Best Foot Forward

America being America, everyone has a car (or everyone but me so it seems sometimes!) and i've already mentioned the dangers of crossing the road - particularly with idiots on mobile phones all the time. This leads me to consider 'jaywalking' - essentially crossing the street in the wrong place or without regards to traffic regulations (not at a crosswalk - as they are so named here) which is, in actuality, a crime over here in the USA where those regulations are forced by law. Almost all urban areas in the United States and Canada require pedestrians to cross at crosswalks or intersections and to obey pedestrian traffic signals although it typically carries a warning or modest fine. Indeed, in some areas, although still illegal, jaywalking is so common that it is generally considered harmless (for example, in New York), and police only detain jaywalkers if it is done dangerously or disruptively. The penalties for jaywalking vary as, for example, in Tempe, AZ, jaywalking carries fines up to $64.00 whereas maximum fines range from $57 to $750 in other US cities.

The term itself is though to originate from the time when cars were relatively new but gaining popularity in cities like Boston and New York. In the early 1900s, 'jay' was slang for a a simpleton and, in this context, a jaywalker was a newcomer to the city, green to the ways of modern traffic signals that told folks when they could safely cross the road. The Oxford English dictionary traces it to early 20th century Boston where sophisticated city folk with little tolerance for rural folk coined the term. One thing is for sure, Los Angeles has perhaps the most stringent views against jaywalking - with good reason to as over half of the 10 million residents are licensed to drive. Given what the film 'Crash' says about LA drivers, i'm definitely going to cross safely when i go there in the future!