Jaywalking is the term that popularly coins the fact of a pedestrian crossing the street ignoring the traffic lights. It is an unlawful action in many countries and is punished in some states. However, in New York, police are pretty permissive and just jaywalkers whose behavior goes beyond a non-written rule are warned.

In addition, jaywalking has an integration effect over people coming from abroad. Tourists, their first days in the City, observe the traffic lights, but they realize soon that it makes no sense to wait for a light to change its color. At the beginning, it is uncomfortable to break the rules but, eventually, it becomes uncomfortable waiting for the indications. And you feel better soon.

To justify the violation, one can think that the system is designed for the vehicular traffic and manages the transit to avoid crash accidents in the intersection. As the traffic is not uniformly distributed, the system is inefficient for pedestrian which must wait unnecessarily. Taking into account the bug of the system, pedestrian has the right to decide when crossing.

Apart from justifying this behavior, other questions arise such as why we cannot wait. Is it a waste of time? Because of the rush of the society? We could just enjoy the wait…

Anyway, if you want to be a pure New Yorker, ignore the lights and cross the street unless the traffic is moving. And please, bear in mind that the guide of “How to become a true jaywalker” states in its first chapter the sole rule that nobody can forget when stepping in the road: “Cabs do not like jaywalkers”. You will learn this soon.