I’ve lived in 4 states and worked in about 10 major metropolitan areas around the country and Portland stands alone in it’s extremely high percentage of jaywalkers. Not unlike the zombies depicted in the Night of Living Dead, Portlanders, particularly those of the suit and tie variety, mindlessly traverse the traffic congested streets of our city against the advice of the glowing red don’t walk hand.
How is that these people aren’t getting hit in the street every 10 minutes? How is it that the State of Oregon funded the construction of roadways in downtown Portland and yet they are run by pedestrians and bicyclists? How is it that drivers, the very commuters for which these streets were paved for in the first place, have no goddamned rights or respect at all?
But perhaps the most important question of all is this…
Why can these aforementioned zombies continue to disobey second grade level traffic laws and live to see another day, while I can’t even manage to cross the street LEGALLY, without a near death experience?
(Note: to the bitch in the green minivan that almost ran me down on SW 3rd Ave. the other day: FUCK YOU, just because you don’t know what the little white guy on the crosswalk sign indicates doesn’t mean that I should end up road kill on the bottom of your cheap Les Schwab specials. Unlike you, my family loves me.)
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
No shit too many people jaywalk!! I actually got a ticket for it last year and only because I followed some people doing it on 6th avenue. I try to warn people now not to jaywalk at all but nobody listens. I notice it a lot more now that I commute into downtown. Your web site rocks by the way. Awesome FOX-12 criticisms!!
How much was your ticket? I’ve always wondered what they charge for that.
I’ve recently moved to Portland from NYC, and I love it here. But one thing that has surprised me is the LOW percentage of jaywalkers, compared to anything I’ve ever seen before. No cars coming all the way down the street, and people stand slavishly waiting for the light to change. It’s a foreign concept to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of the aforementioned tie-wearing jerks. I love Portland immensely. But pedestrians have the right of way downtown; narrow streets and lots of traffic lights are designed for this purpose. Cars already rule the suburbs; let people have a little freedom downtown.
My ticket was $130 reduced down to $60
If you think Portland jaywalking is bad then you can’t have traveled much. The worst of the worst are most often the larger, more crowded cities. Portland Jaywalking is extremely mild compared to most compatible-sized cities I’ve been to, and a helluva lot of smaller ones too. In fact the drivers are at fault far more often than the walkers, because they don’t understand the law (every corner is a crosswalk), nicely outlined by this silly (but official) video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbHnvoFc6FA
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO? I GOT A JAYWALKING TICKET FOR …GET THIS…$142.00 FOR JAYWALKING?! I REALLY DON’T CONSIDER WHAT I DID JAYWALKING.
LONG STORY SHORT—–3AM WALKING HOME FROM WORK, EXHAUSTED, HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM BADLY. I STOPPED AT THE CROSS WALK SIGN AT GLISAN AND BROADWAY DOWNTOWN. NO CARS AT ALL. 3AM ON A WED. PORTLAND STREETS ARE DEAD. I DID SEE THE POLICE CAR A BLOCK UP CROSSING ON THE NEXT INTERSECTION. I STARTED TO CROSS EARLY ON THE DON’T WALK SIGN, IT TURNED TO WALK TWO FEET FROM ME STEPPING OFF THE CURB. I TOOK A RIGHT AFTER CROSSING THE STREET STILL NO CARS AT ALL. THEN ‘BLAM’ THE POLICE CAR I SAW A BLOCK AWAY CAME UP BEHIND ME, ALL LIGHTS FLASHING, STOPPED NEXT TO ME, THEY TOLD ME TO GET MY HANDS UP IN THE AIR. A FEMALE OFFICER STEPPED OUT AND INFORMED ME THAT I JAYWALKED. WTF????
TWO OFFICERS ONE FEMALE AND MALE, BOTH WERE SUPER COCKY AND QUESTIONING EVERYTHING, I FELT CONFUSED AND EXHAUSTED FROM THEIR LINE OF QUESTIONING AND STRONG ATTITUDES. THE FEMALE TOOK MY I.D. AND CHECKED OUT MY BACKGROUND WHILE THE MALE OFFICER…fucking jackass….STOOD A FOOT FROM MY FACE TRYING TO ANTAGONIZE ME TO DO SOMETHING MORE, LIKE HE WANTED ME REACT SO HE COULD GET MORE TO TAG ME WITH?!? THEN A SEPARATE OFFICER CAME UP AND STOOD A FOOT ON THE OTHER SIDE ME BOTH OF THEM HAD ARMS FOLDED AND REAL FUCKED UP ATTITUDES. THE FEMALE JUST KEPT WRITING THE TICKET IN THE CAR. WELL THE FIRST OFFICER WAS SHARP AND RUDE TO EVERYTHING I HAD TO SAY. I EVEN SAID ‘WOW, ISN’T THIS OVER-KILL FOR A JAYWALKING, YOU GUYS MUST BE REALLY BORED AND AMPIED ON COFFEE!” HE SAID, “NO ALL THE COFFEE SHOPS ARE CLOSED, I AM AMPIED ON METH AMPHETAMINES!” THAT’S WHEN I JUST DECIDED TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS COP DRAMA, I DIDN’T KNOW IF HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH OR NOT. I KNOW I WAS OFFENDED BECAUSE I AM IN RECOVERY. I FELT VERY ALONE OUT THERE WITH THESE IDIOTS, I FELT SINGLED OUT FOR A CRIME THAT PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY WITH TRAFFIC COMING AND GOING, I STILL HAD TO USED THE BATHROOM, I WAS WORK EXHAUSTED. SO THEN THE FEMALE OFFICER GAVE ME MY TICKET, THEY ALL MADE SOME SMART-ASSED REMARKS TO ME AND TO THEMSELVES AS I WAS WALKING ON. THAT WAS THAT. SO REALLY, WHAT THE HELL DO I DO ABOUT A VERY HARSH MOMENT WITH THE POLICE, A JAYWALKING TICKET AS THE WALK SIGN TURNED TO WALK, AND A $142 TICKET??????????