Bill ends jaywalking tickets when it’s safe to cross
Sacramento, CA — Governor Newsom has signed the Freedom to Walk Bill (AB 2147, Ting). This bill will prevent police from issuing jaywalking tickets unless the street crossing is truly dangerous. Governor Newsom vetoed a previous version of this bill in 2021, but the author revised it so police can still issue jaywalking tickets for dangerous behavior.
“We are pleased the Governor signed this important bill,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate. “The Freedom to Walk Bill legalizes what people are already doing: finding the best routes to safely walk in their neighborhoods. This bill will reduce targeted policing that mostly penalizes Black and Latinx Californians and people who live in communities without complete street infrastructure.”
Inequities in neighborhood design and street infrastructure leave many lower-income California neighborhoods less than pedestrian-friendly. Because of this, policing jaywalking often amounts to punishing people for the lack of government services in their community. And jaywalking tickets can be the gateway for dangerous police interactions, especially for BIPOC folks. Police data show that Black residents are as much as four times as likely as White ones to be ticketed for jaywalking.
When a police officer cites someone for jaywalking under CVC 21955, crossing the road outside a designated crosswalk, they may face a fine as high as $250. That amount can get higher as additional violations are added. This jaywalking fine is higher than most parking tickets and some common traffic citations.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-jaywalking.jpeg8661600Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2022-10-03 10:12:232022-10-03 10:12:25Freedom to Walk Becomes Law in California
A completely unscientific look at the best and worst of California biking in 2021.
Let’s be honest: the competition for the worst in 2021 was fierce. We started the year with such high hopes. It had to be better than 2020, right? Nope. But there were many bright spots for biking in California, even in a crazy year like 2021. And, anyway, 2022 is bound to be a better year. Right? Right???
A bikeway grows in California
Whether fueled by the conversion of pandemic Slow Streets into permanent civic spaces or the fruit of many years of advocacy and local pressure, 2021 had a bumper crop of new bikeways. Here are some of the best, plus a couple of instances where planners let cars roll over their better judgment.
Best quick-build demo that should become permanent: Glendora Ave Complete Streets Demo
For most infrastructure projects, $46,000 would barely make a dent in the budget. But the city of Glendora and the San Gabriel Council of Governments used that amount to install quick-build improvements, including crosswalk striping and planters to create a buffer for separated bike lanes. Glendora plans to expand the project and make it permanent to improve access to a planned rail line extension, but the quick-build demo is helping people bike more safely right now. More of this, please. Read more in Streetsblog LA.
Best Slow Street that became permanent, thanks to quick-build: Doyle Street, Emeryville
Emeryville took advantage of pandemic Slow Streets and the availability of quick-build funding to exclude or restrict traffic on several blocks of Doyle Street. Quick-build allowed the city to quickly make changes to create a joyful, safe space, connecting playgrounds and an off-road bike path, where kids can zoom around on bikes and scooters and neighbors walk and ride. And they got design help from Mr. Barricade.
Best examples of persistence paying dividends—a 2-way tie!
Orange Avenue Family Bikeway
The Orange Avenue Family Bikeway is a grassroots project in an environmental justice community that will implement the San Diego region’s first Bike Boulevard network with traffic diverters. SANDAG leadership halted the project in 2016 to get a freeway-centric funding measure approved, but fortunately, it was saved by community leaders in 2017, approved in 2019, and fast-tracked in 2021.
Bike lanes on Broadway Avenue in Chula Vista
At four miles long in each direction, the bike lane on Broadway in Chula Vista is the longest continuous bike lane ever installed as a single project on a commercial corridor in San Diego County. It took more than eight years to get this project approved and completed. Shout out to City Heights Community Development Corporation for keeping the pressure on for Orange Avenue and Broadway.
Worst abuse of political power to cancel bike infrastructure: North Spring Street Bridge bike lanes, Los Angeles
Los Angeles City Council Members wield a lot of power, including, apparently, the ability to kill safety projects they don’t like. The villain in this story is Gil Cedillo, whose jurisdiction includes the mostly complete North Spring Street Bridge widening. The project should have included bike lanes, but those lanes were delayed, and it now appears that Cedillo has unilaterally canceled them. That change in project scope could affect the validity of the project’s CEQA review and force Los Angeles to return some of the funding that paid for it. Thanks to terrific advocacy from Streets for All and excellent reporting from Streetsblog LA shining a spotlight on Cedillo’s attempt to undermine safe streets.
