March 26, 2007
Don't Say We Didn't Warn You...
DCist Headquarters has been abuzz this morning with accounts of District cops issuing tickets for jaywalking and other traffic violations. As part of a month-long campaign to promote pedestrian safety that began last week, police in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland warned both drivers and pedestrians that they'd be cracking down on bad behavior. Officers are apparently staying true to their word, and have been dealing out tickets like so many playing cards. Given that we reported a rash of jaywalking tickets this time last year, seems likely the nicer weather, much like a milkshake, brings all the MPD officers to the yard sidewalk.
DCist reader Karen tells us:
I saw a girl get ticketed for jaywalking this morning at 15th and Rhode Island (she crossed a 15th- a one-way street in the morning- about 5 seconds before the light actually turned red - no one was coming!). ... they asked for her ID and I wondered what would happen if you said you didn't have it on you... it's not like you need it to walk to work...
And Washington Jen blogs:
This morning on my way to work, I witnessed something I don't think I have ever witnessed before. I actually saw someone getting a ticket for jay walking! I didn't actually witness the actual jay walking but I did end up on the same street corner as the girl getting the ticket and the female cop she was getting it from. This is the part of the conversation I came in on:We're sure there are plenty more stories like these out there, and we're wondering if the crackdown has affected drivers or pedestrians more. So if you've gotten a ticket or seen someone else getting one, let us know! And stay in those crosswalks!Girl on her way to work: I'm sorry, I didn't know it was illegal!
Cop: Well, I think most people are aware that crossing the street without a cross walk is against the law. What do you think cross walks are for?
Girl: Well, it may be against the law but it never seems to be enforced. I see people do it all of the time...
Cop: I don't know what to tell you, people speed all of the time too and not everyone gets caught either.At this point I had to cross the street and since I am a perfectly, obedient person, I opted to cross at that time because the walk sign was flashing and I only had a whole 24 seconds to get across. Of course, I was positioned in the middle of the cross walk the whole entire way across.
Photo by KHT20
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That stadium isn't just going to pay for itself.
Ahh, I get it. DC's solution to reckless Metro bus drivers killing pedestrians is to...fine pedestrians.
Colin, you get major points for blowing up that citation nice and big. Now I guess I get to eat my words: I never thought the ticketing would actually happen!
Interesting to note, though, that the handy form doesn't include jaywalking - it had to be added by hand. Does that mean the fine is up to the cop writing the ticket?
Twenty bucks isn't too bad.
I actually made the point that the recent deaths were because cars had run red lights and NOT because pedestrians were crossing against the light. Which is probably why I got the ticket instead of a warning....
They've been ticketing students outside AU's Washington College of Law, but according to the warning e-mails that students have been sending around, the fines were only $5...
Well that's the first time I've ever heard of anyone claiming ignorance of jaywalking laws.
I'm also interested to learn how many drivers are getting ticketed as well. I saw one last week, but I think that was before the crackdown officially commenced, and it was a pretty obviously dumb move with the cop car right behind the driver. Only the second time in 9 years here I've actually witnessed a driver being pulled over for a moving violation.
I got ticketed at 15th and Rhode Island this morning and my ticket was for $10. I actually crossed with a few other people. When I asked the cop why he didn't ticket them he said that he couldn't stop everyone because it would threaten his safety. Ridiculous.
And rule No. 1. Never tell the cop you shouldn't get a ticket because it's always the car's fault.
A copy quoted ina Post article about the guy who died by the Uptown Theater a couple of years ago, and still got a jaywalking ticket.
"If he's outside the crosswalk, he would be at fault," he said.
I watched a jackass on a huffy get t-boned in Gallery Place yesterday trying to bet the light on 7th street. Hopefully they ticketed him....
I gotta re-read my stuff before posting.
That sentence should read "A cop quoted in a Post article ..."
I too saw someone get ticketed at 15th and Rhode Island this morning. Fortunately, I saw the cop at the corner with what looked like a pad of tickets in his hand before I crossed the street. And seriously, you have to wait a whole minute to cross that intersection in the morning, it always throws off my timing to get to work if I hit it at the wrong time.
Hey don't blame me.
I have seen small herds of people being busted at the median strip on 13th and Pennsylvania NW (right by the Reagan Building). They just stand there while a cop writes them all tickets. I wonder what would happen if one of them just ran off - would the cop call for backup?
I also saw two law firm partner-looking guys get busted for jaywalking right by the Metro Center McDonalds corner. They were not happy looking.
