Crossing the street wherever you want will be legal on January 1, 2023. Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a law that decriminalizes jaywalking, after activists argued that people of color are more likely to be ticketed.
“Jaywalking laws have, in particular, fallen hard on the people who have to walk the most. And even among people who have to walk a lot, it falls disproportionately on people of color,” says Peter Norton, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia’s Department of Engineering and Society.
In the 1930s, when more people started driving or selling cars, they became frustrated with people walking wherever they wanted, and they needed a way to pressure people to give up their rights to the streets, Norton explains. Thus, jaywalking become illegal.
“They wanted to make this a foolish act,” Norton adds. “From the point of view of the people walking, all they were doing is what streets have always been used for.”
Norton doesn’t believe jaywalking laws were primarily used to protect pedestrians.
Instead, he recommends other measures to make walking safer, such as requiring drivers to slow down, especially in cities like LA.
“Once you make an environment where people can walk safely and conveniently to practical destinations like a grocery store, then you make neighborhoods that are also more attractive to a lot of people,” he says.