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I’ve been noticing some very un-Montreal behaviour by Montrealers. Don’t tell anyone, but I think our city’s notorious jaywalkers are jaywalking less.

As a person known to cross on a red when the coast is clear, I find myself increasingly alone. Some pedestrians even stare at me from the curb, reminding me of my days in Toronto where I felt like a street outlaw.

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What’s changing? For decades the Montreal jaywalker was a fierce, omnipresent creature who weaved between speeding cars like a slalom skier — because crazed Montreal drivers practically had bumper stickers saying: “I don’t brake for pedestrians.”

Like many Montrealers, my parents taught me road safety when I was old enough to walk. ”Josh! Look both ways, then run! — when everyone else does!”

Slow-footed families with poor traffic genes were gradually winnowed out decades ago, while the rest of us adapted to our survival-of-the-fastest environment.