CROSSING or walking in the street or road unlawfully or without regard for approaching traffic is called jaywalking.
The word was first introduced to the English lexicon in the early 20th century in the state of Kansas in the US to refer to pedestrians who lacked sidewalk etiquette before it evolved to its current definition.
The Cambridge dictionary has a simple yet more to-the-point definition: walking across a street at a place where you are not allowed to cross.
In Cebu City, there is a law against it called the Anti-Jaywalking Ordinance, or City Ordinance 1814.
The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) has been strictly implementing it, which might explain why, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 14, 2020, it apprehended 16,248 violators, an increase of 420.49 percent from the same period last year.
Most of the violators were caught near Metro Colon, 138 Mall and Colonnade Mall on Colon St. in the downtown area, SM City Cebu in Barangay Mabolo and the Robinsons Fuente.
According to CCTO Operations Chief Edwin Navales, “most of the violators were non-Cebu City residents who were not aware of the ordinance.” The rest were city residents who knew about the ordinance but chose to ignore it.
Or maybe they did not know what jaywalking was.
The word is not common even among those who speak English as a first language. How much more so in the Philippines, which scored the lowest in reading comprehension among 79 countries in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment.
Before release, violators are informed that crossings can only be made on pedestrian lanes or on skywalks. That way, they don’t pose a danger to road traffic or to themselves.
But then, it is already too late.
Education should start at home and at school. Parents should teach their children how to behave once they set foot outside their homes, which should be reinforced by the teacher in the classroom as part of their lesson on civic duties.