Jaywalking in NYC

Jaywalking as defined by Wikipedia...."an informal term used to refer to illegal or reckless pedestrian crossing of the roadway."

Ok.

There we have it: stay in the crosswalk. Or at least that's what I take from it, and it seems many others do as well. (Yes, there are other ways to jaywalk but we're not talking about that right now)..If not, why have the crosswalks in the first place? Why not just run (nay, walk) across 6th Avenue perpendicular to traffic?

Why not? Because you could die is why not.

I'm a fan of driving in NYC. It's aggressive, it takes skill, and I think it's sexy. The pedestrians seem to know the rules, know when to cross and where to cross. Last week however, as I was turning onto 6th from 30 something or other, three girls came flouncing out into the middle of the road.

The. Middle. Of. The. Road. Not where the white lines are are the corners, but right in the middle.

I absolutely did not have enough time to stop so I slowed down as much as I could and swerved to the left where no one else was. Then I stopped at the red light.

PS, it's summer and my windows and sunroof are allllll open. This will prove to be a bad idea in NYC.

I catch a quick look of death from the three girls that are jaywalking across 6th but whatever, I figured that would be it.

It wasn't, or else this blog wouldn't be here.

So the leader of the pack decides to shout in my direction "take off the sunglasses princess."...and then she scurries off because it's easier to shout at me and run because I am, afterall, behind the wheel of a car...

And I shout back to her: "don't jaywalk and use the crosswalk like everyone else."

She turns around, does the little neck head movement thing and says "oh really?"

To which I say "yes really. See those white lines over there? Everyone else manages to use them and perhaps you should give it a shot."

She then looks at my license plate and says "Ok Jersey" (PS she is still in the middle of 6th Ave. SIXTH AVENUE!!!!)...and I say "Ok Jersey? It's a NYC law that you cannot jaywalk you complete and total moron."

I then drive away because the light is now green. I make sure she can't use the crosswalk until after I get through the light.

Here's the thing....as annoying as some drivers can be, I would never go up against one while on foot. Furthermore, I wouldn't do what she did in the middle of a super busy street, especially in NYC. Unless I completely lost both my mind and desire to live.

This whole situation had me shaking my head the entire drive down saying "really? no really?"...and there was no one in the car with me...which is a shame, because you really had to see this. But I hope I painted one hell of a picture...next time you're on 6 and 30 something, think of this story and I guarantee you'll laugh.

Oh, and please stay in the lines.