Roads Are Not Parks & Parlours!

Jaywalking as we all know refers to pedestrian crossing between intersections or darting across from one side of the road to the other especially outside of a crosswalk, which may be marked or not marked. And jaywalkers walk unmindful of impending risks and danger from the oncoming traffic. They refuse to yield to the cars moving and go cross the roads. They do not look for pedestrian signal to go green before they can cross. More often than not they are oblivious to the signals and walk across as they deem fit, alone and in groups.


Usually there is no formally priority regulations in writing or for drivers and pedestrians at road junctions or other locations, except with respect to marked Zebra, Pelican, and Puffin crossings, where pedestrians have "precedence" under defined conditions. The pedestrians in the process of crossing at (unmarked) road junctions have priority, as a matter of common law.


According to one historian, the earliest known use of the word jaywalker in print was in the Chicago Tribune in 1909.The term's dissemination was due in part to a deliberate effort by promoters of automobiles, such as local auto clubs and dealers, to redefine streets as places where pedestrians do not belong.


But today with road median extending for long stretches in some cities pedestrians simply do not have the patience and time to take an extended walk to get to the other side of the road and possibly back too. Children, adults and the old find it all the more inconvenient to make a dash across the road, even risking their lives.