Jaywalking

:For The Tonight Show skit, see Jaywalking (The Tonight Show).

Causes

In many areas, jaywalking has become commonplace and continues to increase. This can be attributed to many factors, including the increasing speed of society, the tendency for pedestrians to be behind schedule, laziness, reduced fitness and walking speed, and a lack of respect for the pedestrian traffic laws or traffic in general.

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In some areas, roads have become actively unfriendly to pedestrians, with long gaps between intersections with crosswalks. Several four-way intersections also feature fewer than four crosswalks, forcing pedestrians to make three crossings instead of one in order to remain legal. In these situations, jaywalking may occur out of inconvenience, annoyance, or even active civil disobedience.

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In a few cases, those who practice jaywalking do so as a form of protest. They cite further ways in which roads have become less pedestrian-friendly, including reduced or removed lighting at night, and the removal of sidewalks on one or both sides of the road. To them, jaywalking is a means of expressing their discontent with the road system and its lack of consideration for non-vehicular traffic.

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