5 ms·

Yeah, it was decriminalized because jaywalking was a crime invented by the auto industry and there's no real harm in it, provided that a person crosses a street

Yeah, it was decriminalized because jaywalking was a crime invented by the auto industry and there's no real harm in it, provided that a person crosses a street when it is safe to do so (this is part of the new law, it's still illegal to cross when you cause a risk of crash). On the other hand, traffic rules protect public safety. Even and automated enforcement (provided that there's no entrapment for revenue, something that is dangerous and does happen with, e.g. red light cameras) causes people to have safer driving habits. After all, driving is not a right, it's a privilege to operate heavy, dangerous machinery in public. Drivers should be held to a high standard of safety.

bluefirebrand 4y ago
> On the other hand, traffic rules protect public safety The stats show that society is the safest it's ever been. At some point we are going to realize that allowing more and more surveillance and automated enforcement into our lives in the interest of public safety is really giving diminishing returns on actual safety, but tons of returns on authoritarianism. Yes, I'm aware that car crashes are still one of the leading causes of death, and therefore one of the least safe activities you can do. Personally I think the solution is better public transit and such. Fewer cars on the road means fewer low skilled or wildly reckless drivers too.