Inuvik (July 14/03) - We all do it. Jaywalking -- defined as crossing the street in a reckless manner -- seems to be a part of the Northern landscape.

Jaywalking can't be helped in a town like Inuvik where there are only a few faded crosswalk lines. In the smaller Mackenzie Delta communities, crosswalks simply don't exist and neither does pavement, stop signs and traffic lights.

People just step off the curb and cross the road, assuming traffic will stop for them. Sometimes they don't even obey the golden rule of Kindergarten -- look both ways before you cross the street.

The funny thing is, drivers usually stop. Jaywalk in a major city and you could be killed. For that reason, it is usually illegal to jaywalk in most Southern Canadian communities.

But not in the Western Arctic.

Inuvik doesn't even have a bylaw, said Randy Shermack, town bylaw officer.

Because there's no bylaw against it police can't do anything about it, said Cst. Chad Adamchick of the Inuvik RCMP.

In Southern communities jaywalkers can be ticketed for walking the walk.

Shermack has been living in the North for 20 years and said jaywalking is part of the Northern way of life.

He said in communities like Inuvik the town just isn't set up for any other way of crossing the street.

In the three years he's been a bylaw officer he's never heard of a fatality or accident because of jaywalking.

But he admits people, especially children, aren't always jaywalking safely.

"The safest thing to do is stop, look both ways and make sure there is no traffic coming," he said.

"Don't step off the curb until you look both ways ... Don't take it for granted the vehicle will stop."

"The intersection is the best place to cross because you can see further and that's basically where a cross walk should be," said Adamchick.

Kippy Guerrero, the new director of the Inuvik Child Development Centre, tells her young charges to follow the road safety rules -- hold an adult's hand when crossing the street, stay on the sidewalk and listen for traffic.

"Sometimes with the little ones it's hard to keep them on the sidewalk. But most of the older ones are pretty good," she said, adding parents should reinforce these practices.