I wonder what the statutory fine for jaywalking is. It's kind of worrisome that cops are issuing a fine for various low amounts. You would think they had been told what the right amount is. Seems to me like a fun way to contest a ticket.
I got a ticket at about 8:30am on Saturday- crossing 7th St at North Carolina, SE- right by Eastern Market. For the record, I don't know about anyone else, but for me it was almost IMPOSSIBLE during the actual ticketing to not say something that probably would have resulted in my getting another ticket...or possibly thrown in jail...
Doesn't this ticketing campaign fly in the face of the (very expensive) initiative to increase pedestrians in the city?
I hope they do this in force at 7th and H in Chinatown. That intersection is getting ridiculous with the large crowds, jaywalking, and cars busting through the intersection at the worst times. Of course I won't believe it's a real campaign until they start ticketing on U street. Jaywalking is a way of life up here.
"Doesn't this ticketing campaign fly in the face of the (very expensive) initiative to increase pedestrians in the city?"
No, it's entirely consistent with that initiative. We want our pedestrians to live long enough to reproduce, and thereby grow in number. Combining this safety initiative with automated enforcement of vehicular traffic laws is like a win-win-win dream come true!
more wasted resources
dc police can eat a dick
I would prefer giving drivers the ok to run down people who walk out in the middle of the road. I don't drive much in the district (bike and walk), but when I do those people really piss me off. They walk out halfway in the road and wait for you to pass them. Dangerous thing to do.
It is illegal for a police officer to require a pedestrian being ticketed for jaywalking to show proof of identity (don't lie -- see subsection (b)) -- they can ask for your name, but they can't legally make you show them a driver's license or any other ID:
Title 50, Section 2303.07 of the DC Code states:
§ 50-2303.07. Identification of pedestrian offenders.
(a) A pedestrian who is stopped by a police officer or other authorized official after the pedestrian has committed an infraction of these regulations shall be required to inform the officer or other official of his or her true name and address for the purpose of including that information on a notice of infraction; provided, that no pedestrian shall be required to possess or display any documentary proof of his or her name or address in order to comply with the requirements of this section.
(b) A pedestrian who refuses to provide his or her name and address to a police officer upon request after having been stopped for committing an infraction of these regulations shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than $10 nor more than $50.
Thanks for the info, Eileen.
A friend of mine is a paralegal for an ambulance-chaser type of law firm. Apparently, if a pedestrian is hit by a car in the crosswalk they have a much better case (in civil court, atleast) than if they're hit while jaywalking. I guess that makes sense.
I'd be curious what would happen if, while getting a ticket, someone took a picture of the cop writing it. Bet that wouldn't go over well; anyone able to comment on the legality? I think it should be legal, right?
I get the point of a jaywalking sting (thanks for the manners lesson, MPD!), but this is outrageous given the lax enforcement of nearly all driving laws in this city. Why don't they try a "rolling through the stop sign" sting on Capitol Hill, or a speed trap near virtually any freeway entrance or exit? Or perhaps the police could get out of their cars and direct traffic at busy intersections when the lights go down? That would do a lot more to increase pedestrian safety while keeping focus on the real problem: cars.
I think it would be cool if they actually enforced speed limits all over the Metro area. The revenue raised in Northern Virginia would probably solve the road financing issues for, like, 10 years. And how many people actually observe the 25 MPH limit on most roads in the District (unless forced to by congestion)?
I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with the jaywalking sting. If you jaywalk, you are breaking the law, and you accept the risks of doing so. Complaining about a ticket because you got caught seems to me to be pretty unreasonable (as is deflecting to someone else's violations; your lawbreaking doesn't stop being illegal because someone else is breaking the law in a different way). And considering how many of you have either gotten a ticket or seen someone else getting a ticket, it's obviously a pretty widespread violation.
But that's DC style: bitch when you're expected to accept the same responsibility for your actions that you expect everyone else to accept.
i got ticketed for crossing at park and 14th when the only cars crossing were all turning left. i had my ipod on and didn't notice the crossing guard, who actually put her (enormous) hand on my chest to stop me, all the while beratng me for not stopping to begin with. i got a $10 ticket and a threat of another for - get this - "disobeying an officer of the law."
hehe.
I haven't yet gotten a jaywalking ticket, though there are a few intersections that I pass through regularly against the light (no traffic at all passing through), but I'll stop bitching about the rediculousness of SOME jaywalking tickets, i.e. when there's absolutely no traffic to put the pedestrian at risk, and such, when MPD starts enforcing traffic laws for cars. I don't think I've EVER seen ANYONE getting busted for a moving violation, and I've seem some pretty ignorant effing drivers.
