Ask Mike: Jaywalking
Hey Guys,
The other day, I spotted a scofflaw jog across the street without using a crosswalk. As I stood there, twiddling my thumbs waiting for the light to change, I got to wondering about the expression “jaywalking.” How did that term get its start?
Back in early 20th century the term “jay” was slang for country bumpkin or hick. To put it another way, a type of person who didn’t have any experience in the big, scary city. Back then, many people were seeing cities for the first time and didn’t know the rules of the road. As a consequence, they wandered out into streets and risked being hit by cars. People called these folks “jaywalkers.” It was not a term of endearment.
The Straight Dope pins down the origin to Boston. A 1927 issue of Harpers wrote, “the Bostonian … has reduced ‘a pedestrian who crosses streets in disregard of traffic signals’ to the compact ‘jaywalking.’”
These days, folks who jaywalk risk more than being honked at by angry drivers. Hefty fines ($191 in Los Angeles, for example) can result. Or, if they’re having a really bad day, a trip to the hospital.
Thanks for reading,
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For what it’s worth, the term is almost unknown in Britain, where legally you can cross the road (as long as it’s not a motorway) anywhere. Of course, if it’s away from a crossing you do so at your own risk.
lol
Lol i sometimes jay walk because i literally have to. Like the next crossroad is like 3 blocks away. I get mad because they wont do anything about it.
Here’s one for ya. The intersection where I work has no crosswalk marked. But according to the law it’s a legal crosswalk unmarked. A cop told me every so often they do a sting and write a 100 plus tickets in a four hour shift. He said the lame excuses people use would make ya laffe.
Hey, even i have been wondering about this.. thanks for the info!!
Did he cross at Corner or Middle of intersection?
Crossing is legal at corners, if lines painted or not. It isn’t “jaywalking”.
I Know, a Lawyer Told me downtown when he did.
Dont be such a KIA.
In some backward education place, this phenomenon is common, people’s sense of discipline was poor, basic common sense knowledge;http://www.xsweddingdress.info someone says, education level represents a country’s prosperity and decline, it was justified! In addition to the laws and regulations of contempt or value or to understand legal person centered education!
As someone has already said, we don’t have such a thing as ‘jaywalking’ in the UK and find the concept quite bizarre. You’re allowed to cross anywhere in the UK but at your own risk!
i did not bi live
i thought it meant crooked or somethinng were ur crossing the road crooked. lol
You know tourists in Seattle because they cross the street when the crosswalk light is not lit. If you live here, you just remain in front of the crosswalk until the light changes. I’ve heard that in the past, the police gave out very hefty tickets, and although I have not seen a ticket given out in fourteen years, the peer pressure keeps people obeying the law, myself included.
haha. The government needs money really bad so they have nickel and dime ways to make more of it like inventing jay-walking.
As Cantab said, jaywalking is an alien concept here in the UK, there are very few places where you are not allowed to cross the street or road.
I’ve always been bemused by the fact that in America, streets are built primarily for vehicles and pedestrians in effect are expected to get out of the way. It’s the other way round here; most town and City streets are designed primarily for people to walk on and motorists are allowed the privilege to drive down the middle.
I think you’re just cool, for using the term “scofflaw”.
LOL.
Across the road was allowed by law in the United Kingdom, it’s not as good topic!
It just goes to show how pathetic the world is to become, if a person can’t cross a road until the light shows green.
To even contemplate that people actually agree that being fined for doing such an activity is valid is pure madness too.
It’s a beautiful cycle: Build a simple road, let people use the road, tax the people, let cars use the road, tax the cars that use the road, fine people for using the road improperly, fine the cars for using the road improperly (or by mistake), convince the world its running our of oil and the environment is about to collapse, allow cyclists to use the road for free, fine them, then tax them, electric cars, tax them, fine them…
I didn’t know Jaywalking was that old.
Pedestrians have the right of way in America too.
O.K., but why did they call bumkins “Jays?” That dosn’t make sense. Your answer is sound but lacks the research to back it up. Was it like “jaybirds” that fly in and out? Give me a little more than just your word. I can get that from anyone. Anyway, thanks Mike! How do I apply for your job?
Dear Mike,
Have you heard of “illegal names”? In some countries like Sweden and New Zealand, it’s illegal to name your baby certain things. I think it would be cool for you to have a blog entry about that.
-Olivia
I always jaywalk and the pigs never fine me :3
Well, i think it’s pretty obvious to why it’s called, “J-Walking”… You go in a straight line, crossing the street, and then turn left or right when youre on the sidewalk, and you made the letter J! ^_^ lol.. well.. thats what i think.
Jays don’t walk, they hop. Some crows walk – the raven does – and some do both. But not the jay. So there’s no such thing as jaywalking. So many laws in the USA and Old Bill always ready to fine you. We hear a lot about “the land of the free” and we all hope you are not ruining it for yourselves.
