Jaywalking: Who is at fault?

[dthc]

So, I just read an article on jaywalking and I was wondering how you guys felt on the issue?
Here's the article.

Personally, I'm torn on the issue. I've been pulled over for jaywalking before under retarded circumstances, so I suppose I'm more likely to be swayed in that direction, but at the same time, stopping for an idiot in the middle of the road is annoying. By our mall, there is a cross walk pretty much in the middle of the street so that people don't have to jaywalk, but the problem with that is that it's uncontrolled, so the cars hardly ever give you your right of way. Anyway, I feel like there's a problem with both pedestrianism and public transportation in this town; they do not value the car-less here.

How do you feel on the matter? Are you for or against jaywalking?

[Mellusia]

I'm against stupid j-walking. If you're gonna take the risk to get across an active street, at the very least you need to be smart about it. Don't just dash across with cars only a few feet a part. Wait until there's a huge gap and dash-if you decide to j-walk in the first place.

I don't j-walk if I don't have a good enough reason or environment. I've done it at night when there's pretty no cars in the first place, but in the afternoon during rush hour? Hell no. I, a pedestrian, will obey my signals.

And yeah, make sure there aren't any cops in the vicinity xD

[Fuyumine]

People who J-walk in front of cops are just... stupid. And the thing is, most cops don't even care about J-walking, it's just that when they see people do it in front of them, they ticket them based on the principle of the whole thing. LOL

[BlackJack]

I think that Jaywalkers deserve what they get.
It's like taking drugs. You commit a potentially dangerous act, and if you mess up, you pay the price.

Jaywalking in and of itself isn't wrong, IMO. If you cross the road in the middle of the night with no cars in sight, then the spirit of the law is secure. Jaywalking is illegal to discourage people from walking out in front of cars.
No cars, no danger, no problem.

And if you do it in front of a cop......
Seriously? It's asking for it. Comparable to littering, speeding or smoking weed in front of a cop. Whether it's a serious crime or not, it's stupid to do it in front of law enforcement.

[Fuyumine]

LOL

Cop: ... Is he seriously j-walking in front of me?

Cop 2: Yeeep...

Cop: ...

Cop 2: Seriously, what a jackass.

Cop: ... *Pulls out pistol*

Cop 2: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just hand 'im a ticket.

[AddleBoy]

Well, in my town there's this particularly busy main street that doesn't have crosswalks in any convenient place. If I wanted to cross this street to get to the McDonald's or the other restaurants on this street, I'd have to walk a ways down the street to do it legally. It's pretty annoying, so I j-walk across this street all the time. Of course, I wait and only cross the street when the cars aren't close. I never get hassled for it. Actually, I j-walk across a lot of streets in the middle of the day, now that I think about it.

Honestly, I don't see any problem with J-walking as long as you're not stupid about it, like trying to cross right when there is a car coming.

[dthc]

People who J-walk in front of cops are just... stupid. And the thing is, most cops don't even care about J-walking, it's just that when they see people do it in front of them, they ticket them based on the principle of the whole thing. LOL

Bret does that all the time... That's how we got pulled over.
It went:
Bret- Let's go!
Tera- I can't; I'm black and there's a cop right there.
Bret- So? He doesn't care.
Tera- You'll see.
His car is turning around.
You're a fucking asshole.
Hurry.
Officer- She knew what you were doing was wrong. Don't do that again.
Tera- Told you so.
Bret- I'm sorry.

Or something like that.
Anyway, we were crossing from one business driveway to another. They seem like corners to Bret all the time. Anyway, it's weird cause here people stupid jaywalk and I get why people wouldn't want that; it's way too tempting to hit us. I think that realistically, jaywalking would be fine anywhere with a good city plan. Ours sucks is the problem. Most of the time, there isn't any reasonable place to cross the street. Corners don't match up, ect and it's still jaywalking. There's one intersection down the street where it's like a 10 minute wait for the light to change because 5 or 6 roads meet there. I've missed the bus so many times on that damn corner thinking, "If I would've fucking jaywalked, I'd be to school on time." My aunt had friends visit from Germany. They drove across the whole U.S. They said traffic didn't get bad until Tacoma.

