January 13th, 2010
Jaywalking = real New Yorkers…
It’s a constant battle between my wife and me. I’ll begin to cross a city street in the middle of the block and she’ll say in that prim sort of voice, “I’m crossing at the light.”
To which I always say in that irritated sort of voice, “That’s why you’ll never be a real New Yorker. Real New Yorkers jaywalk.”
What does she know? She’s from Akron, Ohio. I’m a native New Yorker and I jaywalk and I’m proud of it. I never met a light I wanted to cross at, not when you can save tons of time by going diagonally across the street. My wife likes to cross at the light — even when there’s no cars coming!!
I have to admit feeling a little proud when reading the story of the “great” Joe Rollino, the 104-year-old strongman from Brooklyn who was killed by a minivan while crossing a street after buying his morning newspaper. Buried in the NY Times version of events was this sentence: “Mr. Rollino had been walking about 40 feet from the nearest crosswalk when the minivan hit him, according to the authorities.
A small smile crossed my face. Attaboy, Joe. At that moment, I knew I was reading about a gen-u-ine New Yorker. That’s the way I’d want to go.
In all my years in NYC, I’ve never been hurt crossing wherever I please. Except once. I didn’t get hit by a car but I did get creamed by a bike. I was crossing Sixth Avenue in the Village and looked downtown, the direction where the cars should be coming from. There was not a car in sight so I stepped out between cars in the middle of the block and wham, I got smeared by a bike going the wrong way.
Both of us got knocked down. It was a female rider. We dusted ourselves off and made sure all my parts where intact as she did the same. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s a one-way street,” I said, “Doncha know that?”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “I was in a hurry.”
I detected a Queens accent. I nodded and told her I was okay, no harm done. I wasn’t going to give her a hard time. She was a kindred spirit, going the wrong way down a one-way street. Can’t blame her for that. If it was me, I would’ve been riding on the sidewalk.
Ah… those were the days before riding your bike on the sidewalk was illegal! But as a native NYer, I’m with you.. .that “cross at the green, not in between” is obviously meant for those Midwesterners/
finally, someone agrees with me. thanks. my theory about riding a bike is, i’d rather hit a pedestrian than be hit by a car. makes sense, no?