[scubbo]

I'm a Brit who moved to the States about three years ago. As well as this surprise, I was also shocked to discover that Jaywalking is actually considered a (minor) crime, and not just something that Americans made up to make fun of tourists (similar to Australian Drop-bears).

[NoodleIncident]

If the factoid I'm remembering is accurate, the "crime" of jaywalking was one of those things automobile manufacturers lobbied for in order to shift the blame for accidents from automobile/drivers to the pedestrians actually getting injured. Of course, before the automobile, streets were for pedestrians just as much as they were for any other means of transportation, and everyone moved slowly enough to get out of each others' way.

[cafard]

In fifty-plus years of walking around in the cities and suburbs of the US, I have never seen anyone get a citation for jaywalking, though I know it happens now and then.

My impression is that the police do it now and then to hassle persons they otherwise disapprove of or dislike. The writer Gary Wills once wrote of some DC police giving him a jaywalking ticket, apparently because he thought that a look at their car before he crossed implied disrespect. But I pretty routinely jaywalk in the presence of the police without attracting their notice. I'm pretty innocuous in appearance, but I see others do this too.