Cuba looks to curb deadly scourge of jaywalking

"Here there is no custom of using the crosswalk," said Maria Rubio, a 55-year-old Havana resident who had just sauntered across the six lanes of bustling 23rd Street, mere steps from a zebra-striped crossing. "We simply cross wherever we are."

Jaywalking is endemic in Havana, where islanders seem to treat the streets like a real-life version of the video game Frogger, weaving in and out of traffic while risking life and limb to reach the other side. Locals call it "toreando autos" — "bullfighting with cars."

Now authorities are trying to do something about the lack of caution, which they say contributes to hundreds of pedestrians being struck each year.

A recent full-page spread in the state newspaper Juventud Rebelde, titled "Lethal imprudence," showed photos of Cubans darting in front of oncoming cars. It also gave rare data on traffic accidents, saying more than 1,300 pedestrians are mowed down each year in this nation of 11 million people. About one in seven of those accidents is fatal.

"A catalog of suffering that can be overcome only through love of life and sufficient caution," the brief accompanying text said.

Official newspapers like Juventud Rebelde are commonly used to push campaigns against various forms of "social indiscipline," such as wasteful overuse of air conditioners and tardiness by workers in getting to their government jobs.

Outsiders who visit Havana often remark how little traffic there is for a city of its size, about 2.1 million people. But the streets have recovered much of their bustle in the years since the Soviet Union's collapse in the 1990s caused severe fuel shortages that idled all but a few vehicles.

New cars are flowing in from Asia and Europe even as older models stay in circulation long past the time when they would be scrapped in other countries. There are no statistics, but traffic is undoubtedly getting heavier each year.

The increased danger hasn't made any dent in lax attitudes about safety on the streets, as Associated Press journalists found while touring Havana's chaotic streets.

Here a man lay knocked to the asphalt by a '50s Detroit classic, quickly attended to by the driver and passersby amid cries of "He's alive!" and "Don't move him!"

At another spot, two women stood in the middle of the road trying to thumb a ride to avoid using Havana's irregular, crowded buses. Elsewhere, a woman pushing a stroller hurried across an avenue to beat approaching traffic.

Elementary school children streaming across a busy street in the Vedado neighborhood as classes let out said there's never a crossing guard to keep them safe.