Shifting Focus: Investing in Safe Roads, Not Tickets

Over the last 6 years, roughly 30,000 jaywalking tickets were given across the state.
Scroll down to see how this impacts our residents.

Each day an estimated 50,000 Americans are pulled over by the police while driving, making traffic stops the most common way people interact with the criminal legal system. While there is little data on the enforcement of other roadway users, we know that pedestrians and bicyclists also interact with police frequently. For pedestrians, this often occurs because of jaywalking laws. 

What are 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.

From 2018–2023, there were, on average, roughly 5,000 jaywalking tickets given per year to adults in Hawaiʻi. As shown in the map below, the majority of jaywalking tickets were given in urban Honolulu.

Who is Most Impacted?

People who do not drive and, instead, rely on walking are most impacted by jaywalking laws. The over-policing of pedestrians can discourage individuals from walking and using other active transportation modes frequently for fear of inadvertently violating a jaywalking ordinance. This is important in Hawaiʻi, where an estimated 8.8 percent of households do not own a vehicle. This is slightly higher than the national average. In the City & County of Honolulu, the gap is larger, with more than 10 percent of households not owning a vehicle.

Figure 1. Percentage of Zero-Car Households in Hawaiʻi by County

In Hawaiʻi, state fines for jaywalking range between $130 and $180. These steep fines disproportionately harm low-income individuals who often lack the resources to pay the fines upfront. When they can't pay, additional fees and penalties accumulate. As such, jaywalking penalties can lead to cycles of debt and damaged court records,  increasing the likelihood that these individuals and their families will experience poverty.

This is important, as most jaywalking enforcement is mostly occurring in areas where there are high concentrations of ALICE households. ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed Households. These are households that earn above the federal poverty level, yet still face challenges in meeting their basic needs. 

The top five zip codes in Hawaiʻi with the highest per capita number of jaywalking tickets are 96814 (Waikīkī–Ala Moana), 96815 (Kapahulu–Diamond Head), 96817 (Kalihi–Palama), 96813 (Nuʻuanu–Downtown–Chinatown), and 96826 (McCully–Mōʻiliʻili). Compared to other areas of Hawaiʻi, these areas tend to be denser and lower income. For instance, in 96826, 18 percent (14,623) of the area’s households live below the federal poverty line. The 96815 region, meanwhile, shows a lower poverty percentage of 12 percent (1,841 households), yet a substantial 40 percent of households fall into the ALICE category. This trend continues across the top five jaywalking citation zip codes, indicating a correlation between high levels of jaywalking and low-income communities. 

While four of the top five zip codes have generally seen a decline in citations since 2018, 96815 experienced an increase since 2020, recording 2,885 citations in 2023—14 times higher than the other top zip codes.

Figure 2. Top 5 Zip Codes for Jaywalking Enforcement in Hawaiʻi (2018–2023)

Limited Revenue, Growing Debt

The number of jaywalking-related citations given in Hawaiʻi is significantly higher than other localities in the U.S (where similar studies have been conducted). For example, data shows that police in Washington state issued 9,833 jaywalking citations from 2000–2023, which averages to about 428 citations per year. This means that only six jaywalking citations are given for every 100,000 people in Washington state per year. By comparison, a staggering 349 jaywalking citations are given for every 100,000 people in Hawaiʻi each year.

Despite the heavy-handed approach to jaywalking enforcement in Hawaiʻi, this has not produced large sums of money for our local government. While Hawaiʻi law enforcement assessed $3.8 million in jaywalking fines from 2018–2023, only 22 percent of the fines were paid. Fee collection has seen a continuous decline as well, with only 12 percent of jaywalking fees being collected in 2023.

If left unpaid, debt from traffic fines can lead to legal consequences (such as potential court appearances and wage garnishment), difficulty in obtaining government services (such as vehicle registration), as well as negative impacts on employment and housing opportunities.