With the advent of , I wonder if it will deter the constant Jay Walking that goes on. The term Jay Walking isn’t used much anymore in New York and I can’t find the term in the New York State traffic codes. But one time long ago in a distant galaxy far, far away one could be ticketed for Jay Walking. I know on my first visit to California I was stopped first by pedestrians and then by a cop telling me not to Jay Walk and to quickly proceed to the corner. Back then as a young “I’ll do whatever I please” type New Yorker I was a bit taken back. But now as I recount the incident I think they may have got something right.
Now that the East End season is getting underway people will be crossing Main Street in droves from and going straight to the making traffic stop for them simply because they are too lazy to go to the cross walk. We drivers all try to accommodate them but, let’s face it; some of these walkers can be pretty rude.
Have I ever crossed Main Street and not at the cross walk? Sure. But I’m working on it (He that is without sin among you, please stop fibbing to yourself). One saving grace is that during the high season most of us don’t go into the village that often because it’s really difficult to find a place to park.
The bottom line is that the pedestrians should be yielding to the drivers on Main Street rather than the other way around. Here’s some official New York state info on pedestrians and their responsibilities:
NYS Vehicle and Traffic Laws - Article 27 Pedestrians Rights and Duties
1152, Crossing at other than crosswalks.
• Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
• No pedestrian shall cross a roadway intersection diagonally unless authorized by official traffic-control devices; and, when authorized to cross diagonally, pedestrians shall cross only in accordance with the official traffic-control devices pertaining to such crossing movements.
Now if the police concentrated on Jay Walkers this season maybe we’d get a few less parking tickets and a much safer Main Street. And hopefully our official “traffic control device” will be adjusted to give pedestrians a little bit more than 20 seconds to get from one side of Main Street to the other. But that’s another story.
