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California's Broken Jaywalking Law

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Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#31

Post by vacri »

Cymen wrote: post #28
JoshTriplett wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed; this isn't at all ambiguous. If you were allowed to cross, it would be a walk signal with countdown.

That is a joke -- people walk at different speeds. Walking in carland is enough punishment. The worst are burbias where the walk signal never comes on if you don't press a button.

Walking in carland is enough punishment

LA was the only place I've ever been crossing the road with the valid pedestrian signal and had to stop walking or I'd literally walk into the car turning across my path (to the right, with the same green light I'm crossing with). It happened a couple of times, and I was only there for one week.

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#32

Post by jballanc »

menssen wrote: post #15

Anecdotally (I'm posting this to see if I'm the only one who's noticed), there's something culturally (or legally) unique about jaywalking in California. The ambiguity of countdown timers should have been a problem in every city/state that put them in. But I can't imagine reading this article about anywhere else because everywhere else, everybody jaywalks all the time and the laws are rarely enforced. But relatively…

I definitely don't think it's just you. Once, when I lived in the valley, I was at a restaurant on one side of the street and wanted to go to a shop across the street, but it was the middle of the block and I didn't feel like walking to the cross-walk. The road was 3 lanes in either direction, but there was a wide grassy median, so I did what I've always done growing up in NYC: I crossed the near 3 lanes and waited on the median for the traffic in the other direction to clear.

Well, apparently the sight of a pedestrian in the median was unexpected enough that every driver in the far 3 lanes slammed on their brakes immediately, stopping traffic right in the middle of the block. It was as if they expected that I was just aimlessly wandering across the road and would step out into oncoming traffic if they didn't stop.

Of course, I think at least part of the problem is that pedestrians, in general, are so rare in CA. I used to live ~1 mile from work and would walk in regularly, whereas co-workers who lived half that distance would always drive (and don't get me started about the difficulty walking after 9 pm when every lawn sprinkler in the valley would unleash a deluge across the sidewalks).

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#34

Post by seanmcdirmid »

vacri wrote: post #31
Cymen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a joke -- people walk at different speeds. Walking in carland is enough punishment. The worst are burbias where the walk signal never comes on if you don't press a button.

Walking in carland is enough punishment LA was the only place I've ever been crossing the road with the valid pedestrian signal and had to stop walking or I'd literally walk into the car turning across my path (to the right, with the same green light I'm crossing with). It happened a couple of times, and I was only there for one week.

You have never been to china before. Here crossing the street is a game of frogger.

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#35

Post by killerdhmo »

dmitrygr wrote: post #20

Refuse to talk to cops (always, not just about jaywalking). Do not provide ID ever (unless driving, since it also happens to be your DL) and do not answer questions as to whether you have ID. The amount of paperwork they'll need to fill out in order to arrest you (and thus allow them to search you [the claim will be that the search is for weapons for their safety, but anything they find is free for them to use/look a…

This isn't really an endorsement though is it. IANAL and I'm not often in court with cops and I say cooperate they're people too. shrugs

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#36

Post by flurp »

dmitrygr wrote: post #20

Refuse to talk to cops (always, not just about jaywalking). Do not provide ID ever (unless driving, since it also happens to be your DL) and do not answer questions as to whether you have ID. The amount of paperwork they'll need to fill out in order to arrest you (and thus allow them to search you [the claim will be that the search is for weapons for their safety, but anything they find is free for them to use/look a…

I applaud your courage to stand up to that but I don't know about following the advice after reading "i do often end up in court with cops over a lot of things, this included"... Confused.

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#38

Post by thanksgiving »

jballanc wrote: post #32
menssen wrote: post #15

Anecdotally (I'm posting this to see if I'm the only one who's noticed), there's something culturally (or legally) unique about jaywalking in California. The ambiguity of countdown timers should have been a problem in every city/state that put them in. But I can't imagine reading this article about anywhere else because everywhere else, everybody jaywalks all the time and the laws are rarely enforced. But relatively…

I definitely don't think it's just you. Once, when I lived in the valley, I was at a restaurant on one side of the street and wanted to go to a shop across the street, but it was the middle of the block and I didn't feel like walking to the cross-walk. The road was 3 lanes in either direction, but there was a wide grassy median, so I did what I've always done growing up in NYC: I crossed the near 3 lanes and waited o…

> and don't get me started about the difficulty walking after 9 pm when every lawn sprinkler in the valley would unleash a deluge across the sidewalks

This problem is not unique to California. I felt the same during my stay in Overland Park, Kansas (a small suburb close to Kansas City, Missouri).

What was also noteworthy to me was how downtown kcmo was different when it snowed. They usually (always?) cleaned the sidewalks in downtown kcmo. However, Overland Park sidewalks were grossly neglected with snow from the streets often piled on the sidewalk with no apparent concern for pedestrians.

Re: California's Broken Jaywalking Law

#40

Post by MBlume »

killerdhmo wrote: post #35
dmitrygr wrote: post #20

Refuse to talk to cops (always, not just about jaywalking). Do not provide ID ever (unless driving, since it also happens to be your DL) and do not answer questions as to whether you have ID. The amount of paperwork they'll need to fill out in order to arrest you (and thus allow them to search you [the claim will be that the search is for weapons for their safety, but anything they find is free for them to use/look a…

This isn't really an endorsement though is it. IANAL and I'm not often in court with cops and I say cooperate they're people too. shrugs

They're...people who want to point guns at you and steal your money? Why would anyone want to cooperate with people like that?
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