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Ultra-Orthodox Jews more likely to jaywalk
10:00 23 January 2005
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Hazel Muir

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6896

It is rarely said that religious types live dangerously, but it seems they do when it comes to crossing roads. A new study in Israel suggests devout Orthodox Jews are three times as likely to be risk-taking pedestrians as their neighbours in secular communities.

Tova Rosenbloom of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, suspected religious beliefs might play a role after hearing complaints about pedestrian behaviour in the ultra-Orthodox community of Bnei-Brak, also in Israel.

"Drivers who get to Bnei-Brak complain that they need seven eyes," she says. "People walk on the roads as if they were footpaths."

To find out more, Rosenbloom and her colleagues watched more than 1000 pedestrians at two busy junctions, one in Bnei-Brak and the other in Ramat-Gan, a largely secular city. They totted up the number of times a pedestrian either jaywalked, walked on the road rather than the footpath, crossed without looking for traffic, or crossed without holding an accompanying child's hand.

The ultra-Orthodox inhabitants of Bnei-Brak were three times as likely to break these rules as people in Ramat-Gan, the team found.

Rosenbloom thinks that ultra-Orthodox faith might contribute to this cavalier behaviour by making people respect religious law more than state-imposed rules. It is also possible that religious people take more risks because they are more fatalistic and have less fear of death.

Journal reference: Transportation Research Part F (vol 7, p 395)

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Weblinks
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-Gan

Posted: 28-01-2005 14:04 Post subject:

More mundanely, it's possible that a highly religious area has a stronger sense of community, and this allows them to think of the streets as shared or common space, rather than just vehicle routes.

Posted: 02-10-2011 11:59 Post subject:

A hands-free green man...so devout Jews can cross the road without breaking a religious law
They are not allowed to use electricity or operate machinery on the Sabbath
By Martin Delgado
Last updated at 11:31 PM on 1st October 2011

Britain is to get its first ‘hands-free’ pedestrian crossing – so that devout Jews do not have to break a religious law that prohibits them from using electricity or operating machinery on the Sabbath.
The crossing is near a busy synagogue, and pressing a button to operate it is considered a breach of the strict rules that apply to Orthodox Jews.
Traffic will be held every 90 seconds from Friday evening until nightfall on Saturday, covering the Jewish Sabbath period.
The crossing will be situated on one of London’s busiest roads – the North Circular at the Henlys Corner junction. But planners insist it will not cause traffic chaos.

The system will come into operation in December when the junction fully reopens after a massive ten-month upgrade costing £8 million.
The decision to include automatic crossings was taken after leaders at Finchley United Synagogue explained their predicament to staff at Transport for London, which is responsible for maintaining main roads in the capital. TfL says the ‘hands-free’ green man has not added to the cost of improvements.
A spokesman said: ‘We always consult with the community over major road projects. This idea was suggested by the synagogue, whose members asked if it could be done. We thought about it and came to the conclusion that it could.’

No one at the synagogue was available for comment because of the Jewish New Year. But one of the congregation said: ‘This is a sensible idea that will make a real difference.’

The move follows the controversial formation of an eruv – a boundary recognised by Jewish law within which certain activities are permitted – in the same part of North London.
Although observant Jews are allowed to carry household objects such as door keys, and to push prams and wheelchairs within the six-square-mile area, they are still banned from using electricity.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044222/A-hands-free-green-man--devout-Jews-cross-road.html#ixzz1ZcYVHmgq

Posted: 02-10-2011 12:12 Post subject:

What do they do on a Sabbath? Sit completely still in a darkened room?

Honestly, taking things too far... Rolling Eyes

Posted: 02-10-2011 14:15 Post subject:

I think someone was once said to have commented that 'The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath'... Wink

I'm not sure which is more scary - a god who destroys whole cities, floods the entire planet, etc - or one who gets irate over someone pressing a button on certain days... Very Happy

Posted: 02-10-2011 14:38 Post subject:

Somewhere in a local history publication I have the memories of a Middleton woman who recalls that her parents were too poor to give her pocket-money but she could earn a copper or two at the weekend by lighting the fires and stoves of orthodox Jews.

I suppose the Aga did away with that little job. Smile

Posted: 02-10-2011 16:16 Post subject:

I guess electrical items such as lights and cookers could be switched on and off with timers, but...how do they feed themselves? Do they employ somebody to spoon food into their mouths?
Do they employ somebody to get them dressed in the morning?
How about going to the loo?

I am getting entertained by the possibilities. Very Happy

Posted: 02-10-2011 16:25 Post subject:

We've had a discussion regarding light switches etc sometime in the past.

Quoting myself from this thread.

Posted: 02-10-2011 16:51 Post subject:

Those switch protectors remind me why I'm an atheist Very Happy

Posted: 02-10-2011 17:14 Post subject:

Posted: 07-10-2011 13:40 Post subject:

Ha!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/BlackRiverFalls/switch-protectorsgif.gif

Do you suppose it was invented after the 1930s? Laughing

Posted: 07-10-2011 21:32 Post subject:

Much as I always think that human beings are amazing, things like that just seem so utterly utterly daft! The Achilles Heel of the human imagination is an invention such as that - we can dream up all sorts of gods, but then dream up the idea that one of them is a bit iffy about light switches.

Posted: 07-10-2011 22:24 Post subject:

Would it be ok to get a non jew to make a bacon sandwich? Smile

Posted: 08-10-2011 12:40 Post subject:

Just to clarify something that might have been obvious to everyone else.

After posting on the old thread I linked to I took the opportunity to ask a couple of Orthodox Jewish brothers from Manchester, who I occasionally work for, about the work/sabbath thing.

They told me that they get around the lightswitch issue by turning the lights on before the Sabbath starts and leaving them on until after it ends. The lightswitch protectors are there to stop you automatically turning the switches off rather than turning them on. (At least, this was the case in their families - the Orthodox spectrum is a pretty wide one and I dare say there's room for variation once you get beyond the fundamentals.)

Posted: 08-10-2011 14:01 Post subject:

Off or on, it's still, IMHO, barking.