The Invention of Jaywalking

[Johnie Walker]

100 years ago, if you were a pedestrian, crossing the street was simple: you walked across it.

Today, if there's traffic in the area and you want to follow the law, you need to find a crosswalk. And if there's a traffic light, you need to wait for it to change to green.

To most people, this seems part of the basic nature of roads. But it's actually the result of an aggressive, forgotten 1920s campaign led by auto groups and manufacturers that redefined who owned the city street.

"In the early days of the automobile, it was drivers' job to avoid you, not your job to avoid them," says Peter Norton, a historian at the University of Virginia and author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. "But under the new model, streets became a place for cars — and as a pedestrian, it's your fault if you get hit."

It's strange to imagine now, but prior to the 1920s, city streets looked dramatically different than they do today. They were considered to be a public space: a place for pedestrians, pushcart vendors, horse-drawn vehicles, streetcars, and children at play.

This is from this article: http://www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history

- Johnie

 

[Bob Dylan]

When automobiles first started showing up the law required them to give the right of way to wagons and horses!!!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

When automobiles first started showing up the law required them to give the right of way to wagons and horses!!!

Speaking from experience, Jim? h34r:

 

[Johnie Walker]

When automobiles first started showing up the law required them to give the right of way to wagons and horses!!!

Speaking from experience, Jim? h34r:

I had to go to my doctor, who gave me several shots, to recover... :blink:

 

[NorthShore]

Hey, STOP! No driving through that game. Can't you see this guy is in the middle of an at bat?

 

[Barciur]

Still, in the United States (at least many parts of the country) nobody cares about jaywalking. You walk across the streets of Philadelphia, New York City and many other small towns, through the red lights and through cities where nobody will nail you for jaywalking, even if it's technically against the law. The similar culture prevails in the UK or Italy. But in Germany or Poland, you will get a ticket if you are caught for crossing an empty street at 2am in the morning. So it's still different depending on where you are.

 

[railiner]

Very true....in NYC, the driver's and the pedestrian's are very aggressive, both ignoring the law. In other parts of the country, I have just walked to a crosswalk, without even putting my foot into the street, and driver's courteously come to a stop, waiting for me to cross.....

 

[ehbowen]

Still, in the United States (at least many parts of the country) nobody cares about jaywalking. You walk across the streets of Philadelphia, New York City and many other small towns, through the red lights and through cities where nobody will nail you for jaywalking, even if it's technically against the law. The similar culture prevails in the UK or Italy. But in Germany or Poland, you will get a ticket if you are caught for crossing an empty street at 2am in the morning. So it's still different depending on where you are.

I got ticketed for crossing an empty street at 2 in the morning, in Long Beach. In 1986.

 

[Bob Dylan]

When I was in the Navy I was in Tijuana on Liberty ( my Shipmates twisted my arm!) and we were " arrested" for Jaywalking on Avienda de Revolution and had to pay " the fine" ( la mordida) to the "officer"on the spot or go to jail!

Those were different times in Mexico and TJ!!!

 

[leemell]

Don't try it in California, they are very serious about it as ehbowen above noted.

 

[CCC1007]

Here in Montana there can be up to 30-40 miles to the next crosswalk, so the law still says the pedestrian has the right of way. We still look both ways, as you are just as dead if they were in the wrong.

 

[Barciur]

Yeah, fair enough - it takes nearly as long to fly to California from London as it does to fly to Europe, so it's a big country with different places. Here on the east coast though it's different.