In Tokyo it's uncommon to jaywalk and it's still considered the #4 most pedestrian friendly city. It's more efficient and safe for everyone this way.

Jaywalking has been exported to the rest of the world, but Tokyo is not a great example: they’ve successfully applied just about every urban design technique that allows cars and other traffic to coexist, to the uniform detriment of cars.[1]

In other words: the restrictions that Tokyo places on urban car traffic would make the average American driver scream bloody murder.

[1]: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/10/1/lessons-from-t...

> Cars can slow down and cars can wait.

How about emergency response vehicles of any kind?

Fire and rescue? Turn on a siren and people will move. This works in other places. It can work here.

You're right that police in many areas can't be trusted with that responsibility, though, and maybe we'll have to think about how to deal with that.