Jaywalking Is Just the Tip of Indifference to Laws

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

Philip Lalka of Wheaton suggested [Dr. Gridlock, May 4] that police should step up ticketing of pedestrians who do not use crosswalks.

As someone who routinely jaywalks, I have to respond. I think the public would be better served if police increased ticketing the drivers who force me and others to cross streets illegally.

I have never come close to being hit by a vehicle while jaywalking. I have had several close calls while using designated crosswalks. Drivers often run red lights and turn right on red without stopping, even at intersections where a sign clearly instructs "No Turn on Red."

Several drivers have blared their horns at me while I was in the crosswalk with the "Walk" sign on. I think it is safer -- and others I have talked to agree -- to jaywalk than to use the crosswalks.

Of course, one must be alert and use caution while jaywalking. I'll admit the practice has some risk to it, but I am willing to assume that risk. I think that people who jaywalk are so used to doing it that even if we were ticketed, we wouldn't stop.

David Bancroft

Olney

We need to get drivers and walkers sharing the same set of expectations about each other's behavior, rather than guessing what each will do next. But a discussion recommending jaywalking illustrates how far we have to go to achieve that.

Readers of my Get There blog [ http://blog.washingtonpost.com/getthere] offered these endorsements of jaywalking:

· Mid-block crossing can be safer, because the pedestrian is dealing with only two directions of traffic rather than four, and some drivers don't yield anyway.

· Even with a walk signal at an intersection, pedestrians must worry about drivers making a right or left turn on green. Most of the right-on-green drivers can see the walkers, but left-turning drivers often are looking at oncoming vehicles rather than pedestrians.

· Many signals are badly timed for pedestrians, making them wait too long to cross a narrow street with little traffic.

· It's unreasonable to walk far out of the way if the destination is across the street.

· To make jaywalking more safe, rules can be applied: Cars have the right-of-way, the jaywalker must cross so that cars do not have to adjust their speed, and pedestrians must not dart out between parked cars.

Drivers and pedestrians complain that the rules governing crossings are confusing. In fact, some traffic laws can be difficult to interpret. Many pedestrian safety advocates cite the following provision in the Virginia code, which they say is ambiguous and makes jaywalking difficult to stop:

"When crossing highways, pedestrians shall not carelessly or maliciously interfere with the orderly passage of vehicles. They shall cross, wherever possible, only at intersections or marked crosswalks. Where intersections contain no marked crosswalks, pedestrians shall not be guilty of negligence as a matter of law for crossing at any such intersection or between intersections when crossing by the most direct route."

The next time you see someone crossing in the middle of a Virginia roadway, try to decide: Is the person maliciously interfering or just jaywalking?

Made to Be Broken?

Here are some more letters about what we can expect from others on the road, whether we're walking, biking or driving. The misbehavior the writers observe provokes concern, exasperation and anger.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I would like to explain to Matt Brennan [Dr. Gridlock, May 1] that many bicyclists provoke motorists by their complete indifference to the rules of the road and lack of respect for motorists. Stop signs and light signals are roadside decorations, road markings are artwork and lanes do not exist.

If a bicyclist I am approaching in my car is following the law (it does apply to both cars and bicyclists), I will give them wide berth, but if they demonstrate no respect for the law, I will respect their choice and follow suit.

Rob Phillips

Reston

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

As I walk to work in the morning before the sun comes up, I always see drivers with their headlights off. Not some days. Not most days. Every day.

There are schoolchildren out there waiting for their buses -- in neighborhoods that have no sidewalks -- and we know they are not the most alert pedestrians, especially when they're running for the bus. Dark-colored vehicles, with their headlights off, are all but invisible, not only to pedestrians but also to other drivers.

I imagine that such careless and clueless drivers are not regular readers of your column, so I would appeal to other drivers to please do something to alert these law-breaking menaces. Flash your high beams at them. Flip your own headlights off and on at them.

I cringe every morning when I can barely see these stealth cars sharing the roads with children, joggers, dog walkers -- and me.

John Rowan

North Bethesda

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

My route home to Laurel each day at 4 p.m. is New York Avenue to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. At the Bladensburg Road intersection, I've seen large groups of high school kids coming and going from the McDonald's restaurant on the inbound side of New York Avenue.

None of them uses the crosswalk. Quite a few are busy talking on cellphones. I've held my breath on more than one occasion when they have stepped into oncoming traffic.

They anger a lot of drivers by impeding the flow of traffic. Many times, I've also noticed a police cruiser in the area. They never stop or say anything to these kids.

It is just a matter of time before one or more of these youths are maimed or killed for the sake of a hamburger.

Robin P. Snow

Laurel

Many readers will see the first letter's defense of jaywalking as perfectly logical, but these other letters suggest an unintended consequence of ignoring traffic laws: a widespread sense that the laws are meaningless or ineffective.

Dr. Gridlock appears Thursdays in the Extras and Sundays in the Metro section. Send e-mails todrgridlock@washpost.comor write to Dr. Gridlock at 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Include your name, community and phone numbers.