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The term itself was made up by the US auto industry in the 1920s in an attempt to shift blame of traffic fatalities towards pedestrians. And it worked. Before that, streets (which are built by the state) belonged to everyone and drivers were almost always held responsible for accidents.

They made up the term jaywalking by combining "walking" with the term "jay" which was a slang term for a country bumpkin or idiot from out of town. They hired actors to spread the slur to refer to those out of towners that don't know how to "properly" behave around streets in a modern city. They even paid Boy Scouts to hand out warning cards and staged mock funerals

by ishouldstayaway10 hours ago|

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Yes, I know. But few people are aware of this history; it doesn't change what I said.

by hinkley16 hours ago|

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“Jaywalking” is partially a psyop by the burgeoning automobile industry to blame the victims instead of the drivers.

I suppose it didn’t work that well because as a rule a car or bike hitting a pedestrian is still almost always at fault.

by culi15 hours ago|

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It worked incredibly well. The word "jay" is a slur used to refer to "country bumpkins" or out-of-town idiots. They paid actors to spread the slur and even staged mock funerals until their newly made up slur spread and people started calling each other that.

All of this led to the 1928 Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance and notably a lot of laws in LA that shifted the liability to pedestrians instead of motorists.

Today if you "jaywalk" in most of the country you get called an asshole. It was an incredibly successful act of social engineering

by hinkley14 hours ago|

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They also killed mass transit so let’s call it a draw.

by cowlevel10 hours ago|

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That's two losses for us and two wins for them