jaywalking laws, the negative impacts of jaywalking enforcement, the progress of national efforts to repeal jaywalking laws, and recommendations for more constructive ways to spend public resources for improved roadway safety. The key policy recommendation is to repeal jaywalking laws in Hawaiʻi and redirect resources that would otherwise would go towards pedestrian enforcement, towards building infrastructure that:

• Slows vehicle speeds;

• Increases visibility of pedestrians; and

• Physically separates vehicles and pedestrians.

Note: We sometimes use the term “decriminalize” to refer to repealing jaywalking laws. This is a colloquial definition rather than a strictly legal definition, as jaywalking fines are currently administrative violations in Hawaiʻi. However, as described in the 2022 How-To Guide for Decriminalizing Mobility, people stopped and cited while walking, biking and rolling sometimes report being made to feel like criminals. These administrative violations can then serve as a pretext for law enforcement to run background checks and issue warrants, which can sometimes lead to criminal charges.

Other times, we use the term “Freedom to Walk,” which is used in campaigns by both national organizations, as well as groups in Hawaiʻi, working to repeal jaywalking laws.