Freedom to Walk Act

California’s method of enforcing jaywalking has always been controversial. When pedestrians choose to cross the street outside of marked crosswalks or against traffic signals, they are not only putting themselves but also other drivers at risk. This is a plausible reason as to why jaywalking has always been  illegal until more recently. However, there have been recent actions made by the government that decriminalize the act of jaywalking. Many activists have argued how jaywalking rules disproportionately affected marginalized groups and low-income residents, but what would happen if society as a whole doesn’t get punished for it?

This is the result of California governor Gavin Newsom signing the Assembly Bill 2147, also known as the Freedom to Walk Act. As of last year, the act has made jaywalking legal and people can now cross the street without fear of being ticketed, provided that there’s no imminent danger. 

AB 2147 was introduced by California Assemblymember Phil Ting: “It should not be a criminal offense to safely cross the street. When expensive tickets and unnecessary confrontations with police impact only certain communities, it’s time to reconsider how we use our law enforcement resources and whether our jaywalking laws really do protect pedestrians”. Through this bill, he wanted to encourage people to walk more frequently for health and environmental reasons. Furthermore, this legislation reinforces the position that pedestrians are equally as important as motorists, discouraging drivers to believe that they own the roads. Theoretically, this would also free up the time officers had spent on jaywalking citations. 

Since signing the act, there have been many questions raised about how effective it can be, especially because AB 2147 is actually a second attempt by legislators to alter the way jaywalking is regulated in California. In 2019, Governor Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill, saying it would “unintentionally reduce pedestrian safety and potentially increase fatalities or serious injuries.” 

There are many ramifications and potentially fatal accidents caused by jaywalking that lead to The Freedom to Walk Act not being beneficial to public safety. Simply put, the possibility of being hit by a car will inevitably escalate if there is no law opposing jaywalking. Pedestrian motor crash deaths in California have increased by 46.5% from 2010 to 2019, and a law allowing pedestrians to cross the street at their own discretion will not make the road any safer.

California is ranked eleventh nationally in the ratio of the number of pedestrians killed to the entire population, granted that it has the most pedestrians killed out of any state. Additionally, with limited tools, it would be much harder for police to determine whether or not a pedestrian crossed the road, creating dilemmas for police to solve and unreliable outcomes for people crossing the road.

With this new law in place, people might become enticed to jaywalk more since there’s no threat of receiving a penalty. Their safety is compromised as they no longer have anything holding them back from walking without regard to traffic. However, maybe there is more to it than just the signing of AB 2147. We can’t ignore the other factors that contribute to how safe our roads are just because jaywalking is decriminalized in California. John Yi, executive director of the local pedestrian advocacy group Los Angeles Walks, claims, “Unless we fix the actual design of the streets, we’ll have the same outcomes…This in itself will not save L.A., will not save Angelenos, will not save pedestrians. This must be part of a larger effort in our city in our state to have better, safer, more walkable infrastructure.”

Another critical component of the Freedom to Walk Act is that it removes the excuse for over-policing, which has inordinately impacted Black and Latinx Californians. According to a survey conducted in 2019, black adults were about five times more likely (44%) as whites (9%) to say they’ve been unfairly targeted by police because of their ethnicity. A new change in place thus allows a new opportunity for equality among races as everyone is protected from the consequences of jaywalking, whether it’s being interrogated or ticketed.

In conclusion, as no punitive measures are now necessary for pedestrians who jaywalk, a new frame of mind is set in stone. There is no more need for sneaking past a ticket fee and everyone can choose to walk freely on the streets. Nonetheless, certain conditions, such as always being aware of your surroundings and not carelessly passing by trafficked areas without safety in mind, should be met in order to ensure a safer environment.