In recent years, a number of states and cities in the US have decriminalised 'jaywalking', relaxing laws that campaigners argue have been disproportionately enforced on black and Latino residents. Jaywalking first emerged as a traffic offence in the US a century ago, when radical new ordinances gave priority to high-speed vehicles on the roads. Australia followed suit. A campaign of public ridicule shamed pedestrians into following the rules, but are (jay)walkers now reclaiming the streets?
- Guest: Peter Norton, Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia, author of Street Rivals: Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age Street
*This show originally aired on 10 February 2025
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