# In America, we don't stop for JayWalkers! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177 "2005-10-21T01:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/41 "2005-10-21T18:22:08Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I love this part–What the hell? You dismember someone with your car and it’s not your fault because you didn’t know it? I don’t get that either. He should most definitely face charges, at least long enough to pull his license and impound his car. Then if they want to say he’s not competent for trial, I’m cool with that. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/42 "2005-10-21T19:02:52Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > … I surmize, if I was in a foreign country, lets say Tasmania, and while I’m motoring I spot another American accross the street wishing to run to the otherside, I stop mid-blvd … Because the difference between Australians and Americans is readily visible from a block away at 35 mph. You go, White Soul Brother! ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/43 "2005-10-21T19:09:06Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Because the difference between Australians and Americans is readily visible from a block away at 35 mph. You go, White Soul Brother! Exactly. Mr Roboto, please explain how you knew the driver two cars ahead of you and these jaywalkers were not American. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/44 "2005-10-21T19:42:00Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > Alice, I’m saying at the risk of unnecessarily causing an accident, don’t stop for Jaywalkers, ,snip. Then why do you keep talking about the “country” that the driver and jaywalkers were from? If there’s no difference, why do you keep bringing it up? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/45 "2005-10-21T19:50:59Z")
In Soviet Russia, JayWalkers don’t stop for us! ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/46 "2005-10-21T20:07:58Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > In related news, I let a little old lady pull into a parking space when clearly it was mine. > > FEMALE SOLIDARITY!!! God, you’re such an ageist! ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/47 "2005-10-21T20:10:43Z")
Unsafe, silly, foolish driver. But beyond that, also a stupid _Mr Roboto, please circle correct response and cross out those remaining)_ beaner/raghead/slant/hebe/wop/frog/abo/redskin. ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/48 "2005-10-21T20:13:35Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Because the difference between Australians and Americans is readily visible from a block away at 35 mph. You go, White Soul Brother! It’s tattoed on the back of their necks. I agree that it is foolish and dangerous for a driver to stop for a pedestrain waiting to cross in the middle of the block. Obviously it’s different if the person is already in the middle of the road. However the whole racial aspect of the OP is fucked up and would have made the argument much more compelling if it had simply been left out. ---
**Author:** ![aamco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@aamco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aamco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/49 "2005-10-21T20:21:56Z")
Is this a thinly veiled KKK recruitment message, or just a really lame rant? Goddamn immigrants moving to our country and stealing our tax dollars and taking our jobs and now fucking slowing our streets down! ---
**Author:** ![WonJohnSoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f17d59/32.png) [@WonJohnSoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonJohnSoup)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/50 "2005-10-21T21:07:40Z")
[Remember](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/WonJohnSoup/chinesehero.jpg), **Mr. Roboto**. ---
**Author:** ![WonJohnSoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f17d59/32.png) [@WonJohnSoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonJohnSoup)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/51 "2005-10-21T21:09:52Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > All furiners look the same 😃 Then what the hell did we color-code the dots on our heads for??? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/52 "2005-10-21T21:17:18Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > However, I’m a little miffed that basically, drivers have to stop for pedestrians, no matter what, and are legally liable, yet pedestrians can jaywalk or saunter across a busy intersection after the light has turned, **and there’s no negative ramifications for them**. I’d like to see red light cameras that bust pedestrian scofflaws. Of course there’s no good way to do that, but one can dream. Bolding mine: I don’t know, but death might be a negative ramification. Or loss of limbs. 😉 I tease, I’m actually with you on the camera idea, if only it would work. I’m a pedestrian myself who rarely, rarely drives, but the stupid shit happens on both ends. A fender bender sucks, I agree, and I’d be hopping mad if a pedestrian jaywalking was the cause of an accident; but then again, that’s when the pedestrian gets away with it. When he doesn’t, well… there’s usually blood. (Still his own damn fault, which is aggravating as all hell, since by then there’s nothing that can be said or done without the driver looking like an insensitive ass.) It’s jerkish all over. But I, too, wonder what race has to do with _anything_ in the OP… and maybe I misread one of the posts above, but is\*\* Roboto \*\* saying that if he were in this person’s shoes, as in, himself in another country, that he would be doing the _same thing_? Or did I completely misunderstand that one? (He may have been being sarcastic and I was whoooshed. I’m easily whoooshed.