LAPD Cracks Down On Jaywalkers - $197 Fines

[DamianTV]

http://jalopnik.com/lapd-cracks-down-on-jaywalkers-as-more-people-ditch-car-1489914436

At some point or another, you and I will have moments when we aren't in cars (I know, it's terrifying.). But if you happen to not be in a car in a place called Los Angeles, expect to have a less-than-swell time, as police are cracking down on pedestrians like never before. P

Well, not just pedestrians, but a specific kind of pedestrian: the jaywalker. In recent weeks the department has issued dozens of jaywalking citations to pedestrians, and they aren't cheap.P

Sure, jaywalkers can be a nuisance sometimes. But the intensity with which the Los Angeles Police Department is going after jaywalkers has raised eyebrows, according to the New York Times

Still, the enforcement has struck many of the pedestrians — the new kids on the block — as more than a little one-sided and strikingly strict. When Adam Bialik, a bartender, stepped off the curb on his way to work at the Ritz-Carlton a few blinks after the crossing signal began its red "Don't Walk" countdown, he was met by a waiting police officer on the other side of the street and issued a ticket for $197.

"I didn't even know that was against the law," he said. "I was like, 'You are the L.A.P.D., and this is what you are doing right now?' "P

I dunno, $197 for being in the intersection during the countdown? When traffic isn't even coming yet? That sounds pretty extreme to me. Another example

Jeff Grotke, 49, a bankruptcy lawyer who works downtown, said he crossed a street midblock on the way to Bankruptcy Court when there was not a car in sight. He was stopped by two officers and given a ticket.

"Honestly, I cussed them out for about five minutes," he said. "I told them what a stupid waste of time this was, and wasn't it great that they had two police officers standing there when there are obviously more important issues out there."

Goofy formatting for me. Article continues on link, probably with better formatting.

 

[aGameOfThrones]

it's for your safety, sheep.

 

[TaftFan]

Pretty exorbitant although I don't feel much sympathy for them.

Sure they are free to put their own lives in danger but they can also damage vehicles and even cause injury to others if they get hit.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Pretty exorbitant although I don't feel much sympathy for them.

Sure they are free to put their own lives in danger but they can also damage vehicles and even cause injury to others if they get hit.

LOL...and they won't feel much sympathy for you, when it happens to you.

But hey, let me guess...you're "law abiding" right?

 

[TaftFan]

LOL...and they won't feel much sympathy for you, when it happens to you.

But hey, let me guess...you're "law abiding" right?

I'm common-sense abiding too.

 

[phill4paul]

Pretty exorbitant although I don't feel much sympathy for them.

Sure they are free to put their own lives in danger but they can also damage vehicles and even cause injury to others if they get hit.

I couldn't have said it better myself. These individuals should actually be thankful that they got a ticket. Hopefully, it'll get their heads out of the clouds and bring them down to earth. There is a reason for crosswalks and pedestrian signals!

 

[Anti Federalist]

I'm common-sense abiding too.

So, when it happens to you, you'll either be complicit or surprised.

 

[Ender]

Pretty exorbitant although I don't feel much sympathy for them.

Sure they are free to put their own lives in danger but they can also damage vehicles and even cause injury to others if they get hit.

That's a bunch of bull.

Studies have been made that show that pedestrians are actually safer when they jaywalk than in the crosswalks.

 

[Anti Federalist]

I couldn't have said it better myself. These individuals should actually be thankful that they got a ticket. Hopefully, it'll get their heads out of the clouds and bring them down to earth. There is a reason for crosswalks and pedestrian signals!

The Officers were not in any danger, were they?

 

[phill4paul]

That's a bunch of bull.

Studies have been made that show that pedestrians are actually safer when they jaywalk than in the crosswalks.

It really doesn't matter whether you can cite them. It's a bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo bunk. Pedestrian walks and signals provide for a safe, orderly and expeditious form of travel between automobiles and individuals. Anyone that does not conform to these social improvements risks bringing about chaos, disorder and a loss of rule of law. Taftfan is right. We have a social contract and a rule of law to keep us civilized. If not this then anarchy and terrorism.

 

[Ender]

Despite what the police would have us believe, we are all jaywalkers. We have no choice; to negotiate the city on foot requires endless street crossing without benefit of traffic light, crosswalk or corner.

The police are now stopping jaywalkers and other pedestrians whose behaviour they don't like to hand out tickets and deliver a lecture on street safety. It's for our own good, of course. Pedestrians are naughty children who must be protected from themselves.