Best Slow Street that should continue after the pandemic: JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Many of the Slow Streets programs created in 2020 continue as our pandemic life slogs on, but one of the best pandemic Open Streets is on the endangered list: JFK Drive, which cuts through the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The road had been closed to cars on weekends (a result of years of advocacy from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition) and, thanks to pressure from advocates, the city made it car-free 24/7 during the pandemic. Since then, 36% more people have accessed the park, and there have been no accidents or injuries—a Vision Zero success. More than 70% of respondents supported keeping the roadway car-free in a city survey, and the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board came out in favor. Still, with powerful interests at museums in the park opposed, the future of this fantastic amenity is far from certain.
Worst concession to impatient car drivers: Great Highway, San Francisco
While San Francisco has preserved car-free JFK Drive (so far), the city bowed to drivers who couldn’t tolerate the inconvenience of taking a longer route and allowed car traffic back on the Great Highway along Ocean Beach, despite fierceresistance from biking and walking advocates. The road remains car-free on weekends, and the New York Times recently named it one of its 52 Places for a Changed World. The theme of the annual travel feature is climate adaptation this year, and the Times described the Great Highway as “pointing the way for post-pandemic urbanism.” We hope San Francisco will think better of its decision to trade a locus of recreation, car-free transportation, and joy for the convenience of the people who are literally driving climate change.
The best and worst of everything else
Worst attempt to thwart progress on bikeways through an electoral recall: Nithya Raman
Unfortunately, there was a lot to choose from with a wave of recalls initiated against elected officials in California. The only one that got enough signatures to make it to the voters was the unsuccessful attempt to topple Gavin Newsom from the governor’s seat. But we’d like to highlight the recall attempt against Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman. CalBike heartily endorsed Raman, a transportation justice champion and bike-friendly leader. Her leadership promised to shake things up in the second-largest city in the U.S., so of course, she faced a campaign for her recall. Fortunately, the recall bid crashed and burned shortly after Newsom defeated his recall in September, showing the strong popular support for politicians who support bold changes in traffic safety as part of a progressive package.
Best investigation of biased policing against bicyclists: LA Times investigation of bike stops by sheriff’s deputies
The Los Angeles Times deserves major kudos for its in-depth look at data on bicycle stops and arrests by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department. The Times analysis showed that police disproportionately stopped Latinos and targeted cyclists in poorer neighborhoods. Riders were stopped for minor infractions, largely as a pretext to search them for guns and drugs, but only a tiny percentage of stops turned up illegal items. The investigation has had results: the LA County Board of Supervisors is looking at decriminalizing minor bicycle infractions as a way to end biased policing. The Time’s reporting is another reminder that local newspapers are vital to our communities. Make a New Year’s resolution to subscribe to yours.
Best national conversation about safety: the national discussion of the insanity of jaywalking laws
The governor’s veto of the Freedom to Walk Act wasn’t a complete defeat for the cause. The campaign run by CalBike and our allies at California Walks and Los Angeles Walks, plus stellar efforts by Assemblymember Phil Ting, amplified and advanced a national conversation about the underhanded origins of jaywalking laws, which were designed to make city streets safe for cars, not people. Today, these laws are often used as a pretext for over-policing Black and brown people. The anticipated repeal of jaywalking laws even made it into one of the limericks on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me quiz show. The movement to reform how we police the use of our streets is just getting started, and the campaign to repeal this jaywalking law made great advances in the national conversation toward that goal.
Worst Charlie Brown kicking a football moment for active transportation: transportation budget delay
The e-bike affordability program shouldn’t have been the only positive budget development for biking in Sacramento in 2021. Faced with a historic budget surplus, legislators and the governor were poised to allocate an additional $500 million to the Active Transportation Program. This funding would have allowed about 80 excellent, shovel-ready bike and pedestrian projects to get the green light. But then, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, the promised ATP funding was snatched away when the governor and the legislature couldn’t agree on High-Speed Rail funding, which was to be part of the same funding package. However, the parties have resumed negotiations, and CalBike is asking for $2 billion for bikes. We’re counting on you, 2022, to give Charlie Brown the chance to finally kick the football out of the park and build more bikeways!
