After 14 pedestrian fatalities on Anchorage roads, LaFrance pushes to reinstate jaywalking offense

Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and Assembly member Randy Sulte are pushing to reinstate fines for jaywalking, in a proposed ordinance that cites the high number of pedestrian fatalities in the city so far this year.

The measure comes a little more than a year after the Anchorage Assembly decriminalized jaywalking and revoked the associated fines as part of a larger overhaul of the city’s rules for roadway users. Proponents of that overhaul are pushing back on the mayor’s proposal to reinstate jaywalking, saying there’s little evidence to link the fatalities to the reform.

Fourteen pedestrians have been killed in collisions on Anchorage roadways in 2024, and another person was killed in a parking lot. The city’s total surpasses last year’s statewide death toll.

“The prohibition of pedestrians crossing the roadway outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk sets a community and legal expectation that everyone, drivers and pedestrians alike, must take personal responsibility for their safety on the roads,” LaFrance and Sulte’s proposed ordinance says.

[’Fatally flawed’: What this year’s 13 pedestrian deaths tell us about Anchorage’s roads]

The unusually high number of fatalities has prompted calls for action from city and state elected officials. It also raised questions and criticism from some over the city’s removal of jaywalking laws.

Advocates of last year’s code overhaul said it is meant to improve safety and to set the city on a path toward improving its infrastructure for bicyclists, pedestrians and other modes of non-motorized transportation.

And they’ve pushed back on the idea that revoking the jaywalking laws was a major factor in the high number of deaths. Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel in September called the idea “frankly ridiculous corollary.”

“It isn’t data-driven policy,” Assembly member Daniel Volland said of LaFrance’s proposed ordinance. “It might give some the illusion of safety, but it won’t actually do a damn thing.”

The mayor should instead focus on supporting pedestrians, rather than penalizing them, added Volland, who sponsored last year’s overhaul along with members Anna Brawley and Karen Bronga.

Volland and others have pointed to the city’s road designs — with poor lighting and long stretches between crosswalks — as a major factor in the spate of deadly collisions, which have largely occurred on multiple lane, high-speed roadways.

In a statement, the mayor’s office said that LaFrance’s top priority is public safety, and the administration will “deploy all the available tools to create a safer environment for everyone.”

“The goal of this ordinance is to send a clear message that everyone is responsible for road safety. The fact is that there are people in the street. It’s a dangerous and scary situation for everyone. We can’t pretend that reality away, and the mayor is committed to action,” the mayor’s office said in a statement provided by Amanda Moser, director of external affairs.

A preliminary review of the collisions suggests that 11 occurred when a pedestrian was outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk, the mayor’s office said. In three other collisions, the pedestrians were in an unmarked crosswalk.

All but two of the fatalities happened on high-speed or major roadways, including multiple-lane highways like Minnesota Drive and the Seward Highway, and major arterial roads like Northern Lights Boulevard and Tudor Road.

The sergeant in charge of the Anchorage Police Department’s traffic division, Sgt. David Noll, in September told the Daily News that it’s not clear whether the change in law is connected to the death toll, whether the people killed knew about the jaywalking reform and whether they changed their behavior because of it.

In September, the Assembly in a resolution called for the city to take several measures to improve safety for people walking, such as installing more lighting along high-speed corridors, lowering speed limits on some roads by 10 miles per hour, and launching a safety education campaign.

Sulte said he hopes reinstating jaywalking rules helps to “reset the culture of crossing in the middle of a road and helps to lower the vehicle-pedestrian interactions.”

LaFrance and Sulte’s proposal was set to be introduced during Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, and members won’t vote until a later meeting. If approved, it would institute a $40 fine for jaywalking: crossing a roadway while within 150 feet of a crosswalk, pedestrian tunnel, or overhead walkway. People could also be ticketed for failing to cross at a right angle to the curb, or for not taking the shortest route to the opposite curb.

The ordinance would sunset at the end of 2026 unless reauthorized by the Assembly. It would require the police department to report to the mayor by Oct. 1, 2026 on its “perception” of the ordinance, including data on pedestrian injuries and fatalities, citations issued, and “any other relevant findings to inform whether to reauthorize” the ordinance.

“Pedestrian safety is connected to individual and societal expectations and behaviors, deterrents, infrastructure improvements, and public education,” the proposed measure says.

National data has shown that jaywalking laws disproportionately impact low-income people and people of color in several cities in the Lower 48. Research in Washington found a pattern of police using jaywalking stops for crime-oriented policing rather than policing focused on traffic safety, often with a “stop-and-frisk” style approach that included warrant checks.

LaFrance and Sulte’s proposal notes the disproportionate impact found in other jurisdictions and says APD “has been a strong partner in promoting pedestrian safety by creating positive interactions with pedestrians to educate them about the prohibition and improve pedestrian safety and culture.”

The mayor’s office did not answer a question about whether APD would track demographic information of the pedestrian tickets issued under the ordinance, if it is approved by the Assembly.

From 2018 to August of this year, a six-and-a-half-year span, APD issued a total of 87 citations to pedestrians for four different offenses, according to a city memo. Of those, 13 were for crossing at a point other than a crosswalk.

“The mayor is focused on what she can do to make roads and sidewalks safer – whether we are talking about snow removal or crossing in the roadway outside of marked crosswalks,” the mayor’s office said.