Jay-Walking enforcements begin

PULLMAN, WASH – Residents must pay extra attention now when crossing the streets. Pullman police have begun more enforcement of jay walking. What happens as a result? The person in question is given a ticket.

The harsher enforcement of jay walking comes after an increase of accidents in December 2019. Pullman PD Sergeant Chris Engle said on average, there is one injury collision a week… but, one week in December saw eight injury collisions. Four of those were from pedestrians violating crosswalk law.

In December, the police department conducted an emphasis on drivers who simply failed to yield to pedestrians. Recently, the department focused on how many pedestrians failed to use a crosswalk. Thursday, February 27, the police did an emphasis on both.

Multiple students have expressed concern on how this is going to affect their lives, especially residents of Greek Row.  Washington State University Sophomore Paris Johnson expressed her concerns.

“It’s quite frustrating especially living on Greek Row that there aren’t a lot of crosswalks that I can use to get to class or get to other houses on Greek Row,” Johnson said, “How are they going to enforce all this jay walking around Greek Row, especially with all the people walking in big groups? Are they really going to ticket every single person or are they going to single people out?”

Engle said that awareness and compliance with the law on both sides, drivers and pedestrians, will allow the roads to be safe for both.