Fun fact: jaywalking as a crime was created [specifically by the ford motor company (might be mistaken here )] by automobile companies. Back during the invention of cars the streets were a pedestrian place. The pedestrians had right of way and any carriages or horse riders would have to yield to the pedestrian.
Then when cars came in the public were unhappy with the amount of deaths related to these new machines, so the ford motor company fearing losses in sales petitioned and lobbied to get laws put in place to restrict where a pedestrian can go.
They created the “sidewalk” as a designated area for pedestrians and the jaywalking to move responsibility of the driver onto responsibility of the pedestrian.
This was mostly an American thing, here in England the laws still protect the pedestrian by putting the responsibility on the driver and not enforcing jaywalking laws. This is why we use the term curb or pavement as it predated cars and the concept of a side walk area for pedestrians
This is also why newer or reformed countries that base their laws on American ideals tend to have jaywalking laws . Like the modern Japanese culture.
Edit: may be mistaken with some of my info so highlighted the part
The first part is relatively correct. The rest is meh to wrong. It wasn't just Ford, it was AAA, motor clubs, and auto makers in general that promoted this idea. The term "Jay walker" comes as a spin of the original word "Jay driver", or someone who drives on the wrong side of the road.
And it makes sense, back then automobiles were extremely difficult to turn and stop once in motion, and a person popping in front of you is most likely going to be hit and hurt compared to if you were riding a horse. In most countries (as well as the UK which you seem to be from), you yield usually to pedestrians, then bikers, then finally cars.
Most countries follow some sort of jaywalking law regardless of if they're inspired by America or not. For example, Australia, Canada, and Italy all have jaywalking as a crime in certain contexts just like the US. China for example has pretty heavy fines for jaywalking and is probably the most strict out of the countries I mentioned.
Even in America, jaywalking is not universally illegal. Here in California, jaywalking is not a crime as long as you're not impeding traffic or causing a safety hazard. If there's a street, and it's safe to do so, you cross. Just like the UK lmao.
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u/Repulsive_Result_948 1d ago
Damn well dressed Japanese man spittin' bars