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'I'm walkin' here!': New York takes aim at jaywalking, tickets people in too much of a hurry

Associated Press
Published | Updated

With a recently placed warning sign in the background, pedestrians in foreground walk off the street to a subway station at the busy intersection of W. 96th Street and Broadway in the Upper West Side of New York Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the wake of 11 pedestrian deaths in the city already in 2014, is taking direct aim at not just drivers but pedestrians, with a crackdown that has resulted in the first jaywalking tickets some residents have ever seen. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

A Pedestrian moves quickly outside of a crosswalk at the busy intersection of W. 96th Street and Broadway in the Upper West Side of New York Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Although it appears clear sometimes at this intersection, cars using turning lanes can quickly encroach on non-crosswalk areas. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the wake of 11 pedestrian deaths in the city already in 2014, is taking direct aim at not just drivers but pedestrians, with a crackdown that has resulted in the first jaywalking tickets some residents have ever seen. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

A pedestrian, who quickly after followed instructions, is given direction to a crosswalk by a traffic agent at W. 96th Street and Broadway in the Upper West Side of New York Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the wake of 11 pedestrian deaths in the city already in 2014, is taking direct aim at not just drivers but pedestrians, with a crackdown that has resulted in the first jaywalking tickets some residents have ever seen. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

For many New Yorkers, crossing the street in the middle of the block or against the light is a way of life, part of an attitude that tells everybody, "I'm walkin' here!"

But with 12 pedestrians deaths so far this year, new Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking aim at that practice.

In some parts of town, police are actually handing out tickets to jaywalkers for a change.

A total of 172 pedestrians were killed in traffic in New York City last year.