Why Jaywalking?

Why is crossing the street in the wrong place called "jaywalking"?

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In the early 1900s, the word "jay" was slang in the U.S. for a hick, rube, or simpleton -- in other words, a person inexperienced in the ways of the bright lights in the big city. Wordsmiths believe the term "jaywalking" (or "J-walking") originated when cars were relatively new but gaining popularity in cities like Boston and New York. A jaywalker was a newcomer to the city, green to the ways of those modern traffic signals that told folks when they could safely cross the road. The complete Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word to early 20th-century Boston, where sophisticated city folk with little tolerance for rural folk coined the term. In those days, jaywalkers would have encountered Model T's tooling along at the break-neck speed of 20 mph. Today's urban lawbreakers face greater risks, with sports cars, SUVs, and even motorcycles reaching speeds of 50 mph in high-traffic pedestrian zones. One hundred years after the advent of automobiles, jaywalking is a common cause of vehicular accidents. Some U.S. cities, such as San Francisco or certain areas of New York City, take a fairly lax, even philosophical stance towards illegal crossings, accepting it as part of a city's nature. However, jaywalkers in a city such as Honolulu are slapped with hefty fines. That's because between 1986-1995, pedestrians accounted for 20% of all vehicle-related deaths in Hawaii. Perhaps the U.S. city with the most stringent views against jaywalking is Los Angeles. There, most pedestrians obey the traffic signals -- with good reason. The city boasts close to 10 million residents, half of whom are licensed to drive, so the infamous LAPD has cracked down hard on careless crossers. Even high-profile visitors have been nabbed for the offense, much to their well-publicized chagrin.