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/53 "2005-10-21T21:19:34Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > It’s been my understanding that any crossing of the street outside of crosswalks or at corners is jaywalking. I could be wrong. But, this is the [law.com](http://law.com) definition: > > jaywalking > n. walking across a street outside of marked cross-walks, and not at a corner, and/or against a signal light. If there is vehicle traffic or clear markings of a place to cross, this is a traffic misdemeanor subject to fine, and may be (but not conclusively) contributory negligence in the event of injury to the jaywalker by a vehicle. The important thing there is _“if there is vehicle traffic”_. When you look at the actual laws, it’s very uncommon to actually prohibit crossing at anywhere apart from an intersection/crosswalk. It’s usually treated like [this](http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/peds-vt.htm#sec1152): > [@](#): > > Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway. So it’s perfectly legal to cross in the middle of a block – so long as you aren’t interfering with traffic. If you’re walking along and there’s a break in traffic that gives you an opportunity to safely cross, you can knock yourself out. If your destination is directly across the street, it’s going to take you five minutes to walk to the light and back, and you think it’ll be faster to wait for a break in traffic where you stand, there’s no problem – that’s not jaywalking. Jaywalking is when you blithely walk into the road without right-of-way, requiring drivers to take steps to avoid running your idiotic ass over. I have a hard time imagining two people, in a short period of time, walking out into other traffic because one clueless driver stopped. Oh, sure-- because _you_ stopped, I’m going to walk into oncoming traffic. WTF? Then again, I’m probably a more-cautious pedestrian than most. It drives me up the wall when I’m walking on the sidewalk, about to cross an entrance to a parking lot, and some schmuck stops in a parallel lane, halfway into his turn into the lot, and graciously motions for me to cross. No fucking _way_ am I walking in front of your car, dipshit – if the guy behind you fails to stop, he’s going to push you right over me. I recognize that the person is trying to be polite, so I smile at them as I gesture for them to go first – but _goddamn_ it, I hate that – especially since, if they just made their damned turn instead of waiting for me, it wouldn’t hold me up at all. Instead I’m standing there doing there “No, really, after you!” dance. Twats. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/54 "2005-10-21T21:40:06Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Then again, I’m probably a more-cautious pedestrian than most. It drives me up the wall when I’m walking on the sidewalk, about to cross an entrance to a parking lot, and some schmuck stops in a parallel lane, halfway into his turn into the lot, and graciously motions for me to cross. No fucking _way_ am I walking in front of your car, dipshit – if the guy behind you fails to stop, he’s going to push you right over me. I recognize that the person is trying to be polite, so I smile at them as I gesture for them to go first – but _goddamn_ it, I hate that – especially since, if they just made their damned turn instead of waiting for me, it wouldn’t hold me up at all. Instead I’m standing there doing there “No, really, after you!” dance. Twats. Right with you, there, **Larry Mudd**. And if head-shaking won’t convey the message that I’m not accepting the right-of-way, I’ll sit down on the curb and start reading a newspaper. They usually get it, then. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/55 "2005-10-21T21:49:26Z")
And then they seem to demand that you take them up on their courtesy, like it’s a terrible sacrifice they had to make and you’re an ungrateful bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/56 "2005-10-22T00:07:37Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I love this part–What the hell? You dismember someone with your car and it’s not your fault because you didn’t know it? If he does not remember, he cannot dismember. FREE OJ! YAAAAAAHHH! 😉😃 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/57 "2005-10-22T00:21:26Z")
Oh, I’m with you **Roboto**! The other day, I went down to the gas station for a pack of smokes. The cashier was Mexican, and so was the person ahead of me in line. Can you believe that the cashier _served_ the guy? The gall!!! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/58 "2005-10-22T00:43:16Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Because the difference between Australians and Americans is readily visible from a block away at 35 mph. You go, White Soul Brother! In the OP’s defence, he didn’t mention Australians but _Tasmanians_. And you can certainly tell a Tasmanian from a block away. They’re the ones with two heads. ::d & r:: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/59 "2005-10-22T11:27:13Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > I surmize, if I was in a foreign country, lets say Tasmania, and while I’m motoring I spot another American accross the street wishing to run to the otherside, I stop mid-blvd, oblivious to the other traffic behind me traveling 35 to 45 MPH, just to allow another countryman an invitation to get accross, I am not aware that I’ve almost cause a collision behind me because I feel this special connection to the Pedestrian. \Tasmania isn’t a foreign country. If you’re not Australian, Tasmania may be PART of a foreign country, but it’s not a country all by its lonesome.\ That being said, I’m terrified of jaywalkers. If I see people hovering on the side of the road who look like they might be about to fling themselves into the traffic, I’ll slow down just in case. Possibly the woman ahead of you saw that the jaywalkers were about to do something dangerous and thought she’d rather stop than run them over? And depending where you are, more than one lot of idiot jaywalkers in a few blocks isn’t unlikely. Try driving in St Kilda on a Friday night; the trick is to get out without running anybody over. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177/60 "2005-10-22T11:28:59Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > In the OP’s defence, he didn’t mention Australians but _Tasmanians_. > > And you can certainly tell a Tasmanian from a block away. They’re the ones with two heads. I was going to make that joke, but I thought better off it, and now I’m sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-we-dont-stop-for-jaywalkers/327177.md?page=4)