Jaywalking

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

Safety

Jaywalking safety depends on many factors, including but not limited to the following:

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• The pedestrian's level of diligence and attentiveness
• How far the pedestrian can see down the road
• How visible the pedestrian is
• The distance to the nearest point where additional unseen traffic may appear, typically intersections
• The number of lanes to cross
• The speed limit of the road
• Current condition of the road (wet, icy, etc.)
• The presence or absence of traffic
• The speed and volume of traffic (if present)
• The size of the break in traffic selected for crossing (if present)
• How common jaywalking is in the area

Jaywalking is generally safest in quiet residential neighbourhoods, where cars travel slowly, stop frequently, and are accustomed to dealing with crossing pedestrians. In some quieter neighbourhoods, the road and sidewalk are interchangeable for pedestrians; they may make long diagonal crossings in the absence of traffic, or walk entirely on the road for many reasons, including poor sidewalk conditions (e.g. snow). Traffic laws regarding pedestrians in these areas are largely ignored in favour of mutual respect, with pedestrians making room for cars, and cars making wide arcs to give pedestrians a comfortable margin.

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Some supporters of jaywalking argue that on certain streets, jaywalking can be safer than crossing properly at an intersection. When a pedestrian crosses at an intersection, there is traffic going three or more different directions, with four directions being standard in almost all cases. Vehicles may go straight, or they may turn left or right across the pedestrian's path. This is typically at high speed, sometimes without signalling, and sometimes while running red lights at even higher speeds. The flaw in this argument is that drivers are more likely to expect pedestrians at a corner than in the middle of the block. Regardless, these types of jaywalkers fall into two distinct categories: (1) The Quick; and (2) The Dead.

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In the middle of the block, cars are travelling in only two directions. If there is a raised median in the centre of the road, traffic is further reduced to one direction during each stage of the crossing. The pedestrian must only monitor one or two directions and can easily see and track all oncoming traffic. Once a break forms in the traffic, the pedestrian can cross, with little or no risk of being hit by an unseen vehicle.

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Variants of this argument exist. In downtown Montréal, independent of the above argument, some also claim that it can be safer to cross at a crosswalk when the light is red. They argue that many local drivers practice very aggressive driving habits; in particular, that they have a tendency to turn right at high speed, without consideration for crossing pedestrians. However, right turns on a red light are illegal on all of the island, so a pedestrian crossing against the light has little risk of being hit by a car approaching from behind and turning right.

Related Topics:
Montréal - Island

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