And sometimes we do need to be protected from ourselves. Anyone who saunters into the path of an oncoming streetcar while engrossed in a cellphone conversation is asking for trouble.

But the reality of jaywalking is quite the opposite. In fact, jaywalking can be much safer than crossing at a green light, corner or crosswalk.

That might sound counterintuitive, but the reason is simple: Jaywalkers assume nothing; those crossing legally assume everything.

Pedestrians at a green light take it for granted that vehicles will come to a stop, that drivers turning right or left will see them, and that their right-of-way will be respected. As we know, it's not.

By contrast, jaywalkers look both ways, wait for a break in the traffic and often make eye contact with drivers before proceeding.

The concept of "naked streets," or as the Dutch call them, woonerfs, is based on the same principle. Because street signs have been removed, drivers and pedestrians are forced to pay close attention to each other. Fewer accidents result.

No one should hold their breath waiting for naked streets to appear in Toronto; that's never going to happen. On the other hand, it would be worth employing a bit more subtlety and intelligence than the police have managed. Imposing fines and wagging fingers will accomplish nothing. Deaths will continue.

And let's not forget that the majority of the 14 pedestrians killed by drivers in the last few weeks were doing exactly what the law stipulated. They weren't jaywalking, though they might have been better off had that been the case.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/01/28/hume_maybe_wed_all_be_safer_jaywalking.html

 

[phill4paul]

Safety:

 

[Anti Federalist]

Cop basher.

Safety:

 

[phill4paul]

Cop basher.

I can see now that I am going to have to keep a dossier on you. I will need something to trade for my freedom should your baseless accusations merit consideration from my beloved protectors. I hope my post report finds it's way to the moderators before a refusnik saboteur such as yourself can cause real damage. This is verbal terrorism.

 

[KCIndy]

it's for your safety, sheep.

Actually, it's to provide another source of income for a nearly bankrupt fascist state.

 

[DamianTV]

Soon enough, there will be Mandatory Surveillance to prevent people from Bleating Off.

(not a typo, bleat = sound a sheep makes)

 

[phill4paul]

Actually, it's to provide another source of income for a nearly bankrupt fascist state.

I can't believe you think this. There are still places in this world were individuals are whipped and scourged for breaking the law. We are getting off easy. Fines are meant to cause reflection on why we have made an error in judgement. The next time you decide to jaywalk you might want to consider the rent that you must pay. Or the diapers your kid might need. Or paying any of your utility bills. I can't believe that anyone would not consider all this before crossing a street. THAT is the problem with this country.

 

[Ender]

I can't believe you think this. There are still places in this world were individuals are whipped and scourged for breaking the law. We are getting off easy. Fines are meant to cause reflection on why we have made an error in judgement. The next time you decide to jaywalk you might want to consider the rent that you must pay. Or the diapers your kid might need. Or paying any of your utility bills. I can't believe that anyone would not consider all this before crossing a street. THAT is the problem with this country.

More people die in the crosswalks than in jaywalking.

When you jaywalk you take no chances- when you are in the crosswalks you actually suppose that drivers are going to stop for you.

Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha.

 

[TaftFan]

More people die in the crosswalks than in jaywalking.

When you jaywalk you take no chances- when you are in the crosswalks you actually suppose that drivers are going to stop for you.

Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha.

Perhaps it is only because a very small % of people (the stupid) jaywalk.

I personally watch where I am going while on the sidewalk. I understand the contrarians don't like common sense but I won't change my habits for their approval.

 

[DamianTV]

I can't believe you think this. There are still places in this world were individuals are whipped and scourged for breaking the law. We are getting off easy. Fines are meant to cause reflection on why we have made an error in judgement. The next time you decide to jaywalk you might want to consider the rent that you must pay. Or the diapers your kid might need. Or paying any of your utility bills. I can't believe that anyone would not consider all this before crossing a street. THAT is the problem with this country.

In those places, the people that are whipped and physically injured is the punishment issued by the law. However, here, although physical injury is not the sentence of the courts, it is all too often the method of punishment as issued by the Cops. To often Lethal consequences.

In BOTH cases, the problem arises from an Authority that has Zero Accountability to its people.

The US is broke. Flat Broke. I doubt it will be long before we see Public Lashings as a form of Punishment due to both Overcrowding of Prisons, and Inability of the accused to Pay the Fines and Fees. People may actually ask for a Public Lashing in lieu of a Fine they cant pay, or Imprisonment because of the additional costs of being incarcerated, such as loss of job if the person has one, which leads to loss of home.