Posted on 12/26/2013 11:36:57 AM PST by DariusBane
LOS ANGELES — In a city of seemingly endless highways — with its daily parade of car accidents, frustrating traffic jams and aggressive drivers — the Los Angeles Police Department these days is training its sights on a different road menace: jaywalkers.
It is not quite “Dragnet,” but the Police Department in recent weeks has issued dozens of tickets to workers, shoppers and tourists for illegally crossing the street in downtown Los Angeles. And the crackdown is raising questions about whether the authorities are taking sides with the long-dominant automobile here at the very time when a pedestrian culture is taking off, fueled by the burst of new offices, condominiums, hotels and restaurants rising in downtown Los Angeles.
The police say they are simply trying to maintain order at a time when downtown Los Angeles, once a place of urban tumbleweeds and the homeless, is teeming with people competing for pavement with automobiles. “There’s a huge influx of folks that come into the downtown area,” said Sgt. Larry Delgado of the Central Traffic Division. “If you go out there, you are going to see enforcement.”
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?’ ”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Call me stupid if you want to. It seems to me that a car in motion can do severe damage to my body, hence I look for cross walks and lights for pedestrians. Jay walking has been ticket able as long as I can remember. For those who want to live dangerously, have at it
It’s only the worse idea if you predicate it on the basis that people are incapable of looking out for their own best interest.
Nowhere in the article is it stated that a bunch of people are getting hit by cars.
San Jose can be a hazardous place for drivers near the U at pretty much anytime. And those dratted students are nasty to cars ‘in their’ way.
SF is the same way
I agree.
Leave the Union thugs and courts out it. If a person is so stupid as to get hit by a car...
exactly
true that
Roads were built for cars. Everything else needs to find another path or at least get out of the way.
I’m 100% on the cops side, THE STREETS ARE FOR CARS!!!!!!
You leaches stay on the sidewalks and obey the crossing laws!
Where do they find them? They just throw chum (paychecks) into the water, and the sharks begin to circle.
My wife used to ask me, "How could [that person] do {what he just did]? My answer was that there is someone who, if he found you unconscious beside the road would be willing to stomp your teeth in for the metal in the fillings.
Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Ghengis Kahn, Roman emperors, ... none of these, and many others had no trouble finding willing workers.
This is why humans are tribal. We hang with those we trust the most.
Sounds like a typical money grab from the mafia which is totally out of control.I bet they will even start using tazers on jaywalkers soon and try to justify it by saying they deserved it.
The cost of tickets in California is outrageous. That said, the invasion of third-worlders has created a huge jay walking problem. It needs to be addressed.
Speeding tickets weren’t even that high 10 years ago.
Turn right on a red light without a complete stop here in Cali...that'll cost you over $500.
Citizens clamored about the high fines a few years ago. The legislature passed MAXIMUM fines. Now, they just add "fees" to each fine to jack them up well beyond the maximum.
It won't cost you anything if you're an illegal with an unregistered car. Maybe in CA--but in many East Coast states, they get a pass.
I don't block traffic, mind you, but I also understand there is no constitutional right to jaywalking.
Walking in LA - Missing Persons
Look ahead as we pass, try and focus on it
I won’t be fooled by a cheap cinematic trick
It must’ve been just a cardboard cut-out of a man
Top 40, casting from the record stands
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
I dunno, could’ve been a lame jogger, baby
Or someone just about to do the freeway strangler, baby
Shopping cart pusher, or maybe someone groovy
One things for sure he isn’t starring in the movies, cause he’s
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Only a nobody walks in L.A.
(nobody’s walkin walkin walkin walkin...)
You won’t see a cop walking on the beat
(nobody’s walkin walkin walkin walkin...)
You only see them driving cars out in the street
(nobody’s walkin walkin walkin walkin...)
You won’t see kids walking home from school
(nobody’s walkin walkin walkin walkin...)
Their mothers pick them up in a car pool
(nobody’s walkin walkin walkin walkin...)
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Could it be that the smog’s playing tricks on my eyes?
Or it’s a rollerskater, some kinda headphone disguise
Maybe somebody who just ran outta gas
Making his way back to the pump the best way he can
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
Ok this is a story about the competing interests of cars and pedestrians, and how down town Los Angeles is changing. Cool.
It’s beginning to be like driving in friggin Tijuana all over Southern California. The “immigrants” haven’t got a clue as to what crosswalks are for and don’t even get me started on how they completely miss the concept of sidewalks and walk down the middle of the road instead.
Most police departments nationwide are cranking up ticket giving to raise money. No surprise here.
The part of LA I live in has extended the times the meters are in force from early morning to 9 PM at night ... including Saturday.
It’s easy money.
It’s around $385 for a ticket where you are on your phone and driving. About $200 for not buckling your seat belt.
Signs on the freeway remind you that fines double in a construction zone.
My average parking ticket runs around $45.00 to $75.00.
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