I jaywalk. I expect most people do — the world is cut by too many roads to only cross at the intersection, with the light (or WALK signal).
But, like speeding, or other minor infractions of the vehicle code and law, there are jaywalkers and there are jaywalkers. There are those who are impatient, and those who are rude, and those who are just idiots — and those, of course, who are all three.
So, for no reason whatsoever, here are the rules I’ve tried to develop for myself. Or, rather, questions I try to mentally run through beefore I step off the curb.
- Am you being stupid? By jaywalking, you’re being stupid, since you are putting yourself in harm’s way. Cars can always plough through red lights, too. But face it — you know when you’re doing something stupid, nine times out of ten. Trust those feelings. Because there’s a little stupid, and then there’s a lot stupid. The latter tends to translate, eventually, to dead.
It’s safer, btw, to cross at an intersection, even if not with the light. Drivers are used to paying more attention at intersections, and there’s usually some sort of quasi-safe spot within the crosswalk or in the center divider. But it’s still always at least a little stupid. Don’t be too stupid. Which leads up to …
- Are you taking an unnecessary chance? Most people jaywalk because they are impatient, not because it’s an emergency. Fact is, you might add no more than five or ten minutes to your walk, if that, if you take the safe, legal route. So beyond the basic chance you’re taking, consider this: Is being killed or crippled by a car is worth it if you don’t have to wait for the light to change? Do you want your family to deal with that? Or the driver that hits you? Or do you want to deal with the consequences if a driver careens out of control trying to avoid hitting you?
If not, then reconsider your action. Or hang on there for another thirty seconds, until that speeding semi goes past.
- Are you factoring in delays? “Oh, I can get across the street before that car gets here!” Sure, you probably can. Unless you trip. Or slip. Or drop your cell phone, or something in your pocket falls out to the ground. Will that make you hesitate? Stop? Try to run back and recover your PalmPilot? What happens to your safety margin then?
- Do you know the signals and traffic flow? Much of jaywalking depends on knowing how the cars come through, knowing when it’s red there that it’s green there, and the next signal change will mean a green arrow there, and a red there. Do you know the flow on this street your crossing, or this intersection? Are you sure? Has it changed with that construction they just started? Are you sure?
Jaywalking means actually paying more attention to other cars and obstacles, rather than less. It means you can’t be lazy. It means you can’t assume people will stop. It means you need to know where every car is that could reach you, when they’ll reach you, and how to avoid it. Don’t do it if you want to just read a book while you stroll.
- Are you making the drivers nervous? Don’t. Don’t do anything that makes drivers nervous. If a driver has to slow down to avoid hitting you, you’ve not only offended the driver, but you’ve increased the risk of something going Badly Wrong. Nervous drivers make mistakes. They punch the accelerator, thinking they can get past you before you’re in the way. They swerve, thinking they’re going to hit you. They pay attention to you, rather than to the other cars (and pedestrians). Believe me, you do not want to cause an accident just so that you could get to lunch two minutes sooner.
At the one intersection where I don’t always cross with the light, I will not step off the curb if I can see a car coming toward me (I have about a block of visibility in either direction). Because if I can see them, then they can see me, and that’s going to make them nervous.
Violating traffic ordinances when nobody’s around is between you and your conscience. Doing it when it impacts someone else’s drive is impolite at best, hazardous at worst. Don’t do it.
- Are you ready to take it like a man? If the cops spot you and give you a ticket for jaywalking, suck it up. Be polite and contrite. Don’t make excuses. Do apologize. Don’t shout about how everyone does it, and why don’t they go and catch some terrorists instead. You did the crime, now do the (money=) time.
Following the above rules won’t keep Something Bad from happening. We’re all human. You’ll glance around, not see anybody, step off the curb, and suddenly a car you didn’t notice will turn onto the street, or stand on the brakes, or something like that. If you’re lucky, the only lasting impact will be a brief adrenaline high and a resolve not to pull a stunt like that again. If you’re lucky.
Don’t know if these are helpful, or even interesting, but I’ve been thinking about them for a while. Maybe something for me to consider even more than I have.
Living in Norway, I was surprised to find that people are actually penalized for walking across the street.
Here, we value the freedom of movement highly, and the freedom to walk anywhere that is not considered intimately private is considered paramount. Owned wilderness, city streets, it matters little - unless it’s fenced in, or has a sign saying “No walking here”, it is legal to walk there. It might be possible to be given a fine for obstructing traffic if you’re bloody dumb enough to walk around in the middle of a busy street, and it is generally acknowledged that pedestrians = soft and squishy, cars = high impact velocity with metal frontside, so pedestrians generally are careful enough to avoid dangerous situations. It’s common sense to be aware of the traffic.
However, should a car hit a pedestrian - and it’s defined as the car doing the hitting unless it is standing still - then the driver is *always* responsible. *ALWAYS*. Even if there’s a red light for crossing the street, and a pedestrian walks out right in front of a car. In that case, the mitigating circumstances would be taken into account, and the driver would have his or her sentence mildened, but will still be responsible, and will be charged with manslaughter through negligence. Needless to say, should it be found that the car was speeding, that would be considered a very much more serious aggravating circumstance than the jaywalking, and *might* increase the charge to manslaughter through gross negligence. There is, of course, the matter of judgment - even if a speeding car hits a pedestrian crossing at a designated crossing with a green signal, the driver can be acquitted should extraordinary circumstances be present.
This is considered the natural order of things; a driver has, at his or her disposal, a metric tonne of metal capable of moving at speeds in excess of 100km/h. The pedestrian usually has, at theirs, between 40 and 130 kilograms, moving at up to around 20km/h. The attendant potential for destruction in the first case comes with a great deal more responsibility for one’s conduct than the relatively harmless second case.
But that doesn’t relieve you, the pedestrian, of the responsibility of thinking. Use your mind and your common sense. There can be no excuses for not doing this, whatsoever. If you act stupidly and end up overrun and crippled, it is your fault, not the driver’s; likewise, if a driver acts stupidly and cripples you, you have to live with it, even though it was their fault.
Just remember the cardinal rule of traffic: Everybody else is a mindless idiot, and will do the stupidest possible thing at the stupidest possible time. Act accordingly.
That’s a pretty darned good rule to live by (literally).