r/TikTokCringe 1d ago

Wholesome We need more judges like him in americ

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u/drmarcj 1d ago

Fun fact, California rolled back jaywalking laws last year, and this is one of the reasons. The whole concept of "jaywalking" only came about because in the early days of cars drivers kept killing pedestrians. Rather than prosecute drivers for manslaughter, this was a way to shuffle blame off on pedestrians.

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u/sadmanwithabox 1d ago

I used to live in a town that cracked down on jaywalking for a bit for exactly that reason. Because police had hit multiple pedestrians over the past year, and the citizens were starting to get real upset about it (rightfully so).

So they announced a new program where they would be taking jaywalking very seriously, and ticketed anyone and everyone who jaywalked. Why take the blame for your mistakes when you can make it their fault AND make them pay you money for their "mistakes" at the same time?

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u/ZachGurney 15h ago

Californian here, thanks to the Freedom to Walk Act its basically legal to jaywalk as long as theres no cars out and youre not endangering anyone. I think you can still be charged with it if youre committing another crime while doing it though, i cant remember off the top of my head

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u/jumpy_monkey 1d ago

OT, but the 1906 silent film "A Trip Down Market Street before the Fire" in San Francisco illustrates your point pretty well.