My Wife and I recently moved from my home state of California to her home state of New Jersey. I consider California to be a place where – despite the dangers of the big cities - pedestrians generally respect the crosswalk and drivers usually respect the right of way. After being gone for many years, She quickly commented on the preponderance of jaywalkers. I pointed out that you could hardly blame the jaywalkers, since Jersey drivers NEVER stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. I was actually rear-ended once because I stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross, something the driver behind me just didn't expect.

If Jersey drivers seldom stop for pedestrians at cross walks, then Jersey pedestrians need to take responsibilty for their own safety and cross only when safe to do so. PERIOD.

We cannot force people to stop being jerks, and we cannot blame others when we can prevent the problem.