"It's what we were taught" at school....

[fireheart17]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/s...-1226488503936

So a guy gets in trouble for jaywalking. His response?

"We should be allowed to cross the road if there's no cars, it's what we were taught at school!"

Talk about a major SC!

[siead_lietrathua]

but.. if there were no cars, how did the cops see them. obv. traffic was around if they never noticed the cop car coming (or they never friggan looked and just stepped out into the road.)

[Andara Bledin]

What an idiot.

What they taught in school was that no cars means it's safe to cross. They never go into whether or not it's legal.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

He's an idiot... but I do think jaywalking laws ought to take the situation more into account. Not in his case; on a road busy enough to need a traffic light, you should cross there. But, as I understand it, it would be equally illegal to cross the road I live on, where it's not unusual for an hour to go by without a single car, whereas the legal but more dangerous way would be to go down to the main road (which *is* fairly busy) and cross at the intersection. And that's plain stupid.

[fireheart17]

He's an idiot... but I do think jaywalking laws ought to take the situation more into account. Not in his case; on a road busy enough to need a traffic light, you should cross there. But, as I understand it, it would be equally illegal to cross the road I live on, where it's not unusual for an hour to go by without a single car, whereas the legal but more dangerous way would be to go down to the main road (which *is* fairly busy) and cross at the intersection. And that's plain stupid.

This was on a main road and the guy was about 10m away from the lights. He was just lazy.

[HYHYBT]

I know. Just bringing up related stuff.

[siead_lietrathua]

i think jaywalking laws take area into account. you don't get busted for it in the podunk cuz it could be a quarter mile to the next stop sign. but they tend to be stricter in suburbia.

[Nyoibo]

From memory here it's j-walking if you do it within 15 or so meters of a crossing, I may be wrong though.

Hmm, according to wiki it's 20 meters, however according to the law society of SA

‘Jaywalking’

Jaywalking is defined as illegally or recklessly crossing the street without regard to traffic regulations. There is no specific offence of jaywalking but under the Road Traffic Act 1971 and the Australian Road Rules a number of offences exist in relation to walking without regard to other road users or without regard to safety.

Pedestrian offences

Under s 87 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 it is an offence to walk without reasonable consideration for other road users.

Under the rules 230 and 234 of the Australian Road Rules it is an offence for a pedestrian to cross a road diagonally, unless at an intersection where this is allowed.

It is an offence under regulation 23A of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Variation Regulations (and rule 234 of the Australian Road Rules) to cross to or from an area of road within 20 metres of a tram stop other than at a pedestrian crossing.

Rule 230 states that a pedestrian must cross a road by the shortest safest route and under rule 232 they can only cross when the pedestrian lights are green.

Guy got off light, the maximum penalty is $2500

[telecom_goddess]

holy cow....while jay walking sucks for sure I don't think it deserves that much of a fine

[Andara Bledin]

Honestly, there are some situations where jaywalking would deserve a $2500 fine.

Take, for example, a person deciding to just saunter across a busy street, damn whoever might be coming. That's a major hazard for everybody involved and has the potential to injure or kill more than just the asshole pedestrian.

^-.-^

[MrsEclipse]

Honestly, there are some situations where jaywalking would deserve a $2500 fine.

Take, for example, a person deciding to just saunter across a busy street, damn whoever might be coming. That's a major hazard for everybody involved and has the potential to injure or kill more than just the asshole pedestrian.

^-.-^

I see that at least once a week here, and only that little because I don't go out more often than I do. They won't wait for a lull in traffic, they won't walk one block to the traffic light, and they won't even pick up the pace. Half the time I don't know how the car managed to stop in time. It's not like there's a shortage of pedestrian crossing. If there was, I could understand. Not agree, but understand.

I often find drivers trying to bully me out of the way when I'm a pedestrian. When I DO end up getting run over because it all went wrong, it had better damn well be THEIR fault so it's their ass that's gonna pay for it. If you're crossing in the middle of the road and some driver plows through you, it's YOUR fault.

Also, what does he mean, "taught at school." Was that actually part of the lesson plan learning pedestrian safety early on or did, like, his history teacher say it one time and he took it to heart? And "they should review the laws... a lot of people do this." Dude, a lot of people do a lot of things. That doesn't make it okay. They make laws because you're not SUPPOSED to do things because it's better for all parties involved if you don't. I learned my pedestrian safety skills in elementary school. This guy, apparently, learned all his debate tactics.

[fireheart17]

Also, what does he mean, "taught at school." Was that actually part of the lesson plan learning pedestrian safety early on or did, like, his history teacher say it one time and he took it to heart? And "they should review the laws... a lot of people do this." Dude, a lot of people do a lot of things. That doesn't make it okay. They make laws because you're not SUPPOSED to do things because it's better for all parties involved if you don't. I learned my pedestrian safety skills in elementary school. This guy, apparently, learned all his debate tactics.

Even though it shouldn't be, road safety is actually taught in primary school to junior primary children. Along with "look both ways before you cross the street".

[Zod]

I'm surprised. I always thought Jaywalking was just an American thing.

He said they had decided to cross the road to avoid having to wait for the nearby traffic lights to change.

"It takes forever to cross and why not (just walk) if you see no cars on the road," he said.

Spot on. If it looks safe, then go. If a driver isn't good enough to break, or go around someone trying to cross a street, then they shouldn't be allowed to drive.

[Andara Bledin]

Just because you're in too much of a hurry to wait for the light to change does not make it ok to just cross wherever.

^-.-^

[s_stabeler]

actually, it does depend. going home from school, I used to cross the road away from a nearby pedestrian crossing too. why? because I would need to cross another road to reach the pedestrian crossing, with crossing said road being more dangerous. Was I unreasonable then? ( I waited until traffic was either stopped or absent. usually stopped.)