Should jaywalking be legal?
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Date: 2020-11-12
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Comments and reviews: 9
jfwilki2
A few weeks ago I was forced to jaywalk - actually jayrun, is that a term? - across a 5-lane 25 mph street with heavy traffic. I was at a suburban shopping center that had rows of shops (separate buildings, not strip malls) on either side of the street. The rows of shops are themselves very pedestrian-unfriendly, having no sidewalks, long distances, and sometimes steep slopes from one building to the next. However, as a young, able-bodied person who grew up on a hilly farm, I had no issues walking between them. The problem was when I had to get to a bus stop on the other side of the street. There's a crosswalk at the opposite end of the complex from the one I was on. Walking there would have been a 10-15 minute walk. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! There was a car dealership on my side of the street, and they had a new building under construction. The fence around the construction site extended all the way to the road, leaving me with no room to walk alongside the road. I had no choice but to jaywalk. I spent almost 20 minutes waiting for a long enough gap in traffic in all five lanes to cross and then ran across the street because the gap wasn't large enough for me to feel comfortable walking.
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A few weeks ago I was forced to jaywalk - actually jayrun, is that a term? - across a 5-lane 25 mph street with heavy traffic. I was at a suburban shopping center that had rows of shops (separate buildings, not strip malls) on either side of the street. The rows of shops are themselves very pedestrian-unfriendly, having no sidewalks, long distances, and sometimes steep slopes from one building to the next. However, as a young, able-bodied person who grew up on a hilly farm, I had no issues walking between them. The problem was when I had to get to a bus stop on the other side of the street. There's a crosswalk at the opposite end of the complex from the one I was on. Walking there would have been a 10-15 minute walk. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! There was a car dealership on my side of the street, and they had a new building under construction. The fence around the construction site extended all the way to the road, leaving me with no room to walk alongside the road. I had no choice but to jaywalk. I spent almost 20 minutes waiting for a long enough gap in traffic in all five lanes to cross and then ran across the street because the gap wasn't large enough for me to feel comfortable walking.
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MrCorvi
I don't know man
I live in Italy in front of a busy street in the city center
Were i live people jaywalk a lot, and the steat have a lot of Curves, soo if you cross the street right before one of this curves you are going to be hit by a car 100%
And there is a lot of people that die in this way on only this street.
Soo i can agree with your point if you have a prefect view of your surroundings in your car, but there are too many dagnerus points in many street to just allow to corss at any point of It
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I don't know man
I live in Italy in front of a busy street in the city center
Were i live people jaywalk a lot, and the steat have a lot of Curves, soo if you cross the street right before one of this curves you are going to be hit by a car 100%
And there is a lot of people that die in this way on only this street.
Soo i can agree with your point if you have a prefect view of your surroundings in your car, but there are too many dagnerus points in many street to just allow to corss at any point of It
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King
Jaywalking laws could be changed, but shouldn t be removed entirely. Why should a single person be free to step into traffic and hold up the flow of many others, including people choosing to take public transit, just because of their mode of transit? Their definitely should be changes that allow crossing under safe (T. B. D) conditions, but allowing people to step out in front of a bus because that s where they feel like crossing doesn t sound like a great idea
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Jaywalking laws could be changed, but shouldn t be removed entirely. Why should a single person be free to step into traffic and hold up the flow of many others, including people choosing to take public transit, just because of their mode of transit? Their definitely should be changes that allow crossing under safe (T. B. D) conditions, but allowing people to step out in front of a bus because that s where they feel like crossing doesn t sound like a great idea
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Valeria
I'm not from the US, so sorry if this is a silly question, but if your police really has a bias against non-white people, aren't they just going to use some other excuse to stop them if jaywalking laws get abolished? Police is allowed to stop people for a myriad of different reasons anyway, aren't they? So, if the racial bias problem is indeed this serious, isn't the core of it just whatever is happening in the police system, not the jaywalking law?
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I'm not from the US, so sorry if this is a silly question, but if your police really has a bias against non-white people, aren't they just going to use some other excuse to stop them if jaywalking laws get abolished? Police is allowed to stop people for a myriad of different reasons anyway, aren't they? So, if the racial bias problem is indeed this serious, isn't the core of it just whatever is happening in the police system, not the jaywalking law?
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David
I agree that jaywalking shouldn't be illegal, but I do think good urban design includes designing crossings to be convenient in a way that keeps pedestrians safe and allows drivers to not be inconvenienced to too high a degree. But there is no one solution. In very dense urban areas, separated grade crossings, bridges, or tunnels can help at high traffic streets. In low density areas, yeah, just cross wherever you damn well please. :)
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I agree that jaywalking shouldn't be illegal, but I do think good urban design includes designing crossings to be convenient in a way that keeps pedestrians safe and allows drivers to not be inconvenienced to too high a degree. But there is no one solution. In very dense urban areas, separated grade crossings, bridges, or tunnels can help at high traffic streets. In low density areas, yeah, just cross wherever you damn well please. :)
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Alexander
Crossing the road outside of a crossing should only be illegal if (a. it can be proven without a doubt that you did so without due care or that you have caused an accident, (b. you are crossing motorways, dedicated tramways, or other roadways where pedestrians are rightfully prohibited, (c. you are disobeying lawful and rational traffic signals especially if the signal came from a crossing guard or traffic officer.
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Crossing the road outside of a crossing should only be illegal if (a. it can be proven without a doubt that you did so without due care or that you have caused an accident, (b. you are crossing motorways, dedicated tramways, or other roadways where pedestrians are rightfully prohibited, (c. you are disobeying lawful and rational traffic signals especially if the signal came from a crossing guard or traffic officer.
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Tom
As a college student in the '70s at the the University of Washington, my sister, who grew up back east, was constantly ticketed for jaywalking in Seattle. After she got her law degree, she became a public defender who loved defending pedestrians cited for crossing the street. She was part of the movement to reduce jaywalking enforcement in Seattle. Now, she's a judge there. She'll let you slide: )
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As a college student in the '70s at the the University of Washington, my sister, who grew up back east, was constantly ticketed for jaywalking in Seattle. After she got her law degree, she became a public defender who loved defending pedestrians cited for crossing the street. She was part of the movement to reduce jaywalking enforcement in Seattle. Now, she's a judge there. She'll let you slide: )
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Tom
Really happy to see Seattle front and center in this episode! I'd be curious your thoughts -- especially related to jaywalking -- regarding Seattle's CHOP, and how there still is a 20 foot wall around the East Precinct, 4 months after the events. The wall extends past the sidewalk into the street, blocks views for cars in the intersection, and isnt even the only one in the city!
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Really happy to see Seattle front and center in this episode! I'd be curious your thoughts -- especially related to jaywalking -- regarding Seattle's CHOP, and how there still is a 20 foot wall around the East Precinct, 4 months after the events. The wall extends past the sidewalk into the street, blocks views for cars in the intersection, and isnt even the only one in the city!
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Brian
Thank you for making this video! It is heartbreaking but not surprising. Privileged people just don't understand what it is like to be on the other side of the coin. This is one of many laws that should be abolished to help minorities stay safe and keep bad officers/actors away from temptations to abuse power. Once again, thank you for your message and fantastic content.
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Thank you for making this video! It is heartbreaking but not surprising. Privileged people just don't understand what it is like to be on the other side of the coin. This is one of many laws that should be abolished to help minorities stay safe and keep bad officers/actors away from temptations to abuse power. Once again, thank you for your message and fantastic content.
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