Article: Why America's Love Affair with Cars is No Accident

This article goes into some detail about how pedestrians were marginalized as part of a campaign on the part of certain car companies. This marginalization took place over a period of decades, to the point where pedestrians are sometimes seen as a nuisance, or unpredictable factor, in traffic engineering as documented in an earlier Slate article. The term "jaywalking" came to denote a scofflaw, with the implication that the road was primarily or even solely for cars. Thankfully, there is pushback in recent years with the complete streets idea, and the "bold" idea that ultimately streets are for people rather than any single mode of transport.