Did you get a ticket, Chris?

[HansV]

(Toronto) Police crack down on downtown jaywalkers

[ChrisGreaves]

... downtown jaywalkers

For a minute there I got all excited - thought I was going to be assigned a ticket number for my "intermittent log out" problem, but no ....

I have a strong interest in the matter, being both a regular pedestrian and a driver.

Few drivers in Toronto now stop at a STOP sign, preferring instead to roll through at twice walking speed, gazing to the left to make sure that no one will cream them while twisting the wheel to the right to run over the innocent yobbo who is crossing the side street.
Not three years ago I managed to put a football-sized dent (my laptop, edge on, in a cloth carrying bag) in the side of a sporty red car who nearly ran me over while I was crossing on a green light. (Fellow U-turns, jumps out, bails me up, threatens to call police. "Go right ahead" I say, "and while you are waiting for them to show up try to think up how you can explain that I was able to put such a dent in your car while crossing on a green light").

I now believe that I am safer crossing about fifty yards up-stream from any stop-lights. At the intersection, drivers are too busy squeezing two seconds out of the turn and looking AWAY for crossing vehicles, but once they are clear of the intersection, their eyes revert to straight-ahead, where they can see me.

My fantasy job is to be cop-for-a-day and sit at a single stop sign in this city, nabbing every driver who fails to stop before the solid white line. I'd let them choose whether the failure is due to lousy driving or bad brakes. In the first case I'd send them off to driving school in order to get their license back. In the second case I'd have them get their car towed to a local garage/inspection station and wait for the certificate.

See also:
Do Cyclists Need to Stop At a Stop Sign?
Kindergarten Energy - part 1
Kindergarten Energy - part 2
Driving For Dummies -1
Driving For Dummies -2
Driving For Dummies -3
Driving For Dummies -4

[Catz]

I can remember the city of NY, epically in Manhattan, tried to crack down on jaywalkers a long time ago.

After a few months of trying to issue jaywalking tickets the city gave up on the idea because when some one was caught jaywalking by an office the situation usually turned into a foot race which the cops lost most of the time.

What were the cops supposed to do? Put out an APB for a jaywalking fugitive running down 3rd ave. wearing a 3G's suit and an expensive pair of Florshime shoes.

The tickets weren't much, something like $5, but what puzzled most of us was what would happen to a pedestrian if they were a found to be a habitual jaywalker?

Take all their socks and shoes away from them for six months to a year????

The law is still on the books in NYC, but I have never heard of any officer issuing a ticket except giving a stern warning. (That's if they could catch the perp.)