Jaywalking?

So Brittney asked me to research jaywalking and why it is called jaywalking! i was always curious on that one too so i figured it would be a good one! so i did some research

The definition of jaywalking is: to cross a street carelessly or in an illegal manner so as to be endangered by traffic

I found a few different reasons that it was called jaywalking is "jay" refers to a foolish rural person—a rube—unfamiliar with city ways A ‘jay’ was a hayseed, out of place in the city; a jaywalker was someone who did not know how to walk in a city. Originally the term applied as much or more to pedestrians who obstructed the path of other pedestrians—by failing, for example, to keep to the right on the sidewalk.

There were multiple attempts to stop jaywalking from happening one of my favorites was:

in Detroit in 1922, where the Packard Motor Car Company exploited the new fashion for monuments to traffic fatalities. Packard built an oversize imitation tombstone that closely resembled the monument to the innocent child victims of accidents in Baltimore. But Packard’s tombstone redirected blame to the victims. It was marked ‘Erected to the Memory of Mr. J. Walker: He Stepped from the Curb Without Looking.’

So random information: while i was in traffic school my instructor (a retired highway patrol) said that it is considered jaywalking if you walk across a street between 2 controlled intersections. meaning that if there is a street between to intersections with traffic lights or a cop directing traffic it is not considered jaywalking to walk across the street and where between them. However if there is only 2 streets with controlled intersections it is illegal to walk across the street anywhere between the intersections. if there is a non controlled intersection between the 2 controlled intersections if you walk just outside of the crosswalk you are within legal rights to do that while walking in the crosswalk against a red would be illegal.

So now you know how to cheat the system! :) but just because it isn't against the law does not mean that you should do it or that it is safe so be careful!

Here are a couple of the sites that i have found on the subject of jaywalking:

http://www.honolulupd.org/traffic/jaywalking.htm

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaywalking

http://westnorth.com/2009/02/01/a-history-of-jaywalking/