Here’s the Sandy James interview with Margaret Gallagher on CBC Radio – on the history of jaywalking. More than I knew (and I thought I knew a lot).
Peter Norton in ‘Fighting Traffic” was the scholar who made the connection between the origins of ‘jaywalking’ and motordom (the designation for all the interests and infrastructure promoting automobility and the resdesign of our cities to accommodate it.) An essential read for those who want to understand the world we live in and how we move around.
I’ve been spending a lot of time in Burnaby recently and have found almost every light has a pedestrian beg button for pedestrian crossing lights. If you hit the button one second after it has turned green, you usually have to wait for a full cycle before you get the pedestrian crossing light. This has turned me into a ‘jaywalker’, as it is unreasonable when there is still plenty of time to safely cross.