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“Adam Ruins Everything” Explains the Origins of “Jaywalking”

1:04 PM EDT on October 14, 2015

Think the origins of "jaywalking" in 1920s car industry propaganda are too esoteric for a mainstream audience? Watch this clip from truTV's "Adam Ruins Everything" that adapts research from Peter Norton's Fighting Traffic, a history of how motordom conquered American streets in the early 20th century. It's a good sign when productions backed by the entertainment industry start devoting attention to topics like this.

Hat tip Michael Briggs.

Angie Schmitt@

Angie Schmitt is the author of Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America, and the former editor of Streetsblog USA.

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