The irony of this statement is that cars created the modern, rigid distinction between street and sidewalk. The term "jaywalking" was around before cars, but it

The irony of this statement is that cars created the modern, rigid distinction between street and sidewalk. The term "jaywalking" was around before cars, but its modern meaning was heavily promoted by pro-automobile interests in the 1920s: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/transport/2009/11/in_defense_of_jaywalking.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/transport/2009/11/in_defe... Cars don't need to drive on the sidewalks, in other words, because they already took over everything else (and in doing so relegated all other transportation modes to what was left).