Best funding win to fight climate change: California’s e-bike subsidy program
Sacramento did come through for better biking in the budget, with $10 million for electric bicycle affordability. The program, which launches in July 2022, will offer vouchers to help people buy e-bikes. E-bikes make biking accessible to a broader range of people, and the voucher program will make e-bikes affordable for more Californians. We applaud the governor and legislature for funding this vital program (and a little pat on the back for ourselves, too, for advocacy that helped get it passed).
Best foot forward on regional planning: Hasan Ikhrata and SANDAG
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has not historically been known for bike-friendly planning. But, with support from the association’s political leadership, Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata has been staking out a different path. In the face of possible funding shortfalls, Ikhrata committed to complete the regional bike plan’s Early Action Program, which includes the projects identified as a high priority. And SANDAG’s latest regional transportation plan represents a significant departure from past planning in the area. It has more emphasis on public transit and adopts the 10 Transit Lifelines developed by San Diego Transportation Equity Working Group. If implemented, the plan might even bring the region into compliance with its state-mandated greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Worst way to prove that traffic jams are a safety measure: bike/ped crashes went up despite traffic going down during the pandemic
In 2021, the data came in: while most of us holed up in our houses in 2020, the smaller number of cars on the roadways managed to kill more pedestrians than the year before. Remember this the next time a traffic engineer or planner tries to justify a road widening by saying it will make it safer. Driving went up in 2021 but traffic was still 22% below pre-pandemic levels. And, while the final crash data for 2021 isn’t in, it’s likely that car crash fatalities for people outside cars will be high once again.
Worst global pandemic that Will. Not. Go. Away!
You know the answer to this one. Mask up, get boosted, stay safe, and let’s hope for better days in 2022!
Did we miss one of your best or worst? Tweet your 2021 California bicycle advocacy hits and misses @calbike.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Doyle-Street-at-64th-scaled.jpeg13402560Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2022-01-14 15:54:412022-01-15 09:59:04CalBike’s Best and Worst of 2021
Movement to End Unjust Jaywalking Laws Will Continue
SACRAMENTO – In a setback for the movement for more equitable streets, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 1238, Ting). The law would have ended penalties for safe mid-block pedestrian crossings. CalBike and a coalition of more than 90 groups and individuals supported the repeal of ‘jaywalking’ laws.
“The governor’s veto rests on the belief that police enforcement or the threat of jaywalking tickets will somehow prevent pedestrian fatalities in the future when that has consistently failed in the past. Continuing to criminalize people’s rational, predictable responses to poor infrastructure is simply unjust,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate.
Inequities in neighborhood design and street infrastructure leave many lower-income California neighborhoods less than pedestrian-friendly. Because of this, policing jaywalking often amounts to punishing people for the lack of government services in their community.
Legalizing mid-block crossings would have helped protect vulnerable pedestrians against racially biased, pretextual policing, inequitable fees and fines, and unnecessary and potentially lethal interactions with law enforcement.
John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks, said, “The Governor’s recent veto represents continued condescension of pedestrians. To think we can penalize our parents, seniors, and students to bow to high-speed traffic at the cost of their own dignity, ease, and safety is draconian and deeply misunderstands the needs of those walking every day. We cannot begin to ask why it is we jaywalk if we are already criminals in the eyes of the state.”
“This is a tremendous loss not only for racial justice across California but also for active transportation as a whole as Governor Newsom failed to recognize the importance of non-automobile modes of travel,” said CalBike’s Sanchez. “But the Freedom to Walk Act has helped spark a national conversation about unjust jaywalking laws that can’t be stopped by one misguided veto.”
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https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/jay-all-partners-sep21-update2-scaled.jpg13852560Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-10-11 13:06:292021-10-15 13:14:49Newsom Vetoes Freedom to Walk in California
It was the middle of the afternoon in Culver City when Richard Milton left his optometrist to reach the bus stop across the street. “It was in the middle of the block,” he recalled. “There wasn’t any traffic, so I crossed.”
As he walked toward the bus stop, a police car pulled up, and an officer asked Milton, a 66-year-old Black Army veteran, where he was going. Milton said he was headed for the bus stop. The officer wrote him a ticket for jaywalking.
“I just remained mute as he wrote me the ticket,” he said.
What is a ‘jay’ anyway?
