If adopted, the ordinance would give Waynesboro police the authority to enforce parts of the state vehicle code they couldn't previously, King and Grubbs said.
Pedestrians could face fines up to $100 or citations for certain behaviors, such as turning from the sidewalk and hurriedly trying to cross the street without looking. Another violation would be exiting the driver's side of a parked vehicle and walking into the street without using a crosswalk.
"It helps to put a little more responsibility, in certain areas, on the pedestrian," King said.
"This ordinance basically forces you to use the crosswalk that's in place, including the mid-block ones. It's there for the protection of pedestrians as well as the motorists," Grubbs said.
The Waynesboro Borough Council received a draft copy of the ordinance at its meeting Wednesday. The council members will review the ordinance for a few weeks before deciding whether it's something they want to adopt.
The first page of the ordinance says it maintains the "general rule" that "the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection." It also states that "no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle, which is so close as to constitute a hazard."
The ordinance later states that pedestrians crossing a roadway at any point other than a crosswalk or intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles. They are completely prohibited from crossing at non-designated areas in the Town Center district.
Also prohibited would be crossing an intersection diagonally unless authorized by police, fire police or a crossing guard.
