Just want to point out how special interests can actually pretty insidiously change your viewpoint by making you think "that's the way things have always been". It was relatively recently that I discovered that jaywalking, as a crime, was a distinctly American phenomenon, when in an HN discussion someone mentioned that British folk think the crime of jaywalking is insane (in the UK you can cross pretty much wherever you want as long as you're not impeding traffic). My initial reaction was "Wait, that's nuts, of course jaywalking should not be allowed." I didn't even realize how the "default" of what I was used to in the US was basically just constructed by the auto industry for their benefit.
Glad this is coming to light and hope more places get rid of jaywalking.
When an American friend explained it to me at uni I honestly thought they were trying to trick. It's just such an absurd concept, like how does anyone walk anywhere? Then I realised they don't.
I've been to business hotels in the USA in my travels that literally don't have pedestrian access. There's a road without a pedestrian sidewalk up to the front of the hotel, and that's it. You CANNOT get in or out without a car. It is crazy.
Read many posts and what many folks are missing is the amount of space the US has... it takes more than 1 day of driving to get across Texas alone.
Where I live there arent even roads being improved in many areas. You just drive across the dirt
None of the countries folks are comparing have close to the amount of space to cover.
Yes bigger metro areas are dense enough to have public transit... problem is most folks dont live in that area and commute in. Example ...areas like the SF bay area has folks traveling 2 hrs 1 way on train or car to get to the office
I live in Australia, which has less than a tenth of the US population on a land mass the size of the continental US. We allow pedestrians to cross the road unless they're within 20 metres of a crossing. If anything, lower population density should mean more rights for pedestrians, since there will be roads which see no traffic for hours or even days.
Glad this is coming to light and hope more places get rid of jaywalking.