Column - Shame on the Jays

Out of the crosswalk and into the media crosshairs.

Jaywalkers have strolled into controversy. KCRG-TV9's Chris Earl reported this past week on a steady flow of lawbreaking pedestrians who cross First Avenue's long, busy 1500 block. Instead of crossing at the corners, many folks wade into mid-block traffic.

They scamper across two lanes, wait in the middle turn lane for a gap, and then stride to the other side. Hy-Vee and McDonald's beckon the brave/foolish. KCRG-TV9 counted roughly 100 jaywalkers during a 90-minute midday stakeout.

Jaywalkers shrug. Motorists seethe. Police talk about putting up signs or barriers to stop the madness.

And it's a battle that started a century ago.

I called Peter Norton, a professor at the University of Virginia. Cruise the Web and you'll find out Norton is America's jaywalking guru.

The term, he says, was born in the Midwest. The first reference to jaywalking was in a Chicago newspaper in 1909.

Back in the day, “Jay” was considered a very insulting term meant to label someone as a rube, hayseed or brainless rustic. And in the beginning, “jaywalkers” were country folk who came to the city to gawk and, in doing so, block sidewalk traffic.

That changed with the arrival of automobiles en masse. Before cars, Norton says, streets were a lot like public parks. They were wide open to everyone. But with automobiles came an inevitable conflict between tradition and change.

Carmakers, dealers and motor clubs, Norton says, pushed hard to clear pedestrians off streets. But before they could get laws passed, they had to change public thinking. And a big part of their strategy involved public embarrassment.

Auto interests knew no urbane city dweller wanted to be dubbed a jaywalker. So in 1913, New York car dealers hired a man in a Santa suit to call out jaywalkers through a megaphone. Auto clubs also deployed troops of Boy Scouts to hand small cards to pedestrians saying “Did You Know You're Jaywalking?” Packard Motors created a large tombstone for “Mr. J. Walker” who “stepped from the curb without looking.” Slowly, public resistance to jaywalking laws melted.

In 1927, the auto industry wrote a uniform traffic ordinance, including a jaywalking ban, and convinced the U.S. Department of Commerce to endorse it. By 1930, jaywalking was against the law in most cities.

It's against the law in Cedar Rapids, and yet civil disobedience continues. Maybe we need to break out some old-fashioned embarrassment. Call the Boy Scouts. Grab a megaphone.

Todd Dorman's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Contact him at (319) 398-8452 or todd.dorman@gazcomm.com