“Jaywalking” was invented by auto clubs and car manufacturers 100 years ago. At that time, ‘jay’ was an offensive term to describe an unsophisticated country person.
If someone invented the term today, we might call it “redneck crossings” or “hickwalking.” If those terms sound shocking and rude, that’s the point. We’ve gotten used to the word jaywalking, but we should remember that automakers used prejudice and stigma to enforce a street culture that favored driving over walking. Over time, ‘jaywalking’ has also come to carry racist undertones, as enforcement focuses mainly on policing the movements of Black Americans.
“In the early days of the automobile, it was drivers’ job to avoid you, not your job to avoid them,” says Peter Norton, a historian at the University of Virginia and author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. “But under the new model, streets became a place for cars — and as a pedestrian, it’s your fault if you get hit.”
Richard Milton’s race was likely a factor in his traffic stop for jaywalking. CalBike’s data review shows that Black Californians are as much as 4.3 times as likely to get stopped for jaywalking than white residents.
A recent lawsuit filed for bias against Black people on Rodeo Drive underscores that point. The suit (plaintiffs’ attorneys include Benjamin Crump, who represented George Floyd’s family) alleges that, out of 106 people arrested by a Beverly Hills Police task force in the area, 105 were Black, and one was Latino and appeared Black. Those figures don’t include people stopped and hassled by the police, though there is a video of at least one Black man (a VP at Versace) being stopped and frisked as he left the Rodeo Drive store.
Jaywalking tickets also have unequal impacts. Milton’s citation was for more than $190, which was money he didn’t have. He was fortunate to have access to a program out of Venice that provides volunteer attorneys to represent people who are issued citations. His attorney discovered that the officer had written the wrong code on the citation and had the ticket voided.
Even if he hadn’t had access to an attorney, Milton would have gone to court to fight the ticket because unpaid tickets can keep you from renewing your driver’s license and cause other problems. “It’s a nuisance to have it hanging over your head,” he said.
Intersections are often the least safe places to cross the street
When asked if his run-in with the police has changed his behavior around jaywalking, Milton said, “I still jaywalk.”
“In LA, intersections are bad. They are very bad,” he added. “You see cars coming at you, even though you have the green light.” Then he repeated “It’s not safe,” several times for emphasis.
In fact, the midblock crossing wasn’t simply the most convenient way to get across the street for Richard Milton. It was a conscious choice for his safety, based on his own harrowing experience.
He knows what he’s talking about. He has been hit by a car twice while walking, both times in the crosswalk. He was fortunate to have suffered only minor injuries, but he has friends who have been seriously injured in crosswalks.
Milton’s concern is backed by statistics. CalBike’s analysis of SWITRS collision data found that 44% of pedestrian collisions in California occurred at intersections. Another study found that, while a quarter of pedestrian injures happen during mid-block crossings, 75% occur elsewhere, including intersections (26%), sidewalks, and the margins of roadways without sidewalks.
Milton doesn’t see the sense of penalizing somebody for choosing the safest way to cross the street based on their experience. If someone made it to the other side of the road and didn’t cause any harm, he said, “Why criminalize them?”
California has a chance to take the lead in reimagining our streets
California was at the forefront of the car-centric movement to chase people on foot out of the roadway. As a recent LAist article noted, LA passed its first jaywalking law in 1925. LA’s laws became a model for the rest of the country. Now, California has the opportunity to lead in the other direction toward a more pedestrian-friendly future.
Already this year, Virginia made jaywalking a secondary offense. It’s still a crime, but an officer can’t initiate a stop because of jaywalking and can’t issue a citation unless they stop you for something else. But the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 1238, Ting) would go a step further in the right direction. It would make safe mid-block crossings legal.
Today, the only thing that stands between California and the freedom to walk is the governor’s signature. If Governor Newsom signs AB 1238, it will still be against the law to disrupt traffic, but people who safely cross, like Richard Milton, will no longer get stopped, questioned, and ticketed by the police. Tell the Governor you support the Freedom to Walk Act, AB 1238.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/skateboarder-in-crosswalk-scaled.jpeg25601713Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-09-21 15:50:342021-09-28 16:05:53California Can Lead the Way in Reclaiming our Streets if Newsom Signs AB 1238
Contact: CalBike: Jared Sanchez, jared@calbike.org | 714-262-0921 California Walks: Caro Jauregui, caro@calwalks.org | 562-320-2139 Los Angeles Walks: John Yi, john@losangeleswalks.org | 213-219-2483
CA Freedom to Walk Act Passes Senate
SACRAMENTO – The Freedom to Walk Act, a bill designed to reform California’s “Jaywalking” laws, passed the California Senate today with a vote of 22-8.
