Jaywalking is decriminalized in California under new law
latimes.com
latimes.com
People in CA don't know how to cross the street. Seriously. Having lived in other cities and countries this is one thing that, at least to me, stands out here in CA. These people would last 15 seconds in NYC or other places crossing the street as they do.
One of the things I see all the time --particularly with kids-- is running to cross the street. No concept at all of the horrific situation this creates as a driver might have no time to react and less time to stop. The other one is people is people walking into the crosswalk without looking at all, often with their heads firmly in their phones. It's absolutely crazy.
In fact, I taught my kids to cross the street during a trip to Manhattan. Walk, no phone, pay attention, look at the driver, it's OK to take a pause and let cars go by, etc.
Oh, yes, and this one. Not sure how common this is elsewhere. I see people walking and jogging on the street instead of the perfectly good sidewalk. I don't understand that one at all. During some times of the day you can't see them until you are close, sometimes very close. They don't even wear light clothing or some sort of visibility aid. Not sure what that's about.
> instead of the perfectly good sidewalk ... Not sure what that's about.
poop avoidance and/or sidewalk elevation hazards (abrupt elevation transition, etc). avoiding having to navigate the inevitable other slow moving pedestrians.
What's wrong with running on the street? From the driver's perspective it's not much different than bike traffic.
Good question. I think the answer comes down to speed and visibility. A fast moving object tends to trigger our visual system far faster and better than a slow/dark/low-contrast object.
I can't tell you how many times someone walking or jogging on the street has been invisible until I got very close. I have to add that the street where most people run in my neighborhood has large shade trees. In other words, from a driver's perspective, they are very often running in really dark areas.
A lot of the runners are out either very early in the day or late. Because this particular street runs North-South, this means drivers have the sun in their eyes when it's low. That, plus the shading, sometimes makes it difficult to see people.
The above are conditions only applicable to my or similar environments. I concede that there might be environments where visibility isn't a problem at all.
I guess the part I don't understand, both for bikes and runners, is this idea that somehow self-preservation does not seem to be part of the equation. Why? Because they are indestructible? I know enough people who ended-up in the hospital with serious injuries just falling from a bicycle. I don't even want to imagine what could happen if they were struck by a car, running or cycling. Once again, my conditions, things might be different elsewhere. On this particular road cars are travelling at speeds between 50 and 70 MPH. It is, in my opinion, absolutely demented to ride a bike or jog on this road.