Interesting article at Slate,
In Defense of Jaywalking, where the author describes how the media and others often slant coverage of pedestrian vs auto accidents--examples include
San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe , and
New York Post columns.
Police, who are typically car-bound, are often
biased in favor of other drivers.
Not unexpectedly the Federal Highway Administration has
curious language regarding walkers--"Still, almost no one can avoid occasional pedestrian status". Even the term
jaywalking is commonly
misused.
Solutions? More money towards safer walking (including a reversal of
funding policies that favor cars), better places to walk, pedestrian-friendly engineering, lower urban speed limits, harsher penalties for drivers that violate pedestrian's rights, and critical reading of the often
selective and sensationalized media coverage of traffic crashes.
posted by aerotive
on Nov 10, 2009 -
100 comments
Historian assaulted then arrested for jaywalking in Atlanta. A historian at the "Historians against the war" conference in Atlanta was stopped for jaywalking. Being from the UK, he thanked the officer, then realized the officer didn’t have any name tag or identification. He asked to see the police officers identification, and the police officer took offense stating "See my Uniform!". The officer kicked the mans leg out, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him. The police officer had 5 other police officers step on the historian causing bruises on his neck. After being in jail for 8 hours, he arranged 1000 dollar bail. He refused to accept a please bargain that would effect his green card, so the case was dropped.
posted by IronWolve
on Jan 9, 2007 -
124 comments
