I recently was standing on a street corner, and kitty corner from me were two pedestrians, crossing on what I could see from my direction was a green with a red hand.
They were crossing to a corner on my left, to which I was also crossing. A glorified meter maid (police officer) was waiting to give them a ticket for jaywalking. The officer (and I use this term loosely) was standing so that she was about 5 yards behind the traffic signal, so she could not see what the pedestrians were looking at, but could see the direction she was facing had she crossed the intersection.
I pointed out to the “officer” (much to her annoyance) that the folks had crossed on the green and that she was in no better position than I was to see what the pedestrians saw. She was uninterested in listing me as a witness. I gave the pedestrians my telephone number in case they wanted me as a witness.
Now when I got home I eventually remembered my observations of the police protecting us, and tried to look up exactly what California Code section prohibits jaywalking. I was unable to find it. This inquiring mind wants to know what section it is and what section says that the red hand means you are jaywalking.
Only state law. I don’t know whether municipalities can pass pedestrian laws, but they are strictly limited as to vehicle laws: they follow the same laws, and put up signs about what the speed limits are and turns governed by a bunch of state regulations.
Thank you Otto. Exactly what I was looking for. I still cannot stomach the thought of a police officer staking out an intersection for regular pedestrians to jaywalk.
I think the California pedestrian laws are idiotic. It just gives cops an easy way to increase their ticket-handing-out score, so as to look good to their supervisors. And it enables the municipality to get some free money, via fines.
If some foolish pedestrian courts death by crossing inappropriately – if a driver has to hit his breaks hard, or swerve abruptly in order to avoid hitting the pedestrian – yes, by all means, ticket the pedestrian. But not otherwise! But IMO, if it’s safe to cross, the pedestrian should be entitled to cross.
To me, a cop ticketing a pedestrian for improper steet crossing is very reminisent of rural small town “traps,” such as having a light at a deserted crossroads that stays red for 15 minutes. When a driver finally decides the light is out of order and proceeds, a cop comes out from behind a billboard and tickets him for “running a red light”.
And yes, Otto, I should have been able to find it myself. This just means I’ll be making more requests.
This was clearly a case where a cop was waiting across the street from a movie theater to nail a bunch of jaywalkers. If I hadn’t been quite sick and busy, I would have stayed on the victim’s starting corner for a while and warned them, but I had to get back home and to bed.
I did manage to piss-off the cop though. Hasseling people just to write tickets drives me nuts! I agree with Hazel
Charleston, SC, has started an interesting system. When the Walk sign is on, the number of seconds you have to cross the street begins to show, once you have 30 seconds or less to cross. A good idea.
I didn’t realize cops actually gave tickets for jaywalking, I thought it was some kind of urban myth or something that parents scare their kids with.
Anyway, how do they collect on jaywalking tickets? I mean, traffic tickets they can collect because they know the license plate number of the car, but if you get a jaywalking ticket can’t you say that your name is John Smith and then just toss the ticket when you get out of sight of the cop?
The LAPD used to be notorious for giving out jaywalking tickets, but under the last two police chiefs the force has decided to bolster its image and has cut back on those tickets.
If anything, the police tend to favor pedestrians more than drivers. A pedestrian in Los Angeles or elsewhere in Southern California is considered a nuisance by most drivers and car vs. pedestrian accidents have been on the rise I believe.
Downtown L.A. and the Westside are notorious for having drivers who will think nothing of taking a right turn into a crosswalk full of pedestrians who are crossing with the light. The stereotype of the Southern Californian talking on his cellular phone will driving an SUV at breakneck speed has some basis in fact I’m afraid.
Some cities have set up stings where drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks are ticketed. The city of Alhambra has done this.
In my experience, a cop in Southern California won’t ticket you for crossing against a “DON’T WALK” unless you are hindering traffic when you do it.
What kind of backwater gives out jaywalking tickets???
I wish I could get a jaywalking ticket. I would make sure the officer wrote clearly so I could scan it in, clean it up, and put it on a t-shirt, because no one would believe it without proof.
