The Automotive Industry Shamed People off the Roads
In the 1920s, cars and people shared the road. People used the street as a place to walk and leisurely stroll. With the introduction of cars, the streets became much more crowded, and inevitably people and cars started colliding. In response to the rising number of pedestrian deaths, a petition in Cincinnati was circulated in 1923.
The petition sought to limit the speed of cars to 25 mph to protect people in the streets. Even though the petition failed, the auto industry realized that public pressure could turn against them if they did not find a way to decrease pedestrian deaths.
In the 1920s the term “jay” was used to describe someone who was an idiot or a simpleton. So the auto industry decided to coin the phrase “jaywalking” to refer to people that did not practice safety when crossing the street. They got Boy Scouts to stand on corners and hand out cards to anyone that lingered in the street or crossed where they were not supposed to. The cards asked people to “quit jay walking” and to only cross at the designated areas.
They also asked newspapers to send them facts about the local traffic accidents in their city. The auto industry safety committee would then send back reports on the situation of traffic and accidents in their city. The end result was that in 1923, newspapers blamed accidents on drivers and the next year, newspapers shifted the blame to “jaywalkers” instead of drivers. Not done yet, they would hire clowns to perform and imitate the jaywalkers who was too naive to realize that streets were no longer for walking as in the archaic days, but rather this was a modern society and the road was for cars. Needless to say, the effort paid off as jaywalking is a punishable offense in many countries.