I’m walkin’ here! 

A part of New Yorkers’ daily routine that marks a true Knickerbocker from a newbie is now legal. 

Jaywalking, or crossing the street outside the crosswalk, was legalized in the Big Apple Saturday after Mayor Eric Adams failed to either sign or veto the legislation 30 days after it was passed by the City Council and sent to his desk.

The law, introduced by Brooklyn Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse, decriminalizes crossing the street outside the designated pedestrian crosswalk as well as crossing against the traffic signal and scraps the previous $250 fine for jaywalking. 

Narcisse and criminal justice reform advocates said the decades-old law making jaywalking illegal and fineable — established in 1958 — discriminated against New Yorkers of color and decriminalization of the safety rule was a necessary reform

“Let’s be real, every New Yorker jaywalks. People are simply trying to get where they need to go,” Narcisse said in an emailed statement. “Laws that penalize common behaviors for everyday movement shouldn’t exist, especially when they unfairly impact communities of color.”

More than 90% of jaywalking tickets issued in 2023 were given to black and Latino pedestrians, according to the Brooklyn Democrat. 

The new law changes the city administrative code to allow pedestrians to cross the street at any point in the road including against traffic lights. It doesn’t, however, give pedestrians the right of way when choosing to jaywalk and warns that they should still follow traffic signs and rules, including stopping for oncoming traffic. 

“All road users are safer when everyone follows traffic rules,” City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia said in a statement. “We continue to encourage pedestrians to take advantage of safety mechanisms in place — such as daylighting, pedestrian islands, and leading pedestrian intervals — by crossing in a crosswalk with the walk signal.”

The legislation also doesn’t protect jaywalkers from being sued if they cause a crash by their actions. 

Not all council members were supportive of the bill. 

Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola, of Queens, called it “ridiculous” in a previous interview with The Post. 

“How can anyone imagine this is a good idea considering the [amount] of pedestrian deaths we continue to have each year? It would only put more pedestrians in danger,” she said in July when it was first introduced. 

The City Council has tried twice before to legalize jaywalking — in 2020 and 2021 but both bills were delayed and ultimately died when the Council session ended. 

New York City is not the first city to decriminalize the act. It follows other cities and states like Denver and Kansas City, Missouri, California, Nevada and Virginia that have done the same for pedestrians, according to Seattle-based pedestrian advocacy group America Walks.

“Cities that truly care about safety focus on street design, speeding and dangerously large vehicles,” Mike McGinn, the group’s executive director, said Tuesday. “Not jaywalking laws.”

The new law was applauded by the Legal Aid Society as well. The nonprofit lawyer group said that the criminalization of jaywalking was often used as an excuse to stop an individual for further questioning similar to “stop and frisk” laws that were deemed unconstitutional. 

“With this legislation now codified, we hope that both the Adams Administration and the City Council will continue to abolish relic laws that serve no public safety purpose and only ensnare people in the criminal legal system,” Legal Aid said in a statement.

With Post wires