What is the silliest law that is still enforced where you live? Why do you think it still exists?

Bluetreefrog@lemmy.worldmod to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 142 points –
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Mine is J-walking even though police officers J-walk

I think most people don't know what the jay walking laws are.

I appreciate the law in Massachusetts, USA where jaywalking is so common that the fine was reduced to $1 for the first three times in a year and a whopping $2 for each time after that.

You can't remove the law, but you can make it silly enough that it's never enforced.

It seems like traffic lights now go red in all directions, with all walk lights on at the same time, so it’s becoming more common to walk diagonally across intersections as the fastest way.

Yup, there are a few towns and cities in MA that do this. Walking diagonally across and all-walk intersection isn't quite the same as jaywalking, since in those cases you're allowed to cross (as long as the walk sign is on).

It's also way safer to have an all-walk intersection so cars stop hitting people on right turns.

It’s also way safer to have an all-walk intersection so cars stop hitting people on right turns.

Well that part doesn’t seem to have worked out. I don’t know if this is part of forgetting how to drive during COViD or just that I started walking around town more, but people turning right on red no longer stop, and barely slow down. It can be dangerous crossing streets, even on a wall signal or with flashing pedestrian lights

I don't even know what j walking is

Crossing the street at a place that is not a designated crossing area.

That's a crime?? Wtf.

It makes more sense once you have someone blindly step out in front of your car, almost causing an accident.

Then charge them with almost causing an accident. Why invent something that makes it a crime to step onto roads.

I've j-walked (at safe moments) repeatedly in front of cops over the years and they never cared.