(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton City Council approved a jaywalking ordinance on second reading last week after answering questions from local residents who expressed concern about the proposed new law.
The ordinance outlines requirements for “every pedestrian upon a roadway, at any point other than within a marked crosswalk (or) an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.”
Those pedestrians must yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway “so near as to constitute an immediate hazard,” the ordinance states, and they can’t “suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.”
“All we’re saying is, if you’re crossing somewhere besides a crosswalk, you can’t just jump out into traffic,” Mayor Tim Hancock said. “You’ve got to be careful.”
The ordinance also says pedestrians can’t “unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk,” and they can’t “cross upon a roadway or any specially designated section of roadway designated as a hazardous location for pedestrians to cross by the Chief of Police, and which has been posted as ‘No Pedestrian Crossing.’”
Riverton Police Department Chief Eric Hurtado said people found guilty of breaking the jaywalking ordinance would likely face a fine of $80 to $100, at the discretion of the court judge.
Hancock said the maximum allowable fine would be $750.
‘What is the purpose?’
Local business owner Bruce Kamminga was the first community member to speak about the proposed ordinance last week, sharing his experience with similar laws in other parts of the country, where he said jaywalking rules “were grossly misused.”
“Typically, it doesn’t make safer communities,” Kamminga said. “What it does is it allows law enforcement to do some type of stop-and-frisk and use this as an excuse to try and identify somebody or harass (them).
“My question is, what is the purpose of this? Is it to make a safer community? Is it to generate revenue? Are there going to be citations issued, money collected because they jaywalked? And what happens when kids run across the street in a residential area and they don’t use the street corners?”
Hancock said he has spoken with other residents who shared similar concerns about the proposed ordinance – but he also noted that the proposal was drafted in response to citizen complaints about pedestrians who “will just leave the curb (with) no warning” in high-traffic areas like North Federal Boulevard.
“That’s really what (the ordinance) is meant to capture,” Hancock said.
In that case, Kamminga suggested the ordinance should include language limiting enforcement of the new law to those areas of concern.
Local resident Leonardo Kosirog made a similar recommendation later in the meeting.
“When (this law) goes on the books … it’s black and white, and nobody is going to remember what the intent of the council was when it got passed,” Kosirog said. “Unless you guys write in all these little details … the intent will be forgotten.
Hancock didn’t think that kind of specificity was necessary, however.
“Any ordinance could be abused,” he said. “I don’t have concerns about that with our police department.”
If abuse does take place, Hancock added, “that’s an issue we need to address with the chief, with the supervisors, that kind of thing – it’s not something where we’d say, ‘Let’s get rid of this law.’ … That’s an issue with the officer.”
Crosswalks
Local residents Karen Johnson and Chesie Lee both suggested painting more crosswalks on busy streets in town in order to help improve pedestrian safety, but council members pointed out that Main Street and Federal Boulevard are state highways, so those kinds of decisions are left to the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Hancock agreed, however, that the city could explore its options for making Riverton “more friendly to pedestrians.”
“We could sit here and pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘Hey, look, we made a jaywalking ordinance and that solved all the problems,’ (but) it’s really only a part of a greater problem that we have to figure out,” he said.
The council must approve the jaywalking ordinance one more time before it becomes law.
For more information call the City of Riverton at 856-2227.