Advocates cited racial disparities in who gets tickets.
By Rebecca Tauber, Denverite
Denver looks set to join California, Virginia and Kansas City in decriminalizing jaywalking.
City Council approved a bill Monday that relaxes Denver’s jaywalking laws and align’s them with the state’s less-stringent ones. It also instructs police to make jaywalking enforcement a low priority.
Advocates of the bill, which now heads to Mayor Michael Hancock’s desk, say the change was needed because of the racial disparities in who gets jaywalking tickets.
The change doesn’t mean that pedestrians can jump in front of cars whenever they want.
Drivers still have the right of way along streets, but the proposal gives pedestrians more flexibility in deciding the safest way to navigate and cross streets.
When discussing the bill in committee, experts gave examples of people unable to walk on sidewalks covered in ice — which has been an issue this month — or cross streets that lack crosswalks.
Councilmember Candi CdeBaca, who co-sponsored the legislation along with Council President Jamie Torres and Councilmember Jolon Clark, pointed to data on who gets jaywalking tickets as a major reasoning behind the bill.
Read the full story at Denverite