AB 1238, which would make it legal for pedestrians in California to cross mid-block provided they don’t interfere with traffic, was authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco. CalBike and a coalition of more than 90 groups and individuals support the repeal of ‘jaywalking’ laws.
AB 1238 will not change existing laws that require pedestrians to avoid potentially hazardous situations on the roadway. Instead, it legalizes the safe street crossings that pedestrians make every day. Everybody ‘jaywalks’—nobody should be penalized for a safe street crossing.
Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate, said, “CalBike applauds the Senate for supporting this crucial legislation to make California’s streets safer and more accessible for everyone. We will now work with Governor Newsom to secure his support for the freedom to walk.”
Inequities in neighborhood design leave lower-income neighborhoods less pedestrian-friendly than others. Because of this, policing jaywalking often amounts to punishing people for the lack of government services and improper land use planning in their community. People should not be penalized for decades of infrastructure neglect and auto-first street design. AB 1238 will help protect vulnerable pedestrians against racially biased, pretextual policing, inequitable fees and fines, and unnecessary and potentially lethal interactions with law enforcement.
“The Freedom to Walk Act legalizes safe walking,” Sanchez said. “Governor Newsom now has a chance to advance racial justice by repealing jaywalking laws. In the absence of safe and accessible pedestrian infrastructure, residents do their best to access school, work, grocery stores, or parks. Continuing to criminalize rational, predictable responses to poor infrastructure is unjust,”
Also, enforcing low-level infractions, like ‘jaywalking,’ can have a substantial cost for law enforcement. So, decriminalizing safe street crossings has the potential to conserve considerable resources for agencies across the state.
The Freedom to Walk Act WILL NOT:
Make it legal to obstruct traffic or endanger other road users.
Send crowds of pedestrians into the streets. People who walk have the same common sense and desire for self-preservation as anyone else. Pedestrians will continue to do what they already do: assess traffic conditions and cross when it’s safe to do so.
Lead to increased hazards for walkers. Reckless driving and unfriendly infrastructure are the main dangers that pedestrians face. There is no evidence that jaywalking laws help pedestrians and the laws do nothing to solve those problems.
Take money from local coffers. Many jaywalking fines are never collected, so the cost of police and administrative time for enforcement is often higher than the money collected.
The Freedom to Walk Act WILL:
Legalize common, safe street crossings that most Californians make regularly.
Reduce potentially lethal police interactions for Black Californians.
Free low-income people from the financial burden of jaywalking fines and fees.
Allow police officers to spend their time more effectively, increasing public safety.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-jaywalking.jpeg8661600Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-09-08 14:19:182021-09-15 18:49:03CA Freedom to Walk Act Passes Senate
The Freedom to Walk Act passed out of the California Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. We’re thrilled lawmakers agreed that, as a state, we should stop raising revenue from our most marginalized and vulnerable residents.
Two more steps to legalize safe street crossings
There are two more crucial steps before we repeal unjust jaywalking laws, and we’ll need your help to get there.
First, the Freedom to Walk Act will need a majority vote on the Senate Floor in the next few weeks. The bill needs 21 votes to pass. Please email your California Senator today and ask them to vote YES to legalize safe walking.
Second, the bill needs Governor Newsom’s signature. If/when it passes the Senate, we’ll need help to let the governor know that Californians support ending unjust jaywalking laws.
Legitimate concerns about decriminalizing jaywalking
Nationally, pedestrian traffic deaths grew by 46% from 2010 to 2019, a much larger increase than all other vehicle-caused fatalities. The effects have fallen disproportionately on Black Americans, who now suffer a higher rate of pedestrian fatalities than other ethnic groups. It makes sense to be concerned about pedestrian safety and to hesitate to make any change that will make pedestrians more vulnerable.
However, there’s no reason to believe that jaywalking laws are preventing additional pedestrian deaths. Bloomberg CityLab reported that only 26% of severe pedestrian injuries occur during mid-block crossings. Another 25% of collisions involving pedestrians happen in crosswalks. And fully 50% of serious pedestrian crash injuries happen in other locations, including cars running up on the sidewalk and people hit while tending to their car by the side of the road.
