---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Medium alternate
____________________
(BUTTON)
Member-only story
The Invention of `Jaywalking'
In the 1920s, the public hated cars. So the auto industry fought back -- with
language.
Clive Thompson
Marker
Clive Thompson
.
Follow
Published in
Marker
.7 min read
.
Mar 28, 2022
--
(BUTTON)
31
(BUTTON)
Share
A 1921 card handed out to pedestrians, with the newfangled term
"jaywalking"
This is the story of how, in the 1920s, the auto industry chased people
off the streets of America -- by waging a brilliant psychological
campaign.
They convinced the public that if you got run over by a car, it was
your fault.
Pedestrians were to blame. People didn't belong in the streets; cars
did.
When pedestrians ruled the roads
It's one of the most remarkable (and successful) projects to shift
public opinion I've ever read about. Indeed, the car companies managed
to effect a 180-degree turnaround.
That's because before the car came along, the public held precisely the
opposite view: People belonged in the streets, and automobiles were
interlopers.
If you travelled in time back to a big American city in, say, 1905 --
just before the boom in car ownership -- you'd see roadways utterly
teeming with people. Vendors would stand in the street, selling food or
goods. Couples would stroll along, and everywhere would be groups of
children racing around, playing games. If a pedestrian were heading to
a destination across town, they'd cross a street wherever and whenever
they felt like it.
"They'd stride right into the street, casting little more than a glance
around them," as Peter D. Norton, a historian and author of Fighting
Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, told me when I
interviewed him for Smithsonian a few years ago. "Boys of 10, 12 or 14
would be selling newspapers, delivering telegrams and running errands."
Here's what New York's Mulberry Street looked like in 1900...
Black and white photo of vendors and people crowded in the street in
NYC in 1900
Before cars came along, pedestrians ruled the streets in NYC (via
Picryl)
Not a car in sight! And tons of people.
Those streets were pretty safe for pedestrians. Sure, there were
horse-drawn carriages and streetcars, but those moved comparatively
slowly (and predictably, in the case of streetcars, on tracks). You had
time to get out of the way.
--
--
(BUTTON)
31
(BUTTON)
Clive Thompson
Marker
(BUTTON) Follow
(BUTTON)
Written by Clive Thompson
30K Followers
.Writer for
Marker
I write 2X a week on tech, science, culture -- and how those collide.
Writer at NYT mag/Wired; author, "Coders". @clive@saturation.social
clive@clivethompson.net
(BUTTON) Follow
(BUTTON)
More from Clive Thompson and Marker
Let's Stop Calling It "Content"
Clive Thompson
Clive Thompson
Let's Stop Calling It "Content"
Hollywood and tech firms want to reduce culture to a slurry of
interchangeable bits. Let's not help them out
(BUTTON)
.9 min read.Sep 30
--
52
Homo Economicus: What's Wrong with the Rational Economic Man?
Sudan Aryal
Sudan Aryal
in
Marker
Homo Economicus: What's Wrong with the Rational Economic Man?
Classical physics offered more to economic modeling than any other field of
natural science -- is quantum physics the future?
6 min read.Feb 3, 2022
--
18
What Seven Years at Airbnb Taught Me About Building a Business
Lenny Rachitsky
Lenny Rachitsky
in
Marker
What Seven Years at Airbnb Taught Me About Building a Business
Create strong culture, stay laser-focused on problems, and set wildly
ambitious goals
(BUTTON)
.12 min read.Apr 2, 2019
--
79
The B-Side of "Ozymandias"
Clive Thompson
Clive Thompson
The B-Side of "Ozymandias"
Shelley's close friend wrote his own version of the famous poem -- and it
might be even better
(BUTTON)
.6 min read.Oct 1
--
32
See all from Clive Thompson
See all from Marker
Recommended from Medium
A Jew, A Muslim, and Israel: Cracks in the Wall
Shari Lopatin
Shari Lopatin
in
An Injustice!
A Jew, A Muslim, and Israel: Cracks in the Wall
In light of the conflict in Israel, I'm sharing my essay on visiting Israel
during the Gaza Crisis in 2009 and the revelation I had
(BUTTON)
.6 min read.3 days ago
--
101
The Oldest Continuously Inhabited City In The World
Grant Piper
Grant Piper
The Oldest Continuously Inhabited City In The World
People have lived in this spot for thousands and thousands of years
(BUTTON)
.4 min read.Sep 20, 2021
--
21
Lists
Kim Scott Radical Candor
How to Give Difficult Feedback
7 stories.237 saves
Self-Improvement 101
20 stories.713 saves
Tech & Tools
15 stories.60 saves
Stories to Help You Live Better
19 stories.597 saves
Sperm Don't Actually Race to the Egg -- So Why Do Most Still Believe
It?
Katie Jgln
Katie Jgln
in
The Nooesphere
Sperm Don't Actually Race to the Egg -- So Why Do Most Still Believe It?
Yet another example of patriarchal culture shaping how we think about our
biological reality
(BUTTON)
.7 min read.Oct 5
--
79
The Art of Mathematical Thinking: Exploring the Mind of a Mathematician
Ali
Ali
The Art of Mathematical Thinking: Exploring the Mind of a Mathematician
The question of how mathematicians think is closely related to the question,
"How does a musician compose?" Similarly, this question is...
(BUTTON)
.12 min read.6 days ago
--
11
how to do nothing
Jenny Odell
Jenny Odell
how to do nothing
This is the transcript of a keynote talk I gave at EYEO 2017 in Minneapolis.
An adapted version appears in my book, How to Do Nothing...
44 min read.Jun 30, 2017
--
141
10 Seconds That Ended My 20 Year Marriage
Unbecoming
Unbecoming
10 Seconds That Ended My 20 Year Marriage
It's August in Northern Virginia, hot and humid. I still haven't showered
from my morning trail run. I'm wearing my stay-at-home mom...
(BUTTON)
.4 min read.Feb 16, 2022
--
965
See more recommendations
Help
Status
About
Careers
Blog
Privacy
Terms
Text to speech
Teams
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------