A reader wrote in asking us:
I heard something on TV last night about them starting to ticket pedestrians for jaywalking near SunRail stations. Is that really happening?
It turns out she heard correctly but it’s not the case. Amanda Day with Best Foot Forward (Website | Facebook) says she wasn’t talking about actual tickets but instead written warnings. She told us in an e-mail even the warning aren’t even a done deal.
It’s very difficult to ticket pedestrians for jaywalking. For starters there is no such thing as jaywalking in Florida law. As Day points out “it is only illegal to ticket if the pedestrian is crossing between adjacent, signalized intersections. Given how the roads are designed in Central Florida, there are very few places in which to enforce this law.”
Here are examples that demonstrate what is legal for pedestrians in Florida:
And Illegal:
So for now you can expect to see Best Foot Forward continue their work on educating drivers and pedestrians. For now, the ticketing enforcement will only be for drivers.
Photos and graphics courtesy of Best Foot Forward