“New data from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) projects that 2020 had the largest ever annual increase in the rate at which drivers struck and killed people on foot. What drove this surge? The likely culprits are dangerous driving like speeding, drunk and drugged driving, and distraction, which were rampant on U.S. roads during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with infrastructure issues that have prioritized the movement of motor vehicles over walking and bicycling for many years.”
Pedestrians, like most road users, use self-interest to guide their actions. After all, running out into the street could have lethal consequences for someone on foot. And, while young children aren’t always capable of making good decisions about street crossings, what keeps them safe is parental supervision, not jaywalking laws.
Rising pedestrian injuries and fatalities are a legitimate concern that policymakers should address. But jaywalking laws aren’t the solution. California has enforced the existing jaywalking laws for the past 10 years while pedestrian fatalities soared. To protect people who walk, we must look at the true causes of the rising toll on pedestrians.
For example, it’s no accident that the upward trend in pedestrian deaths has matched the increase in popularity of SUVs. Higher front grills make them more lethal to people on foot, and increasingly tall front ends create large front blind spots. Testing and rating the crash safety of cars for people outside the vehicle as well as inside would be an excellent first step towards increasing pedestrian safety.
In addition, as the GHSA noted, our built environment has for years prioritized the movement of motorized vehicles over the safety of people on foot and on bikes. Making pedestrian safety paramount in street repaving projects will do more to prevent pedestrian deaths than criminalizing walking on poorly-designed streets where jaywalking is sometimes the safest option.
Listen to the experts: people who walk
It’s critical to look at who stands on both sides of this issue. Local police departments and the CHP have exerted pressure against AB 1238. They witness the worst-case scenarios and that, along with the idea that enforcement and punishment keep people safe, shapes their view of jaywalking.
Police see the pedestrian under the influence who stepped into a busy street and got hit. They don’t see the much more common crossings that people make in every California community every day: people walking safely, taking the most logical routes to their destinations, often using a mid-block crossing to get where they need to go.
Jaywalking laws can’t prevent the tragedy of an impaired person making an unsafe crossing. And they don’t stop careless drivers from hitting pedestrians in crosswalks and on sidewalks, which is where two-thirds of accidents that involve pedestrians take place, according to our analysis of SWITRS crash data. In almost all of those collisions, the car driver is at fault.
Our lawmakers should listen to the voices of the people who walk every day and their advocates. They should listen to over 100 organizations that signed on in support of the Freedom to Walk Act, to the supporters of racial justice who understand that jaywalking laws have been and will continue to be a significant pretext for biased policing.
Police will claim that jaywalking laws cause people to walk in predictable patterns, which allows all users to share the road more safely. However, since the driver is at fault in most pedestrian fatalities, the safety conversation should focus on the behavior of car drivers, not people on foot.
Enforcement of jaywalking laws doesn’t deter mid-block crossings, but it does reinforce privilege because poor and Black people are much more likely to get ticketed and harassed.
Here’s a thought experiment: notice where you walk over the next few days. Do you always find a crosswalk or, when there’s no traffic, do you sometimes cross mid-block? Everybody jaywalks — and that probably includes you.
Better ways to protect pedestrians
CHP officers and local police witness firsthand the horrific results when a car hits a pedestrian at speed. Naturally, they want California laws to prevent as many devastating collisions as possible, so we can understand why some police organizations don’t want to see the Freedom to Walk Act become law.
However, if police, policymakers, and elected officials want to protect pedestrians from harm, there are much better ways to do that than jaywalking tickets. For example, they could support AB 43, which gives communities more options to lower speed limits. Reducing speed is one of the best ways to save lives: at 20 mph, a pedestrian has a 95% chance of surviving being hit by a car. At 40 mph, the survival rate is just 15%.
AB 1147 is another terrific pedestrian safety measure. The bill would change how planners write regional transportation plans, prioritizing alternative transportation options, including walking and biking. A 15-minute neighborhood is a community that gives people ways to walk safely to their local destinations.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/family-street-crossing-scaled.jpeg17092560Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-08-30 16:05:052021-08-31 15:06:02Bill to End Fines for Safe Street Crossings Moves to CA Senate Floor for Final Vote
CalBike: Jared Sanchez, jared@calbike.org | 714-262-0921
California Walks: Caro Jauregui, caro@calwalks.org | 562-320-2139
Los Angeles Walks: John Yi, john@losangeleswalks.org | 213-219-2483
Freedom to Walk Act Moves to Senate Floor Vote
SACRAMENTO – The Freedom to Walk Act, a bill designed to reform California’s “Jaywalking” laws, passed out of the California Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, on a 5-2 vote.
