Nowadays in Montreal cops will actually give you a ticket for crossing at a red light. If anybody has ever been at Stanley and St. Catherine they'll know how absurd this is, as the crossing is about 12 feet. This is not in our city's culture and should not only be discontinued as soon as possible but the entire restriction on jaywalking should be repealed immediately.Jaywalking is a victimless offense and Montreal must return to the days when cops worried about real issues such as dangerous drivers, or shoplifters or dash and diners.The public land is the public land and ambulatory travellers must not be punished for pursuing their course - such is a fact enshrined ever since the commoners busted down fences in England back during the Enclosure movement. Imagine that some other public space, such as the plaza on Place des Arts had restricted walking paths, well it's that very same absurd principle enshrined in law with the jaywalking ban.As long as you're not trespassing into someone's private abode or something, a person's feet must be free to wander, as it's one of the last remaining bits of liberty that we share. There are other obvious arguments in favour of the jaywalking ban repeal: we want to encourage people to walk, for the purpose of exercise and for the health of the planet and to decongest the roads too, and so forth.The Canadian Automobile Association was largely to blame for the invention of the jaywalking infraction, and they did it through a publicity blitz in the late '20s.The current laws on jaywalking are ridiculous and should be repealed. I would contend that they have cost many lives as well, as motorists have developed a sense of entitlement that nobody on foot is allowed to cross their sacred path at pains of death or maiming. (Here's one from that year. Here's one from 1927 from the Canadian Good Roads Association. Even a group that claimed to stand for pedestrians in 1933 said that pedestrians must wait at red lights.)Take a look at any pedestrian crosswalk, where cars are supposed to stop when someone shows the intention of crossing. Yesterday in front of the Molson Breweries some poor shmuck had to wait for a dozen cars to pass before they were all gone. Every one of those cars should have gotten a ticket for not allowing him to cross first, but police apparently do not give tickets for that offense.