For this lifelong jaywalker, new California law is a step in the right direction

Most people make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, let’s go with a confession:

I’m a jaywalker. A lifelong, habitual committer of the act of jaywalking. Ever since my two legs became capable of crossing streets without parental supervision.

In California (and elsewhere), this makes me a scofflaw, a petty criminal. It’s a character stain that weighs heavily on my conscience — even though I’ve always gotten away with it.

Thankfully, my outlaw days are at an end. Decades of illegal behavior gets washed away in 2023, when jaywalking in California is decriminalized. Meaning that pedestrians like myself that safely cross streets outside of designated intersections are no longer subject to moving violations and fines.

There are limits to such behavior, of course.

Opinion

Don’t confuse us with Dustin Hoffman’s character in “Midnight Cowboy” who strolls into New York City traffic, pounds the hood of a taxi and yells, ‘Hey, I’m walking here!” Which has to be the greatest jaywalking moment ever captured on film.

But if I’m on foot and need to cross the street to get to a particular destination — and if my doing so doesn’t put my safety at risk or impact anyone else’s day — why trudge all the way to the corner just to push the little metal button?

Someone else who shares that sentiment is state Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) whose “Freedom to Walk” act was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But as I discovered while reading up on the topic, Ting’s effort also contains a social equity component. Jaywalking citations, according to state data and much in-depth reporting, are issued in disproportionate numbers to minorities and the economically burdened. The people who can least afford to pay the accompanying fines that typically approach $200.

Black pedestrians in San Diego are 4.3 times as likely to be cited for jaywalking as white pedestrians and 3.7 times more likely in Los Angeles, according to data from the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act cited by Ting’s office.

“It should not be a criminal offense to safely cross the street,” Ting said. “When expensive tickets and unnecessary confrontations with police impact only certain communities, it’s time to reconsider how we use our law enforcement resources and whether our jaywalking laws really do protect pedestrians.”

Jaywalking’s California origins

Another thing I learned is that jaywalking laws have a California origin story. They were enacted in the 1930s, beginning in Los Angeles, under pressure from an automobile industry anxious to shift the blame to pedestrians for the growing number of fatal car accidents.

Even the word jaywalking reflects the pro-motorist slant. During the early 20th century, the word “jay” was used to describe a stupid or foolish person. Jay-driving was the original term, according to what I found online, but that term fell out of favor while jaywalking stuck.

Studies show jaywalking citations are more frequently written in California than on the East Coast. However, Fresno does not appear to be part of that trend, at least in recent years.

According to Lt. Bill Dooley, the Fresno Police Department’s public information officer, Fresno cops issued only six jaywalking tickets in 2022, preceded by six in 2021 and four in 2020. (Finding out where in the city those tickets were written, and to whom, would necessitate a public records request.)

“Not a high-level priority for us,” Dooley said. “Jaywalking takes place every single day throughout the city. There’s no way to be on top of it all.”

Even though the new law amends or eliminates parts of the California Vehicle Code that criminalizes jaywalking, specific conditions must be met to remain in the clear.

Gray area in new law

Ting’s bill states that police officers should not stop and cite a crossing pedestrian “unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger of a collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.” (Such as a bicycle or skateboard.)

The language contains quite a bit of gray area. What constitutes “an immediate danger” is left up to the interpretation of each individual officer.

“It sure does,” Dooley agreed. “It leaves it up to everyone’s interpretation, including the courts. We’ll never really know until there’s a legal challenge.”

Dooley said Fresno’s traffic enforcement officers have been informed of the new laws. They can no longer stop and talk to anyone who walks across a street mid-block, or doesn’t wait for the signal, when it’s perfectly safe to do so.

However, the law doesn’t apply in situations where a pedestrian crosses in a manner that causes a motorist (or anyone else) to hit the brakes, or swerve out of the way, in order to avoid a collision. That remains a ticketable offense.

“It’s all about the safety of our roadways, and nothing beyond that,” Dooley said.

The new law is a step in the right direction. Crossing the street safely and responsibly, crosswalk or not, shouldn’t be a crime. At long last, it no longer is.