I believe in politeness. I believe that when I jaywalk I should run unless there are no cars out there. If cars need to brake for me, I try not to jaywalk. If I can run across with the car not having to brake (or barely) then I would do it (esp if I'm in a rush).
I hate driving around Berkeley and I frown upon the horrible pedestrians in this area that have zero respect for cars. I hate having to slam on my brakes because someone thinks they can hit the cross button which illuminates the crosswalk at night and stroll across when I clearly need to brake hard. Sure you can risk your life like that and piss me off, but what good does that do? What if my brakes fail one day? Idiots. I also hate the idiots who stroll across when it's a clear RED for them with their stupid cell phone talking. If you can't even cross a street at the right time with your cell phone, gosh, please don't even get into a car to drive. I've seen cases where my light turns green and instead of being able to drive, some pedestrian thinks its funny to start crossing the wrong way. Wow.
Thus because I hate idiotic pedestrians and I think they the most rude and dumbest pieces of sh!ts live in a town like Berkeley, I try not to become what I hate by remaining a good pedestrian. I will cross when I am supposed to and when I need to jaywalk, I will run/jog.
Edit: It's the whole right of way thing and insisting it that pisses me off. Cars have a right of way system when dealing with traffic intersections like 4-way stops. People who insist their right of way are sometimes annoying. People who cut you off and weave around dangerously piss you off.
Similarly, pedestrians have right of way, but they should NEVER EVER insist on it. Why? You're competing against a 2000lb car that can crush you in no time. Why fight?
I love it when I stop at a stop sign and there's a pedestrian waiting to cross, but he/she will tell me to go first simply because they want to walk across and would probably take more of my time, but I usually make them cross if they show me such politeness.
Similarly, I try to let cars go first if I get to the stop at about the same time. There's no reason for me to hold up traffic when I can start crossing after the first car leaves the stop sign (thus there's less time wasted because the next car needs to roll up to the stop sign, stop, and then wait for me to finish and by then I'm mostly across the street).
Even more important is when it's morning and people are walking to class. There's a line of students walking down the street. Sometimes we hold up like 1 car for 20 seconds or so just because people keep crossing. I'll try to let cars go if they have to wait for like 3 different groups of people to cross. If you can't cross with the leader and have to force the car to wait for a 2nd group, that's ok, but if it has to wait for a 3rd group, that's pushing it, and at that point I'll let the car go before starting a new group crossing...
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