WEBVTT - Is Jaywalking Still a Crime?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here,

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<v Speaker 1>you're in a rush and don't want to head all

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<v Speaker 1>the way to the crosswalk to cross the street anyway?

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<v Speaker 1>Who cares? Right? The store you need is directly across

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<v Speaker 1>the street, not anywhere near the intersection, so you go

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<v Speaker 1>ahead and cross when traffic is clear. What you've just

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<v Speaker 1>done is jaywalked across to the street at somewhere other

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<v Speaker 1>than an intersection or crosswalk, And it's probably illegal. But why?

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<v Speaker 1>Mostly this has to do with pedestrian safety in general,

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<v Speaker 1>and it makes sense considering that data from the National

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<v Speaker 1>Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, shows a total of

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<v Speaker 1>over six thousand pedestrian deaths in twenty nineteen alone. Furthermore,

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<v Speaker 1>while pedestrians represent only three percent of those involved in

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<v Speaker 1>traffic accidents, they account for fourteen teen percent of traffic deaths,

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<v Speaker 1>and about seventy percent of pedestrian fatalities are from accidents

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<v Speaker 1>outside of intersections. So, yes, jaywalking is illegal for safety reasons,

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<v Speaker 1>got it. But jaywalking's history and the enforcement of it

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<v Speaker 1>is more complicated than one might expect. The term jaywalking

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<v Speaker 1>is derived from an older and now more obscure term

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<v Speaker 1>jay driving. Jay driving was used to describe drivers of

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<v Speaker 1>horse drawn carriages who stubbornly drove on the wrong side

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<v Speaker 1>of the road. Some of the earliest known uses of

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<v Speaker 1>both jaywalking and jay driving come from newspapers in Kansas

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen oh five. In both cases, the word jay

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<v Speaker 1>was a derogatory term for someone who was inexperienced at

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<v Speaker 1>what they were doing. However, the earliest uses of jaywalking

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<v Speaker 1>described poor sidewalk manners rather than illegally crossing the street.

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<v Speaker 1>It's unclear exactly why the meaning of the time of all.

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<v Speaker 1>One might assume that when the automobile appeared, the car

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<v Speaker 1>also became a status symbol, and therefore that there was

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<v Speaker 1>class tension among those who could afford to drive and

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<v Speaker 1>those who were stuck walking, But in fact the opposite

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<v Speaker 1>is true. Drivers were the social outsiders, outnumbered by pedestrians

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<v Speaker 1>who resented being displaced to sidewalks. This social phase lasted

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<v Speaker 1>well into the nineteen twenties, when the automobile industry lobbied

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<v Speaker 1>to make cities more car friendly and to make jaywalking

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<v Speaker 1>first a faux pas and then eventually a crime. A

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<v Speaker 1>crosswalks were added to streets in nineteen eleven, and laws

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<v Speaker 1>against jaywalking were widespread by the nineteen thirties. These days,

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<v Speaker 1>if your hit while jaywalking, your rights as a pedestrian

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<v Speaker 1>vary from state to state. Most states view the situation differently,

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<v Speaker 1>depending on whether the pedestrian was in a controlled crossing

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<v Speaker 1>with a crosswalk or an uncontrolled crossing with no markings

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<v Speaker 1>or signals of Further complicating matters, traffic signals don't always

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<v Speaker 1>have the same meaning in every state, and some states

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<v Speaker 1>have distracted walking laws that let law enforcement issue citations

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<v Speaker 1>for offences such as texting while crossing an intersection. Then

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<v Speaker 1>there are states like Michigan that have no state wide

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<v Speaker 1>crosswalk laws, leaving it up to cities and towns to

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<v Speaker 1>write and communicate their own regulations. So when you're behind

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<v Speaker 1>the wheel, how do you keep up with all those laws?

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<v Speaker 1>Consider that old rule of thumb that you might have

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<v Speaker 1>learned way back in driver's education. The right of way

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<v Speaker 1>is something you give, not take a Laws for drivers

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<v Speaker 1>again vary from state to state, but in general, drivers

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<v Speaker 1>must yield the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks

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<v Speaker 1>and at intersections that have stop signs or traffic signals.

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<v Speaker 1>But pedestrians are also expected to yield the right of

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<v Speaker 1>way to drivers whenever there's no established place for them

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<v Speaker 1>to cross still. In nineteen states, drivers are supposed to

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<v Speaker 1>yield to a pedestrian when they're anywhere in the roadway,

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<v Speaker 1>and in even more states, drivers are supposed to yield

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<v Speaker 1>to pedestrians whenever the pedestrian is in whatever specific proximity

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<v Speaker 1>to the driver's vehicle. The NHTSA has a guide for

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<v Speaker 1>Pedestrian Safety Enforcement for law enforcement officers. It advises those

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<v Speaker 1>officers to quote site both drivers and pedestrians, but focus

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<v Speaker 1>on drivers as they are the less vulnerable population. In

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<v Speaker 1>other words, pedestrians and drivers often share responsibility for collisions,

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<v Speaker 1>but drivers should remember that they are much less likely

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<v Speaker 1>to suffer bodily harm. But okay, you've probably heard the

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<v Speaker 1>pedestrians always have the right of way even if they

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<v Speaker 1>are jaywalking. Is that not true? Surprise? There are a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of ways to answer this question. First, it depends

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<v Speaker 1>again on local laws. A second, it depends on what

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<v Speaker 1>the driver's car insurance policy says under those local laws.

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<v Speaker 1>And third, and most importantly, if you're driving and you

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<v Speaker 1>hit a pedestrian and they get injured, it doesn't really

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<v Speaker 1>matter who was right. The NHTSA's guidelines emphasize the pedestrians

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<v Speaker 1>are still responsible for their own safety. However, it's also

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<v Speaker 1>the obligation of motorists to be on the lookout for

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<v Speaker 1>pedestrians everywhere and at all times. But what about those jaywalkers?

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<v Speaker 1>Are they likely to be penalized for the practice in general?

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<v Speaker 1>The answer is probably no. However, according to various investigations,

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<v Speaker 1>current enforcement against jaywalking disproportionately targets people of color. For example,

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<v Speaker 1>following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty fourteen, a Department of Justice investigation found that

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<v Speaker 1>ninety five percent of people cited for jaywalking in that

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<v Speaker 1>district were black, even though only about seventy five percent

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<v Speaker 1>of the total population was black at the time. Even

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<v Speaker 1>in the mostly white collar town of Champagne or Banno, Illinois,

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<v Speaker 1>eighty nine percent of people cited for jaywalking. We're black.

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<v Speaker 1>And even when jaywalking enforcement isn't overtly racist, it may

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<v Speaker 1>target pedestrians in misleading or unfair ways as a means

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<v Speaker 1>of revenue generation rather than safety. Improvement. So in short, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>jaywalking is illegal in most jurisdictions, but it falls on

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<v Speaker 1>both drivers and pedestrians to be aware of local laws.

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<v Speaker 1>Though even then common sense and a priority on safety

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<v Speaker 1>should prevail. Pay attention out there. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the article is jaywalking still a crime? On how

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<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot com? Written by Shri's three wid brain Stuff

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