I’m glad the police are so incredibly lenient in Houston, or I’d have many fines!
I’ve never even heard of a person getting a ticket for jaywalking in Houston.
Yay for unrestricted right to travel!
For what is it is worth I have never heard of a scofflaw!
According to one historian, the earliest known use of the word jaywalker in print was in the Chicago Tribune in 1909.[2] (The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1917.) The term’s dissemination was due in part to a deliberate effort by promoters of automobiles, such as local auto clubs and dealers, to redefine streets as places where pedestrians do not belong.[3]
People think that jaywalking in the US just means crossing in the middle of the block, which is not necessarily true. It is usually defined as “crossing between signalized intersections” which means walking across the road between 2 intersections with traffic signals.
If you were at light and he crossed in front of you it was a cross walk it may not have been painted but it was a cross walk.
Thanks for the info,now i know where this term jaywalking came from….funny tho.
Feliz Navidad Mike!
Why would people care about fines? How can a police fine you if you have no ID on you? You can completely lie about everything and they wouldn’t even know, unless you are already in the criminal records, a fingerprint will call you out hehe.
I can cross where I like at my own risk. Also, if I can get into the road safely, the vehicular traffic has to give way to me. Big up crossing roads in the UK!!!
Awesome, I have certainly heard of it on television but coming from England had no clue as to the origin and even less clue what jaywalking actually was lol, thanks Mike
Jaywalking is the most unenforced law of the land.
if you watch lethal weapon 3,they try to site a man for jay walking,a bit confusing as the man says i was’nt even driving i was walking??????? as for some answers above from the uk where i also are from,jay walking is the law here as well,but its so lapse that its not really considered a crime as not many have really heard about it?
Jaywalking – Walking in Jordans.
Lol I have never Jaywalked, much less walked out of line. Lets just say I am OCD and like to walk in the very center of the corsswalk…
At my high school if you got caught jaywalking, it’s a $97 fine. I feel like if there’s no cars in sight or they’re a good distance away jaywalking is fine.
land of the free? not anymore. home of the brave? heck yeah. We (USA) are already mad at Virginia for controlling us in Texas. how do you think the revolutionary war got started? but when you tax us for simply crossing the road, are we really “theland of the free” anymore? no. Congress has added laws and amendments that were never meant to be added. they all contradict each other. we have the freedom of religion, yet we are not allowed to talk about God in school, but when islam or hinduism is talked about, it is perfectly fine. they even thought about taking god out of the pledge. is Texas at the point of breaking away from the union and becoming the republic of Texas once more?
This kind of things makes us realise that we use some words without knowing where they came from and what was their origin.
In the land of the free, you can’t cross the road wherever you want to without risk of a fine. Lucky Americans
because back in the olden days, people would be tokin on a fat J and couldn’t walk straight, therefore having to cross at weird places. The term ‘jaywalking’ was coined if you walk not on the crosswalk if you were high or something.
lol idk
Hey in Boston everyone jaywalks after my weekend visit I’ve picked up a few tricks myself
Americans are such obedient people. Most people in the world take responsibility for their own safety and cross wherever they think it is safe. But not the Land of the Free. I hope you guys never get to China or Vietnam.
In America we have strict jaywalking laws because the pedestrian always has the right of way. Therefore, there are very few incidents when a car hits a pedestrian and the driver is not found at fault. We don’t ” cross at own risk ” it is at the risk of the driver, our streets are built to be safe for the pedestrian and the driver.
thank you , i’ve never thought about that
In UK after the 39 -45 war anyone who crossed the road at an angle was called a jay walker after the jay bird who always travels at an angle
I think little rock arkansas has the national top rated city to hit jaywalkers.
Hi
you know, where i live you can rarely find crosswalks and if there is any, you can’t find anyone crossing from there but from where ever they wish. If the government was about to give a ticket for jaywalkers here, thousands of police officers were needed in each street. LOL.
“Well, i think it’s pretty obvious to why it’s called, “J-Walking”… You go in a straight line, crossing the street, and then turn left or right when youre on the sidewalk, and you made the letter J! ^_^ lol.. well.. thats what i think.”
Not all that obvious to me. Example: Walker is at point A, (a non-cross walk section between two intersections in a long block) wanting to get to Point B (which is not directly across from Point A, but at a 30-degree angle to the left). If Walker follows that 30-degree angle to get directly to Point B, that would be considered jaywalking. However: if after looking both ways to see if the traffic is clear, Walker takes a “shorter” route, either by
(a) following a straight line across from Point A, then making a 90-degree angle by going left to reach
Point B, or
(b) moving in a straight line away from Point A to a spot directly across from Point B and crossing straight over to Point B,
Walker has reached Point B safely and thus has not jaywalked. Sound legal enough?