Results tagged “jaywalking”

Living in Boston, it's easy to forget that people in other cities actually obey walk signs on a regular basis. When this Bostonist gets out of town visitors, she invariably finds herself in the middle of the street, glancing back at a bewildered friend whose law-abiding feet are stuck on the sidewalk. Now the Globe has assembled data to confirm not only that we jaywalk a lot, but also that it might be hurting us. Boston has a higher rate of pedestrian injuries (193 per 100,000 people) than Denver (39 per 100,000), Seattle (89 per 100,000, one of which could have been Manny Ramirez if he'd had a little less luck), and even NYC (124 per 100,000). Our rampant jaywalking is theorized as the cause of these statistics, though the generally high amount of walkers likely also plays a role.

Manny Ramirez was given a talking-to this weekend for jaywalking against the direction of a traffic cop. This was in Seattle, where they actually obey traffic laws (novel, we know), and may not understand that Bostonians will walk (and drive) wherever we want, whenever we want. Manny got off with just a warning, but the Sox might want to watch themselves in other, more law-abiding cities in the future.

--Boston is a city that plays fast and loose with traffic laws, but the city needs money, so that's about to stop. The City Council is considering increasing fines for jaywalking and actually enforcing the rules. [WCVB]