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Elgin adopts ordinance banning pedestrian activity in roadways, city cites safety and legal limits on solicitation
Summary
The Elgin committee approved a new ordinance Jan. 22 that bars pedestrian activities in roadways — including medians and crosswalks when used to solicit — after staff cited rising pedestrian fatalities and local accident increases; enforcement will begin with education and warnings and escalate to citations if needed.
Elgin’s committee of the whole on Jan. 22 approved an ordinance that prohibits pedestrian activities in public roadways, including medians and crosswalks where people are soliciting drivers, to address a rise in pedestrian crashes and what staff described as a shifting legal landscape. The measure passed unanimously.
City managers told the committee that pedestrian fatalities remain elevated nationwide and that locally incidents of solicitations and related crashes have increased more than 60% (from 114 reported accidents in 2015 to 184 in 2024). Corporation counsel said the ordinance is written to avoid First Amendment problems identified in Reed v. Town of Gilbert while designating roadways and medians as nonpublic forums for speech activity.
"This all came about with Reed versus Gilbert," Corporation Counsel Beck said, describing the…
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