The bill AB 1238, would make it legal for pedestrians in California to cross mid-block provided they don’t interfere with traffic. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco. CalBike and a coalition of more than 85 groups and individuals support the repeal of jaywalking laws.
Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate said, “The State Senate and Governor now have a chance to advance racial justice by repealing jaywalking laws. In the absence of safe and accessible pedestrian infrastructure, residents do their best to access school, work, grocery stores, or parks. At times, this may involve jaywalking. Continuing to criminalize rational, predictable responses to poor infrastructure is unjust.”
The Bill would not change existing law that already requires pedestrians to avoid potentially hazardous situations on the roadway. Instead, it will protect vulnerable pedestrians against racially biased, pretextual policing; inequitable fees and fines; unnecessary, and potentially lethal, interactions with law enforcement.
By decriminalizing safe-street crossings, the bill will reduce unnecessary police enforcement of jaywalking. Enforcing low-level infractions, like jaywalking, can have a substantial cost for law enforcement. Given this, decriminalizing safe street crossings has the potential to conserve substantial resources for agencies across the state.
Punishing the Poor for Bad Street Design
Inequities in neighborhood design leave lower-income neighborhoods less pedestrian-friendly than others. Because of this, policing jaywalking often amounts to punishing people for the lack of government services and improper land use planning in their community. People should not be penalized for decades of infrastructure neglect and auto-first street design.
There is no evidence that jaywalking laws keep people safe. In fact, we know that these laws make many Californians unsafe by exposing them to pretextual policing and unnecessary encounters with law enforcement. California is in the process of reforming its laws regarding the use of public spaces. Several categories of infractions have already been eliminated in recent years at the state level, including vending without a permit and possession of marijuana. It’s time to add jaywalking to this list.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/jay-all-partners-sep21-update2-scaled.jpg13852560Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-08-27 19:55:232021-09-22 13:37:56Freedom to Walk Act Moves to Senate Floor Vote
This year, CalBike is sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act(AB 1238, Ting), which will take jaywalking laws off the books in California. We realize that people have questions about why this legislation is critical for equity, justice, and accessibility. In partnership with the bill’s other co-sponsors, California Walks and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, we answer the most common questions about the Freedom to Walk Act.
Why do we need to reform the way pedestrians cross the street?
Safe walking should not be criminalized.
Jaywalking laws lead to unjust enforcement and burdensome fines and fees.
Jaywalking laws give rise to pretextual policing.
Pedestrian infrastructure is inadequate, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. Jaywalking rules tend to punish people for what is actually a collective failure to invest in our neighborhoods.
Won’t removing jaywalking laws make the streets less safe for pedestrians?
No. In fact, removing jaywalking laws will make it safer for pedestrians, especially Black, brown, and low-income pedestrians, by ending unnecessary police encounters that can lead to police brutality.1
People will still be prohibited from crossing the street in reckless or hazardous ways.
Most crashes involving pedestrians are due to drivers violating traffic laws.
Even if jaywalking were unsafe (in almost all cases, it is not), tickets and fines have no deterrent effect, so getting rid of them won’t increase jaywalking.
How will decriminalizing jaywalking affect the safety of children and the elderly?
Children under 13 are typically supervised by an adult when crossing the street. This bill will not affect the guardian’s responsibility to ensure that children cross the road safely.
California empowers teenagers to make decisions far more complex than how to cross the street. If we can trust teenagers can drive, we can trust them to assess when crossing the road will be an immediate hazard. Like anyone else, if they do not exercise good judgment, they will be subject to citation.
This bill will increase the safety of Black and brown youth, who are often targeted by police for jaywalking.2
The elderly are just as rational and logical as any other adult. Regardless of the Freedom to Walk Act, they will choose to cross the street only when they conclude that it is safe for them to do so.
1 See, for instance, the tragic death of two Black pedestrians in 2018 and 2020, Chinedu Okobi and Kurt Reinhold.
2 See, for example, this account of police officers in Kern County using jaywalking laws as a pretext to stop, harass, and attack four high-school students.
