By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, Westword
C’mon, admit it: You’ve jaywalked, haven’t you? A fair number of us have, mostly because it can cut down on travel time, and it just feels natural — but it’s also usually illegal. A group of advocates and Denver City Council members want to change that.
“I think it’s just a very commonsense change of bringing Denver’s laws in line with what we’re seeing in normal behavior in the street in a safe way,” says Allen Cowgill of the Denver Bicycle Lobby, which has been pushing the policy shift.
After working with advocates like Cowgill, Council President Jamie Torres and councilmembers Candi CdeBaca and Jolon Clark have put forward an ordinance change that would largely decriminalize jaywalking in Denver. The measure is up for its first hearing in the Denver City Council Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure committee on January 10.
In particular, the changes would bring Denver’s stricter jaywalking law in line with the looser Colorado jaywalking law. Right now, Denver law prohibits crossing any roadway, with the notable exception of a local neighborhood street, outside of the crosswalk. Jaywalking citations — whether falling into the criminal, municipal or traffic categories — carry the possibility of a $65 to $95 fine. Those who receive a criminal or municipal jaywalking citation must appear in court, while a person with a traffic jaywalking citation can pay a fee prior to a court appearance, as long as there are no other charges attached to the citation.
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