[BlackJack]

Tera- I can't; I'm black and there's a cop right there.

That's simultaneously funny and sad.

I know a cop who's like that, unfortunately.
He's not a generally mean guy, but he's a mild racist.
He doesn't hate black people, but he distrusts them.
And that leads to him pulling black people over for idiot reasons and making himself look like an ass.

[Doaj]

My bad...I jaywalk a lot. I pride myself on how good I am at it (unless I'm with a black person, I guess). I just have a knack for timing my walk or brisk run to go between cars specifically so they don't have to slow down or speed up.

[Dee]

I'm against jaywalking if there isn't a crosswalk close by and/or if the crosswalk takes you kinda far away from your destination. Although I suppose I could understand the concept that a short detour that may save your life is better than getting hit by a car in an unmarked crossing zone... Sometimes you just gotta jaywalk.

I will use the crosswalk and I always look for cars before crossing, whether I'm in a marked zone or not. But if you're going to dart out into the street in a zone that's not marked, you have to be ready for the consequences.

[Happy Sumo]

Like most of you folks, I personally think people who J-walk gets what's coming to them.

If I J-walk, and I get hit by a car, or police stops me, or anything, it will be my fault. Therefore, in my opinion, everyone is responsible for their own decisions/actions.

[dthc]

A man died on like the 4th a block away from that intersection I was talking about. He was crossing at the next intersection (it's unmarked and goes across 5 lanes of traffic) when he dropped the pizza he had purchased. Gets hit by a truck. My thing is, you don't cross there unless you can see there are no cars. It's 5 fucking lanes. So, this man saw that there were no cars, probably dropped his pizza then warily looked around like fuck I'm in the middle of the road, saw the truck, and then saw it stop and thought he was going to be safe. The truck driver stopped and then decided to drive around the man and then the man fell in front of the truck. Hello, he was 59. There's an elderly man carrying a pizza home and you decided to drive around him even though he clearly just proved he doesn't quiet have a handle on things? Anyway, the point of this is, they're trying to make it out to be the dead 59 year old mans fault. They're saying he was intoxicated and doing an autopsy to prove it. Why does it matter? Pedestrian's right of way was violated and a man died. I'm also pretty sure they made it illegal here to drive around people crossing. I don't see why I shouldn't jaywalk if people are just going to run down the elderly 5 blocks from my house anyway. Our streets are not pedestrian friendly. It's just as dangerous to cross at almost any point on that street. I almost get hit at the controlled intersection 2 blocks away all the time. Anyway, my point is, Sprague is basically 13 blocks of death.

[Doaj]

A man died on like the 4th a block away from that intersection I was talking about. He was crossing at the next intersection (it's unmarked and goes across 5 lanes of traffic) when he dropped the pizza he had purchased. Gets hit by a truck. My thing is, you don't cross there unless you can see there are no cars. It's 5 fucking lanes. So, this man saw that there were no cars, probably dropped his pizza then warily looked around like fuck I'm in the middle of the road, saw the truck, and then saw it stop and thought he was going to be safe. The truck driver stopped and then decided to drive around the man and then the man fell in front of the truck. Hello, he was 59. There's an elderly man carrying a pizza home and you decided to drive around him even though he clearly just proved he doesn't quiet have a handle on things? Anyway, the point of this is, they're trying to make it out to be the dead 59 year old mans fault. They're saying he was intoxicated and doing an autopsy to prove it. Why does it matter? Pedestrian's right of way was violated and a man died. I'm also pretty sure they made it illegal here to drive around people crossing. I don't see why I shouldn't jaywalk if people are just going to run down the elderly 5 blocks from my house anyway. Our streets are not pedestrian friendly. It's just as dangerous to cross at almost any point on that street. I almost get hit at the controlled intersection 2 blocks away all the time. Anyway, my point is, Sprague is basically 13 blocks of death.

7th and Sprague? I live like, right fucking by there! That's some crazy shit.