Jesus. How about if that 15th-and-Rhode Island sting moved one itty bitty block south and actually ticketed the thousands of drivers who don't even consider tapping their brakes for the peds in the crosswalk at N Street? If we actually felt any safer in the crosswalks over a mid-block cross, there might be some actual impetus to use them.
It's not the enforcement of a (relatively) valid law that is at issue, it's the double standard. People drive like maniacs/idiots in this city and nothing but a few cameras mounted on sticks abates it.
To the people complaining about the "jaywalking sting." supposedly this is whole operation is for both jaywalkers and moving violations. Sooo, has anyone seen drivers getting ticketed this week? If not, then I definitely have some issues with this thing.
Good to see that the cops are after the jaywalkers...I suppose that they've finally found a crime they think they can handle (as opposed to petty theft, drugs, murder, etc.)
In all seriousness though, it appears that they're being a bit overzealous in their policing - plenty of pedestrians make stupid crossing decisions every day...focus on them and not the ones crossing empty streets.
If I get busted, I am SO breaking out the former college track moves and sprinting away -- I would LOVE to see one of our "oh so fit" officers try to keep pace with me!
walking my daughter to school this morning we had to step outside of the crosswalk to get around a police car parked over the crosswalk at 17th and R NW(they were in the coffee shop eating.)
I awas almost struck my a MPD officer who ran a stop sign while driving and talking on his cell phone. I put out my hand, touched his car, and gave him the look from hell. Pedestrians aren't the problem in DC, it's drivers who don't give a crap about the law because no one enforces them. A jaywalking sting for $20 fines is far less effective (and lucrative) than a using a cell phone while driving sting for $100 fines. Where are the priorities?
RD, You probably know this, but they're not supposed to do that. Technically, this should qualify as failing to give a pedestrian the right of way in a crosswalk since they forced you outside it (ha ha). I have resolved that every time I see a police officer do this, I'm going to file a complaint online (www.dc.gov -- either through "Ask the Mayor" or MPD's site) -- this is the right time to do this, given they are supposed to be watching out for pedestrians especially now. I'm also going to keep a copy and next time I'm called for jury duty and they ask whether I believe police officers are more likely to tell the truth than other people, my reply is going to be hand over copies of the complaints and state that I would have to doubt the integrity of some police officers given their willingness to misuse their office to break the law.
Ash, you should hang out by the bus station some time to catch one of these paragons of fitness hunting down the guys who hang out on the corner of 1st & K.....it's not much of a match race. although, i wonder if they'd radio for backup (while running; that's my favorite part), just for a jaywalking ticket....
I'm glad they are ticketing jay walkers.Coming from Europe we have one of the worst drivers in the area,but we also have pedestrians that think they are God when crossig the street. Most of the accidents are the pedestrians fault, by crossing the street when their signal is red, taking their time jay walking and expecting the driver to slow down for them.
I'm glad they are ticketing jay walkers.Coming from Europe we have one of the worst drivers in the area,but we also have pedestrians that think they are God when crossig the street. Most of the accidents are the pedestrians fault, by crossing the street when their signal is red, taking their time jay walking and expecting the driver to slow down for them.
Susan, if a pedestrians are taking their time to cross the street, and the driver hits them...the driver is a moron and obviously driving too fast. I'm a pedestrian who drives a car a couple of times a week. When driving downtown, I've had many more close calls with careless drivers, than careless walkers.
They were out this AM (4/19) at Connecticut and M St. Gave out at least 5 in between one light cycle! I don't know what the penalty amount was, but one recipient started to cry upon getting it.
I got a jaywalking ticket on April 26 at Conn & N and have never been so angry in my entire life. I'm just minding my own business, walking to work. I was crossing at a cross walk, looked both ways TWICE, but didnt have the little white man sign.
If this is how Fenty is going to run his city, he will not be re-elected. Something needs to be done so that police stop cracking down on pedestrians and start fighting crime.
Two of my co-workers just got ticketed for jaywalking in Dupont Circle this afternoon! Perhaps there will be crackdowns at the end of every month, as officers need to fill their quotas?
Two of my co-workers just got ticketed for jaywalking in Dupont Circle this afternoon (5/25)! Perhaps there will be crackdowns at the end of every month, as officers need to fill their quotas?
I was given a verbal warning by a member of US Capitol Police since I crossed a street (with no traffic) when the WALK sign was not illuminated. That led me to wonder - Does the US Capitol Police have the authority to issue a jaywalking ticket? If I had to protest it, what traffic court would I even go to?