Who Tore Up the Tracks? · Episode 3 of 24 · 21 min
Motordom Takes the Street
In 1920 the American street belonged to everyone on it; by 1930 it belonged to cars. Drawing on historian Peter Norton, the episode shows how auto clubs, dealers and manufacturers, calling themselves motordom, reframed street deaths as a pedestrian problem, popularized the word jaywalker, and launched traffic engineering. Streetcars were left stuck in congestion they had not created.
Who's who
- Peter D. NortonHistorian of technology; author of Fighting Traffic, the episode's core source
- Eli G. FrankensteinCincinnati attorney who chaired the 1923 speed-governor ballot initiative
- Charles M. HayesChicago Motor Club president who urged motordom to seize the safety debate
- George M. GrahamIndustry safety chairman whose accident service fed newspapers pedestrian-blaming statistics
- E. B. LeffertsSouthern California auto club head who led the 1925 anti-jaywalking campaign
- Miller McClintockTraffic expert who drafted the Los Angeles Traffic Code of 1925
- Herbert Hoover+2 more episodesCommerce Secretary who convened the national street and highway safety conference
- L. P. DraperLos Angeles driver who took the first recorded jitney fare in 1914
Where it happens
- Cincinnati, Ohio+2 more episodes1923 vote on a 25 mph speed governor, defeated
- Los Angeles, California+13 more episodesJitney origin in 1914; 1925 traffic code and jaywalking campaign
- Kansas City, MissouriEarly jaywalking ordinance and 1912 arrest
- Baltimore, Maryland+5 more episodes1922 memorial obelisk to children killed by traffic
Timeline
- July 1914First jitney fare taken in Los Angeles
- 1915Jitneys peak at roughly 62,000 vehicles nationally
- November 1923Cincinnati voters reject a 25 mph governor, 14,012 to 92,427
- December 1924Ford cuts the Model T runabout to $260; Hoover's safety conference convenes
- January 1925Los Angeles Traffic Code takes effect with anti-jaywalking enforcement
- 1928Model municipal traffic ordinance spreads pedestrian restrictions nationwide
Still debated
The earliest use of jaywalker is disputed, with sources citing dates between 1909 and 1917. Kansas City has the strongest early enforcement claim, though Los Angeles became the national model. Cincinnati's petition count is roughly 42,000 or 43,000 depending on the source.
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