I think in this case the exception is Central Park, not the rest of the city. I've lived here three years and see cyclists blow through red lights every single day, it's more or less expected at this point. For better or worse, the police largely don't enforce traffic laws for bikers in NYC.

Typically those crosswalks in Central Park have a lot of pedestrians. So, makes sense.

I guess jaywalking laws have been used as bandaid for what is the real problem - a complete disregard for pedestrians and cyclists on the road in big North American cities. But instead of putting more onus on the motorists, they’ve offloaded it to the former. I guess you could say the bias extends to the lawmakers. Almost feels like victim shaming, if you ask me.

But the fact is, jaywalking is against the law and when people don’t follow the rules, it just adds to the confusion which can cause more accidents. Just makes one wonder - what’s the point of it?