New York tradition of jaywalking illegally to be decriminalised, some fear more accidents

NEW YORK – Nearly 70 years ago, New York City began a campaign to warn pedestrians of the dangers of jaywalking.

“Cross at the green, not in between,” the slogan said.

Seldom has a public safety announcement been so roundly ignored.

Telling New Yorkers, famously short of patience and time, not to cross the street mid-block did little to curb the illegal practice. Neither did the threat of fines: A violation carried a potential fine of up to US$300 (S$398), and hundreds of people received tickets each year.

But after decades of mostly looking the other way, city officials finally decriminalised jaywalking, crossing against a traffic signal or outside a crosswalk. The New York City Council passed a Bill in September to allow pedestrians to cross the street wherever they please, and it became law over the weekend, after Mayor Eric Adams ran out of his allotted time to decide whether to veto or sign the Bill.

“Let’s be real, every New Yorker jaywalks,” said Ms Mercedes Narcisse, a City Council member from Brooklyn who sponsored the Bill. “People are simply trying to get where they need to go.”

Count actress Sarah Jessica Parker among the scofflaws. Ms Parker said that she had been “proudly crossing mid-block” since she arrived in the city in the late 1970s.

She said she recently explained the ritual of jaywalking to her daughters and compared it to double Dutch jump rope.

“The expert finds the perfect moment to jump in. But you have to know you are safe and aren’t going to get caught in ropes,” she wrote in an e-mail, adding: “No texting while making the diagonal or straight across.”

Jaywalking laws, historically used to target black and Latino residents, were not evenly enforced in New York, and the council Bill was primarily a racial justice measure. About 92 per cent of the 463 people who received summons in 2023 for crossing a street against a signal were black or Latino, according to city records.

The new rules come at a tumultuous time for city streets when traffic deaths have risen. There have also been tense debates over electric bikes, outdoor dining and congestion pricing, a proposal to ease traffic and raise money for the transit system that was halted by Governor Kathy Hochul.

About 200 people have died over the past five years while crossing streets in the middle of a block or against the light – about 34 per cent of all pedestrian fatalities, according to city transportation officials.

The law goes into effect in 120 days. Ms Liz Garcia, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said in a statement that New Yorkers should still be cautious when crossing the street.

“All road users are safer when everyone follows traffic rules,” she said, adding that pedestrians should “take advantage of safety mechanisms” at intersections and cross “in a crosswalk with the walk signal”.

Jaywalking has been against the law in New York City since 1958. Pedestrians once ruled the streets and moved about freely, but vehicles took priority during the 20th century, said author Gerard Koeppel, who wrote City On A Grid: How New York Became New York.

“It used to be nobody crossed at the intersection,” he said. “You just crossed wherever you wanted to – to get to where you wanted to get to – as quickly as possible, and the car changed that.”

Mr Joseph Borelli, the Republican minority leader in the City Council, said he was worried that allowing jaywalking could lead to more accidents.

“It’s part of a broader decriminalisation of everything,” he said, pointing to efforts to stop giving tickets for public urination.

Ms Vickie Paladino, a Republican council member from Queens who recently claimed that new residents were trying to alter the streetscape because they “hate people who own cars”, voted against the Bill. She warned that it would “promote chaos and make streets far more dangerous”.

But at a time when New Yorkers are worried about crime, the Bill’s sponsor, Ms Narcisse, a Democrat, argued that police officers should not waste their time on jaywalking.

“By eliminating these penalties, we allow our officers to focus on issues that truly matter,” she said.

The Bill received support from the Legal Aid Society, a group that represents low-income New Yorkers, and Transportation Alternatives, a street safety group.

The Legal Aid Society said that the Bill was long overdue and urged the City Council to “continue to abolish relic laws that serve no public safety purpose and only ensnare people in the criminal legal system”.

The Bill states that crossing the street against a traffic signal or crossing outside a crosswalk is no longer a violation of the city’s administrative code and can no longer be the subject of police enforcement. It also requires the city’s transportation department to conduct a public education effort regarding traffic safety and warn pedestrians crossing outside the crosswalk that they do not have the right of way.

Many New Yorkers confessed to jaywalking, but they were divided over making it legal. Mr Josh Leong, 24, a film-maker who lives in Brooklyn, welcomed the new rules.

“At least in New York, it’s like a culturally accepted thing, and so I’m glad that they’re now affirming that right,” he said while eating lunch at Bryant Park on Oct 29.

Mr Leong said the practice was viewed differently elsewhere, including in Japan, where he once crossed the street against the light, and his fellow pedestrians were aghast.

“I got so many death stares,” he said.

Ms Bonnie Josephs, 86, a lawyer who lives in upper Manhattan, said she usually waits to walk in a crosswalk with the pedestrian light and thinks others should do the same.

“I think it’s sensible to go with the lights,” she said. “I don’t want to get run over, particularly.” NYTIMES