Traffic Lights & Jaywalking

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From the BETCHA DON’T KNOW section: Traffic Lights & Jaywalking

On yesterday’s show, I talked a little bit about the history of traffic lights.

We can thank a British railroad engineer for designing the first traffic signal and the London police department for setting up a system in 1868 that led to the concept of the pedestrian right-of-way.

Prior to that it was chaos; with everybody bumping into each other as they tried to cross the street.


First traffic light (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)

That got me thinking…Our habits as drivers and pedestrians say a lot about us.

As a driver, do you…

…honk at the person in front of you as soon as the light turns green?

…yield to pedestrians?

…slow down at yellow lights, or speed up?

As a pedestrian, do you…

…wait for the light to change to green before crossing?

…always cross at crosswalks?

From what I’ve seen, respect for pedestrians varies from country to country and even from region to region.

For example, compared to the U.S. there’s not much respect for the pedestrian here in Spain, unless of course he or she is in a crossing zone.

New York City is more like Madrid, while the state of Maine is more like the country of Slovenia.

Drivers go out of their way to let pedestrians cross the street in Maine. When I was in Maine last summer one driver practically caused an accident as he slowed down to let me cross the street. And I wasn’t even in the crosswalk. I waved to him, acknowledging his civility, and ran across the street for fear of holding up traffic.

It reminded me of the time I was living in Ljubljana, Slovenia where -when it comes to crossing the street- everybody is a little bit too civil.

People there looked at me with disdain whenever I crossed the street while the light was still red. There weren’t any vehicles around for kilometers, and yet the Slovenes always waited very patiently until the light gave them permission to cross. C’mon! Isn’t that taking things a little too far? It is, however, technically illegal in many countries.

In the United States it’s called jaywalking.

As defined, jaywalking refers to the “illegal or reckless pedestrian crossing of a roadway.” As a kid my mom used to scold me for not crossing the street in the crosswalk.

I remember her warning, “no jaywalking!”

Vocabulary:

Pedestrian. Peatón

Right-of-way. Preferencia de paso

To honk. Tocar el claxon, pitar

To yield. Ceder el paso

To slow down. Disminuir la velocidad

To speed up. Acelerar

Crosswalk. Paso de peatones

To hold up. Obstaculizar (el tráfico)

Disdain. Desprecio

Jaywalking. La acción de cruzar la calle imprudentemente

To scold. Regañar

Published by: Drew Crosby