Boston: Where same sex marriage and jaywalking are legal?
As far as I can tell, our daughter Leah is right: There are no laws against jaywalking where we live.
I tried searching Massachusetts LawLib and couldn’t find any references to laws regulating pedestrians crossing streets, so I used the site’s “Ask a librarian” service, and within 12 hours got a terrific response that said,
Mass. General Laws chapter 90 section 18A, http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-18a.htm, gives cities and towns the right to regulation pedestrians. Some have chosen to do so.
She then cites Pittsfield and Fitchburg city ordinances. How about Boston and Brookline?
Brookline has bylaws prohibiting the riding of horses on sidewalks, and pages of laws specifying where newsracks can be placed, but I couldn’t find any that prevent pedestrians from pogo-sticking across the street in the middle of a block. Likewise, I couldn’t find any laws that use the word “pedestrian” in Boston’s city code except for a couple that regulate cars, not pedestrians. (Here’s a list of bylaws for Massachusetts cities.)
Now, IANAL (it stands for “I am not a lawyer,” not “I anal”). In fact, I don’t even know where you’d look for jaywalking laws. Maybe they’re legal guidelines, regulations, Papal bulls or ukases. Nevertheless, it looks to me that where we live there’s nothing to stop you from stepping out into the middle of Comm Ave during rush hour as a 70 ton trailer is headed towards you.
In fact, that’s pretty much how we nominate presidential candidates in this state. [Technorati tags: law jaywalking massachusetts boston brookline]
