Well statedOnce upon a time, the public roads belonged to everyone. But since the ingenious invention of jaywalking we’ve battered pedestrianism in one of those silent culture wars where the only losers are ourselves.
Is jaywalking a crime anywhere but in LA and Germany? I can't say that I've ever seen any law enforcement take it seriously anywhere except those two places. Personally, I love walking. When I lived close, I'd walk to work (roughly a mile) through the most hellish cold if that's what the weather decided to give me that day. Sadly, I moved to the suburbs last year, and my walking has decreased dramatically since then (and inversely correlates with my weight--go figure!). I can't say that I miss living in Detroit, but that one particular aspect of it really gets me down. I'd like to move back to a city in the future, but just not that one.
Funny story time. There is a guy in our circle of friends who we all consider a saint. He doesn't drink or smoke, he always goes out of his way to help others, he goes to church every Sunday, all around he's a nice, upstanding guy. About a year back a bunch of us were hanging out around a park and lost track of time and try as we might to hustle out, we were unable to get out before sundown. When we got back to our cars, lo and behold there was a cop waiting for us, ticket book in hand. He took all of our IDs to write out tickets and gave them back to us one by one, talking to our friend the saint dead last. He said "Your friends are all free to go, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to arrest you." We all stood there gobsmacked as we watched our friend get handcuffed and put in the back of the cruiser. Turns out, he had a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to pay a ticket for jay walking. A few hours later, and after a huge check written out by his very unhappy wife, he was a free man again. To this day, we joke about how the nicest one out of all of us is the only one with a record.
My old roommate got a $100 ticket for jaywalking in Vancouver a few years back.
Hong Kong has some occaisional crackdowns, but besides that I can't think of any country off the top of my head. Personally, I'm lucky enough to have months on end where I don't need a car. Walking / biking and the occasional train or tram is much easier.