Understanding what California’s new ‘jaywalking’ bill really does (and doesn’t do)

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ICYMI on KPBS Midday Edition: From LAist ➡️ Despite some headlines you might see this week about “jaywalking” being decriminalized or made legal in California, the bill signed late last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom does not technically decriminalize it.

that decriminalizing “jaywalking” would “unintentionally reduce pedestrian safety and potentially increase fatalities or serious injuries.”You might be wondering: how can the state ensure equitable enforcement if it's up to individual police officers to decide what's an “immediate danger?”

“There's still that piece of officer discretion,” said Tamika Butler, a social justice advocate and private consultant focused on equitable transportation policy. “As a Black person in this country, officer discretion has never gone well.”, also has worries about enforcement. Butler said the push for racial justice in traffic enforcement is important, especially with “jaywalking” and other traffic infractions that are “used as a new version of stop-and-frisk.”

Then in the mid-1920s, automakers and their interest groups orchestrated a traffic ordinance in Los Angeles, which the city adopted, that greatly limited pedestrian movement. That ordinance became the template for cities nationwide. “Jaywalking” laws spread and our streets were reshaped into the car-centric spaces they are today.

“You can't give people tickets for riding their bikes on the sidewalk or for jaywalking there's no infrastructure, there's no crosswalk in their neighborhood, there's no bike lane — there's nothing,” Butler said.

 

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