Stop Jaywalking!

imuttoo/flickr

There have been 17 pedestrian deaths in Austin this year, a pretty dramatic increase from the seven from January-October 2010. Members of the APD jaywalking task force are targeting intersections deemed "most dangerous to pedestrians." They include: Congress and Cesar Chavez, 5th and Lavaca, Lamar and St. Johns Avenue, Congress and Woodward, and 4th and Congress. But just 'cause you're not crossing at one the streets listed above doesn't mean you're in the clear. APD has been issuing tickets all over town and at 200 bucks a pop, saving those extra few seconds to cross against the light might not be worth it.

All of this talk about jaywalking has Austinist wondering how "jaywalking" came to be the term used to describe people walking against the light. Our keen journalistic instincts first led us to Google and then to an excerpt from a Fighting Traffic. According to author Peter D. Norton:

"A ‘jay’ was a hayseed, out of place in the city; a jaywalker was someone who did not know how to walk in a city. Originally the term applied as much or more to pedestrians who obstructed the path of other pedestrians—by failing, for example, to keep to the right on the sidewalk. As autos grew common on city streets, jaywalkers were more often pedestrians oblivious to the danger of city motor traffic… ‘Jaywalker’ carried the sting of ridicule, and many objected to branding independent-minded pedestrians with the term. In 1915 New York’s police commissioner, Arthur Woods, attempted to use it to describe anyone who crossed the street at mid-block. The New York Times objected, calling the word ‘highly opprobrious’ and ‘a truly shocking name.’ Any attempt to arrest pedestrians would be ’silly and intolerable."

So you're welcome, dear reader, for the fun party fact you can use this weekend. And, please, stop jaywalking.