Jaywalking legalised in New York City
Jaywalking, crossing the street outside of the designated crossing or against the traffic light, has been legalised in New York City. Legislation passed by the Big Apple’s city council has officially become law.
“Let’s be real, every New Yorker jaywalks,” Council member Mercedes Narcisse, a Brooklyn Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said. “People are simply trying to get where they need to go. Laws that penalize common behaviors for everyday movement shouldn’t exist, especially when they unfairly impact communities of color.”
The new law would allow pedestrians to cross a road at any point, including outside of a crosswalk. It also allows for contravening traffic signals and specifically states that a pedestrian doing so is no longer violating the city’s administrative code.
But the law does however warn pedestrians that they do not have the right of way if they do so; they should give way or ‘yield’ to other traffic which is given priority.
Other American cities, including Denver and Kansas City, as well as states including California, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia, have all decriminalised jaywalking in recent years, America Walks, a Seattle-based group that has been tracking the proposals has said.
“Cities that truly care about safety focus on street design, speeding and dangerously large vehicles,” Mike McGinn, the group’s executive director, said. “Not jaywalking laws.”
Jaywalking laws were originally pushed for by car makers in the 1930s as part of a bid to keep pedestrians off the streets to make more room for cars, America Walks said. The term “jaywalking” has its roots in midwestern slang for a country bumpkin and is meant to be derogatory.
In New York City, which sees pedestrians and motorists frequently coming into conflict, the jaywalking law had been on the books since 1958, carrying a fine of up to $250.
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