Jaywalking laws, independent of how they are implemented only make sense if you start from a prior that the roads are specifically for vehicular use snd it’s pedestrians that are making exceptional use of them.
The article is pointing out that belief was a specific policy choice driven at least in part by automakers.
It wasn't just automakers, it was also the car owners. The first cars were owned by the 0.01%, and those sorts of people don't like being held responsible for mowing down smelly, dirty plebians.
So, they paid for cartoonists to draw cartoons that made pedestrians look like careless idiots, got their newspaper-owning friends to write editorials, the car companies joined in, and boom, jaywaying laws.
Not even motorized vehicles could cross the road either, mind you. I'd argue that in artery roads, there are much more people that use the road through it rather than crossing it. In those roads, by democracy, ones crossing it should give way.
The article is pointing out that belief was a specific policy choice driven at least in part by automakers.