The Police Advisory Commission is hoping to raise the jaywalking fines to try and keep pedestrians in crosswalks.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It is going to take action on Beacon Hill to help reduce jaywalking.

 

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, has filed legislation that will allow the city to raise the fine for jaywalking. Currently, the fine is $1.

 

"This allows local boards to establish a higher fine, up to $50 for jaywalking. Our City Council will then have to pass an ordinance to decide what they want the fine to be," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

"The law would be statewide and each municipality can adopt whatever they would want the fine to be."

 

Police Chief Michael Wynn said there have been numerous accidents related to jaywalking. 

 

The Police Advisory Commission has been part of the push to update the fines for various traffic and pedestrian-related offenses.

 

"The fine is a buck so it is not even worth trying to identify these people," Wynn said. "The intent of the Police Advisory Commission is to bring the pedestrian fines in line with the traffic fines."

 

But, the pedestrian fines can't be changed. The issue has been debated numerous times in Pittsfield with uncertainty on what steps have to be taken to increase fines. Wynn has worked with the state Department of Transportation's attorneys to determine that the state needs to amend the laws.

 

Wynn said Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 85, Section 2, deals with traffic controls and local authority. Before 1986, a city wishing to adopt its own fines needed MassDOT to review and approve it.

 

The state eventually determined it wasn't needed so long as the local ordinances weren't going above the state's regulations. The approval process was eliminated and the branch of MassDOT reviewing the laws was eliminated.

 

However, Chapter 90, Section 18A, deals with pedestrian control and the review and approval from MassDOT was never removed. If the city wanted a higher fine for jaywalking now, it would need approval from a branch of MassDOT that no longer exists, Wynn said.

 

"They never amended 90 18A. They never removed that requirement," Wynn said. "We can't pass a pedestrian control law until they modify that other section."

 

Once he figured that out, he asked Farley-Bouvier to sponsor a change, which she submitted at the start of the two-year legislative session.

 

"I am very happy we have a responsive delegation," Wynn said.

 

If Farley-Bouvier's bill is approved by the Legislature, the Police Advisory Commission and the Police Department will look to update the pedestrian law. 

 

"The goal is to improve pedestrian safety, particularly in the downtown area," Wynn said.

 

Officers do crosswalk enforcement now, but only issue tickets to drivers — not pedestrians who do not follow the law. Wynn said it isn't fair that a driver gets fined for not stopping for pedestrians in a crosswalk and then nearly gets in an accident because a pedestrian stepped into the street where there isn't a crosswalk.

 

If the jaywalking fine is raised, Wynn said the department would do awareness and education campaigns and before beginning enforcement.