“If you ask people today what a street is for, they will say cars,” says Norton. “That’s practically the opposite of what they would have said 100 years ago.”
[…]
The industry lobbied to change the law, promoting the adoption of traffic statutes to supplant common law. The statutes were designed to restrict pedestrian use of the street and give primacy to cars. The idea of „jaywalking” – a concept that had not really existed prior to 1920 – was enshrined in law.
PS: Bin über diesen Thread auf den Artikel gestoßen: Watch this clip before u get into a car to drive.