Jaywalking: crime or convenience?
Pete of Metroblogging Portland wrote a post about jaywalking yesterday [MBP]which I read not long after having a conversation with someone about why I avoid jaywalking.
A few years ago, I stepped into the crosswalk to cross Denny just as the light was turning from yellow to red. I thought I had time to make it, a feeling encouraged by the fact that the driver in the closest lane clearly saw me and was stopped for me. Too bad for me that the driver in the further lane had no way of seeing me since I’d been blocked by the other car. Thankfully for everyone involved, that driver had amazing reflexes and instead of being dead, I was only slightly bruised. Even after the passage of years, I still think of this driver from time to time and hope that he is having a happy, healthy, successful life. I really coul’dve been dead or crippled had he struck me and it would have been solely my own fool fault.
Lots of people swear they’ll never again do something foolish when they’ve had a near-miss like this but let the passage of time loosen their resolve. Me, I decided to take this as a big hint from the cosmos and as a result, I really do avoid jaywalking. Note that I haven’t claimed that I never jaywalk because that’s not true. What is true is that I only jaywalk under extremely controlled conditions. For example, after about 6pm my neighborhood tends to be very, very quiet; if I want to walk across the street to drop a letter in the post box I don’t walk all the way to the end of the block to cross–I check to make sure there’s no oncoming traffic and then cross in the middle of the block. I spend the weekend at a friend’s house in Lynnwood from time to time; the road that goes by the house is a little busier than the street on which I live, but it offers ample visibility in both directions for me to ensure that there aren’t any cars in striking distance when I cross.
Working downtown Seattle presents many opportunities for jaywalking but I leave the taking advantage of them to other people–when one of those latte=sipping, cell-yakking, not-paying-attention-to-their-driving drivers of some behemoth SUV hits me, I want to make sure that absolutely none of the fault is mine. Those other people aren’t quite so cautious. Every day I see quite a few needlessly risk taking pedestrians running across a street mid block or against the light, all to save the few seconds it takes to walk to the end of the block and wait for the light. I haven’t witnessed anyone getting struck by a vehicle yet, but I’m sure it is only a matter of time.
Besides being dangerous, jaywalking is also illegal. The police do write tickets for it and periodically engage in anti-jaywalking crackdowns where they hand out tickets en masse. The illegality of jaywalking has never seemed to make a difference to anyone, however. I’ve never met a person whose reason not to jaywalk was that it was illegal.
So, Seattle–how do you feel about jaywalking? Do you think of it as a “real” crime? Do you think people should be ticketed for jaywalking? Have you ever been ticketed for jaywalking? Do you jaywalk yourself? Why or why not?
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I think people should be ticketed for jaywalking. I was let off with a warning once, and have never received an actual ticket. I also bike around town and pedestrians that dart out in the middle of the block scare the crap out of me. I’ve had to yell, ring my bell, and swerve into the oncoming traffic lanes to avoid jaywalkers. I couldn’t imagine hitting one while on my bicycle, let alone in a car.
I am personally a believer that jaywalking is at worst a crime of opportunity that should only be punishable when the offender is actually disrupting traffic or endangering others. This holds especially true at the intersections in town regulated by the “push-to-walk” signals, where if you are even a second late in seeking permission (or don’t see the button), you are forced to wait for the light to cycle all the way through.
While I wouldn’t suggest stepping out into a street without carefully looking, if you are on foot, you should have the right of way, period.
I got a talking to the other day from a police officer who was monitoring the intersection at the construction site on Denny just west of Whole Foods. I crossed on red right in front of him because the traffic in the intersection was so gridlocked that nobody had room to move anywhere. I was safer at that point in time than I would have been even if the light had been green. The officer’s main point of contention wasn’t that I was endangering myself, it was that it makes him look bad if I jaywalk while he is present and doesn’t do anything about. I guess he didn’t consider the legality of 3 or 4 cars that were completely blocking the intersection.
I think we need to deal with the overwhelming traffic issues that we have here that make being a pedestrian dangerous in the first place.
Like most other activities, jaywalking requires some dilligence on the part of the practioner. If there are CLEARLY no vehicles coming down the street (and that includes ones turning from intersections that may not be easily visible to the ‘walker), then I don’t see any problem with doing it. Just be aware of your surroundings, and be willing to accept responsibility if the roadway wasn’t as clear as you thought it was.
On the other hand, the completely clueless, oblivious, and devil-may-care should be cited.
I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve seen some idiot staring at their walkman/cell phone/iPod/book, and not paying the slightest attention to where they were going step into an intersection, not just on a yellow, but well after the red. Same goes for those Darwin Award wannabees who think they can beat the light; people like this deserve every bad thing that happens to them.
In Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, you’re out of your mind if you try to jaywalk. There’s just too much traffic, too much going on, for it to be safe even when it looks clear.
I can see the practice in more dormant neighborhoods, but it’s not worth the risk Downtown.
I used to find it really irritating that Seattle police will ticket jaywalkers, but what I’ve realised over time is that they generally enforce the law in the way that Steve (comment #2) suggested - only bothering to ticket jaywalkers where they’re causing a significant obstruction to traffic. That seems pretty justified to me, especially downtown where it doesn’t take too much disruption to gridlock the buses.
I’m all for ticketing people who break the law, but I’ll admit to jaywalking… But only in two places.
In my backwoods Ballard neighborhood and on the Ave, generally between 45th and 46th (since getting from Al’s used records and Cellophane Square is painful without jaywalking), but I’m pretty good about making sure it is 100% clear.