Yes, we’ve been here before.
MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016
A contrarian asks: Should there even be “walk” signals for pedestrians?
FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
Blaming walkers for street danger is like blaming the unarmed for gun violence with the shooter right in front of you.”
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015
The Modern Moloch”: When cars were viewed as child-eating gods to be appeased.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015
Video: “The Real Reason Jaywalking Is A Crime.”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015
Walking is not a crime: Dunman and others on the scourges of jaywalking in auto-erotic America.
Jaywalking isn’t a crime. It’s a defense mechanism to circumvent wheeled stupidity, plain and simple.
Fearless, defiant, detested: Meet the Boston jaywalker, by Maria Cramer (Boston Globe)
… The long-running tension between the city’s drivers and its pedestrians spilled into City Hall last week after Mayor Martin J. Walsh took to the radio and suggested people pay more attention when they walk and bike around the city. He was instantly slammed by cycling and pedestrian advocates who accused him of victim blaming …
On the topic of annoyance versus causation:
“Boston is without question the most lawless city when it comes to pedestrians,’’ said Peter Furth, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University. “It’s an annoying thing, but that is not the cause of our fatalities.’’
He said that Walsh’s comments that pedestrians should remove their headphones and quit darting in and out of traffic are undercut by data that show that at least four of the 15 pedestrians killed in Boston last year were older than 65. Two others were children under 3.
“The idea that pedestrians jaywalking makes for an unsafe environment is not borne out by the data,’’ Furth said.
In fact, a 2014 study that looked at 51 major metropolitan areas ranked Boston as the least dangerous city for pedestrians. The city’s chaotic streetscape, which lacks a traditional grid pattern makes the city safer for pedestrians, in a way, because cars are forced to drive more slowly, Furth said.