Why should California change pedestrian traffic laws and not similar laws for motorists?
Driving is a privilege; walking is a right.
Drivers cause most pedestrian crashes, so driver enforcement needs to be addressed before pedestrian enforcement. Recent Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) data shows that driver violations account for over two-thirds of pedestrian crashes.
Motor vehicles cause the most harm on our roads (due to weight and speed) and generate the most serious consequences.
Motorists already have substantial protection from laws that they routinely disobey. The ‘speed trap’ law prohibits the enforcement of speed limits that most motorists exceed. AB 1238 merely extends to pedestrians that same protection against enforcement of a law that is routinely and safely disobeyed.
Would legalizing jaywalking undermine pedestrian safety?
No. Speeding, busier roads, increasingly distracted drivers, lack of safe pedestrian infrastructure, and other driving or road factors are the biggest threats to pedestrian safety. Mid-block crossings or crossing against the light where no cars are coming doesn’t endanger pedestrians.
Unless we take measures to improve street safety and calm traffic, pedestrian crashes will continue to rise. Rather than responding by limiting and punishing pedestrian activity, we should address the factors that actually give rise to these increased crashes.
Studies suggest that the design of modern SUVs and trucks is now one of the main culprits in pedestrian fatalities. Higher grills give drivers large front blind spots and cause more severe injuries during collisions with people on foot.
Don’t jaywalking tickets provide important revenue for state and local governments?
Jaywalking fines and fees are especially difficult to collect.
Jaywalking citations are disproportionately distributed in low-income neighborhoods; in Bakersfield, for instance, only 17% of census tracts have a median income below $37,404, yet 92% of jaywalking citations were imposed in these low-income tracts.
Aside from the difficulty collecting jaywalking fines, it is simply not equitable for state and local governments to rely on our lowest-income residents for revenue generation.
Revenue enhancement should never be a reason for the enforcement of laws. Public safety should.
If you support the repeal of unjust and illogical jaywalking laws, tell your California Senator to vote YES on AB 1238, the Freedom to Walk Act.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-jaywalking.jpeg8661600Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-08-12 16:29:302021-08-12 16:29:31Why California Should Decriminalize Jaywalking
Los Angeles Walks: John Yi, john@losangeleswalks.org | 213-219-2483
Freedom to Walk Act to Decriminalize Jaywalking in Senate Transportation Committee, June 29
SACRAMENTO – The Freedom to Walk Act, a bill to eliminate jaywalking laws in California, will be heard on Tuesday, 6/29/21 in the California Senate Transportation Committee.
AB 1238 will make it legal for pedestrians in California to cross mid-block and against traffic lights, provided they don’t interfere with traffic. The bill is authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco. CalBike and a coalition of more than 85 groups and individuals support the repeal of jaywalking laws.
“The incredible rate at which pedestrians are dying from crashes should compel us to understand why fellow Californians navigate as such, not criminalize them. This is just the first of many steps in our fight to provide all those who walk and roll with a little more dignity,” shared John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks.
Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate said, “Jaywalking citations are disproportionately issued to Black Californians – they are up to 4.3 times more likely to be stopped than their White counterparts. Decriminalizing jaywalking will remove an opportunity for biased policing, and get rid of an unjust burden on low-income California residents, who can least afford to pay the fines and who are more likely to live in neighborhoods that lack infrastructure for people who walk, making jaywalking unavoidable.”
“Creating safe public spaces by changing policies that have disregarded the safety, existence, and joy of primarily low-income people of color across the state is overdue. This bill will begin to do that by ensuring that people forced to ‘jaywalk’ are not punished due to the decades of intentional poor infrastructure in their neighborhoods,” said Caro Jauregui, Co-Executive Director of California Walks.
CalBike, California Walks, Los Angeles Walks, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area are sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, which has strong support from a broad base of community organizations. Supporters include the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto, Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement, and Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. Several city officials have expressed their support for decriminalizing jaywalking, including the Emeryville City Council.
AB1238 was passed by the California State Assembly with a floor vote of 58-16 on June 2, 2021.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-jaywalking.jpeg8661600Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-06-25 13:54:002021-07-23 19:11:40Senate Transportation Committee to Hear Bill to Decriminalize Jaywalking