‘I’m walking here!’: jaywalking legalized in New York City
www.theguardian.com
New law, letting people cross street outside of crosswalk, ends racial disparities in enforcement, council member says

The new law permits pedestrians to cross a roadway at any point, including outside of a crosswalk. It also allows for crossing against traffic signals and specifically states that doing so is no longer a violation of the city’s administrative code. But the new law also warns that pedestrians crossing outside of a crosswalk do not have the right of way and that they should yield to other traffic that has the right of way.

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.worldEnglish
      832·
      6 hours ago

      Eh, keeping car traffic smooth is way more challenging than keeping pedestrian traffic smooth. Also people tend to be more chaotic in there direction than cars. If a car stops in front of you you’re sorta stuck if a human stops in front of you you can always bash him in the head with a bar stool or go around or whatever.

      I know it was auto manufacturers lobbying for the law but can you imagine people just randomly darting across an interstate moving at 80+ mph? I can because I have seen it before and not once have I thought wow I sure am glad that’s legal.

      • drake@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        281·
        6 hours ago

        I think you might have picked a bad community to share your sympathies for smooth car traffic, I’m afraid.

        For what it’s worth, I think it’s reasonable enough to forbid pedestrians from crossing high-speed (60+ mph) roads, but otherwise they should have full right of way over any road, and fuck the cars. They can just be patient and deal with it.

        • 佐藤カズマ@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          4 hours ago

          But what if those roads didn’t have to exist at all. We could replace those with dedicated high speed rail corridors.

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldEnglish
        63·
        4 hours ago

        The entire concept of a car is a scam from manufacturing to driving it. Source: Former car mechanic who has hated cars since before it was cool.

        • Lightor@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          46 minutes ago

          What, wait, no. I’ve lived in very rural areas, wtf was I supposed to do without a car? Bike back and forth a few hours for groceries?

      • 佐藤カズマ@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        4 hours ago

        I will never be sad when car brains like you learn the hard way that cars are nothing but weapons. This is exactly why cars should be completely illegal, full stop.