Do you look for police cars when jaywalking?

I don’t jaywalk.

It was a firm “no” where I grew up. You jaywalk someone is likely to run you over. Crosswalks are there for a reason.

Former New Yorker here.

Jaywalking (the Jay in jaywalking actually has reference to the bird) is not ticketed because it would not be cost effective for NYC Inc. to do so. Believe me, it it were there would be a newsworthy crackdown.

In NYC at least “jaywalking” is so prevalent that it is simply a fact of daily life.

There’s no point in looking for police cars in NYC because the greatest source of fine capital comes from hairsplitting parking offenses and is the work of imbecile parking enforcement officers that do not “drive” marked cars.

I jaywalk all the time. I still look both ways before crossing the street, but I don’t look for cops specifically. Is that seriously illegal?

Would they arrest you for jaywalking? I don’t think so. Why look for them?

I don’t cross streets on foot much anymore and when I do, I rarely jaywalk. But on those rare occasions I do, I’m more inclined to look for inattentive drivers on cell phones rather than police cars.

Sometimes, because I got a stupid-as-sin jaywalking ticket once, in downtown Seattle at about 8am, when there was wide open line of sight in all directions and no traffic anywhere near anything that could possibly endanger me, but there was a righteous traffic officer on a motorcycle concealed from my view till I was in the middle of the street, some distance away behind a stopped car.

I went to protest the ticket and got it reduced, but the judge wasn’t allowed by the rules to throw it out.

But it served zero purpose other than to steal money for the city coffers.

Rules should not be enforced when there is no practical reason to do so (other than loot).

If I’m jaywalking I look for any car, not just cop cars…you know, so I don’tget hit, and know when it’s safe to cross the street like an asshole.