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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

Traveling in Germany where there is a culture of biking and walking I found that jaywalking is never the less very much frowned upon by regular people and they see it as a transgression of norms.

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One major confound is how the streets are designed and driving is prioritized. In the United States, many areas were redesigned in the 20th century under the assumption that nobody mattered as much as drivers so you have wide streets with long distances between crosswalks, short crossing signals, and long light cycles. Unsurprisingly many people jaywalk instead of walking half a mile or waiting so long. In contrast, if the area is reasonably designed it’s much more reasonable to use the streets as designed and it’s more reasonable to expect people to follow the rules.

I think that principle of respect shows up a lot in infrastructure. When it seems like it was designed for people to enjoy using you get much better results than the quasi-penal school of public architecture which is sadly common.

Germans have this "StVO" which regulates the rules in traffic and also what happens if you not follow them. Crossing a red light can result in a ticket, no matter whether you are a pedestrian or driving a car. Naturally, doing that in a car is a strict no-go, while pedestrians, if there is no car traffic, you will see them ignoring it. Still, they can be fined for doing so regardless whether there was car traffic or not. However, breaking the rules laid out in StVO is not a felony. It can become one if we talk about reckless driving which results in dead people.

Away (enough) from traffic lights, crossing streets is perfectly fine, but you have to watch the traffic. Walking on a street (i.e. not just crossing it) can be considered a "traffic hazard" (if there is any traffic to begin with) and may result in a fine as well. One thing clearly forbidden is crossing an Autobahn by foot which is why there are always bridges or tunnels to cross it, for pedestrians and other traffic alike.

Having spent so many years in Japan I have found the same attitude about jaywalking. Though, there are crosswalks on long streets where pedestrians can wait and drivers are taught to stop at if someone is waiting to cross. I haven't seen much reason to jaywalk here in Japan.

It really depends on where you are in Japan (and each individual crosswalk). I've encountered plenty of places where jaywalking is necessary to save a long detour of a walk. Though those places are pretty clear of traffic. High traffic places where one might want to jaywalk? Pedestrian bridges are built there. So nice. I similarly find that at most crosswalk, most people stop for you. Also nice. The only not nice thing? At completely empty intersection on tiny little backroads, pedestrians STILL wait for the light to turn green. Thus making me look like some rebel if I boldly walk or bicycle across the absolutely empty intersection through a red light.

That heavily depends on where you are. I can't speak for everywhere, but in the cities I'm in it's fairly common to cross a red light or a road you're not supposed to cross.

As Germans like to say: the rules are the rules!

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