Op-Ed: L.A. invented jaywalking tickets to serve cars. It’s time to give streets back to walkers
For more on this story, as presented in the Los Angeles Times, please go to <a href=”http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/05/local/la-me-jaywalking-20131105#b>Latimes.
A man runs near a crosswalk with a child in the crosswalk, a month after the death of a pedestrian killed in the crash of a car. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles police recently instituted jaywalking tickets for drivers involved in collisions with pedestrians. It seemed like a good idea, given that pedestrians are most at risk of getting hit by cars in L.A. intersections. However, it has not been well received by pedestrians who have experienced jaywalking on their street.
“I don’t understand the need to ticket drivers for jaywalking,” said Stephanie Broussard, a pedestrian who lives on her street and said that “jaywalking has been going on for generations” on her block. “I don’t get why it’s a legal requirement for drivers to be ticketed. You can’t tell a driver that they have to stop just because the sidewalk is dangerous for people to walk on. You always have a choice for drivers.” Broussard, who is disabled, said walking on her block for 15 years had become impossible because drivers would pass by without acknowledging her.
A pedestrian who lives on the same block as Broussard says drivers often try to run her over, and that the LAPD’s enforcement of the jaywalking tickets seems to be “more about money and more about trying to make some more money and maybe create some more revenue to keep existing problems and costs down for the department.” She said that the tickets seem to have increased the number of citations issued