Where I live, there’s a law that says all vehicles have to yield for pedestrians at crosswalks. Of course this would be a thing, otherwise crosswalks would only be as good as any part of the road. Despite this, it’s a largely unfollowed rule, to severe degrees. To the extent that me and some friends have a “running gag” (generous way to put it) where some of us bet on who can wait at a crosswalk point and cross the street the quickest without going ahead before cars decided to stop. Tonight I had to wait twenty minutes for a black jeep to stop, the longest I’ve had to wait for years (and side note, I noticed that drivers of certain vehicle types/colors are more likely to stop for you), so I lost that bet tonight if we were doing it.
Some of us have also apparently led drivers to having bad vibes because some of us have used our phones to take extensive video of what’s going on, causing angry drivers (never referring to the ones that do stop for us) to yell that we’re invading privacy. And the response is always something along the line of “what are you going to do, would you really risk exposing yourself just to make a complaint that someone is making a video” before posting them to groups like the main Tumblr road conflict group (such stuff being hidden from there at the moment).
So what’s the longest you’ve ever had to wait to cross the street? And do you notice any etiquette trends like I describe in that one part?
I make eye contact and just go, it’s why I have life insurance.
Yep pretty much
Most people slow down when you’re crossing, and so far everyone has eventually stopped
That is the exact opposite of my experience.
Are you writing from your grave?
fortunately no, to the chagrin of many cars though.
In Norway you don’t break stride as a pedestrian, so any number above 0 seconds is unusual at a zebra crossing. There’s always this “oops I’m not in Norway anymore” moment i have as i consider trying the same shit in other countries.
In Denmark cars only have to stop at zebra crossings if you walk.
So i just stare into the eyes of the driver and walk. Of course not if theyre too close, and wont be able to stop.
That is not true. If a pedestrian is waiting in front of a zebra crossing, the cars have to stop.
It has been really complicated to teach our kids. Yes kids, the cars have to stop when you wait. No they usually do not actually stop, unless you look like you are going to walk out in front of them. No you don’t walk out in front of them, that would be dangerous. Yes, you have to look like you are going to walk out in front of them, without actually doing it, unless you clearly see they are going to stop. And yes, you still have to be ready to jump back in case they don’t actually stop, but just look like it.
Above is the reality. What it should be like: Kids, you stop and wait at a zebra crossing, then the cars stop on both sides, and then you cross.
IIRC in Denmark any pedestrian who has taken a step onto the road should be treated as an invisible zebra crossing. It’s only really taught at driving lessons in order to not risk making pedestrians lazy when checking for cars and go in harm’s way.
Tonight I had to wait twenty minutes for a black jeep to stop
Now I’m picturing this jeep taking 20 minutes to decelerate, all the while you’re just starring at them, wondering if they’re ever actually going to come to a complete stop.
If I did that, my luck would be good in a way considering it means I correctly guessed they wouldn’t turn onto another road.
In any eastern European country, I simply look the driver dead in the eye and pass, if they’re far enough to actually stop. However, whenever I visit Greece, especially Athens, not even the green light can save you. There is a running joke among Greeks and it goes along the lines of “stronger car wins”. Basically, if you have a fast car, you have priority on any intersections and pedestrian crossings, and the police do jack shit about it.
Man, I love Greece, beautiful country, amazing people, but with disfunctioning police and government in general.
As a German, I was amazed how well I could bully my way through traffic in Greece with a large van (I think it was necessary though since there were no apparent traffic rules).
I see you got the prime Greece experience. Well done my friend :)
It was really nice there though. Just the traffic was really wild along the coast until we were in Croatia.
In the US, all intersections are considered crosswalks and vehicles are supposed to stop, even if the intersection is not marked as a crosswalk. Most people ignore this.
Anyway, the longest I’ve ever waited was the length of time it took for the light to change, so about two minutes.
This unlocked a memory for me. In college my roommate and I took a late-night walk to a nearby diner, only a five minute walk from our dorm if jaywalking across one of the main streets in this town. Walking to the nearest crosswalk would more than double the trip, so patiently waiting for a break in traffic to safely cross was the norm.
On one weekend in particular, one of the other big colleges was having an event of some kind (homecoming or parents weekend, or some crap like that) that packed this town to the gills and turned the main street into a sea of cars as far as the eye could see in both directions. But don’t picture everything at a stand-still… the nearby traffic light must have been shut off (or turned to a blinking yellow) because the sea of cars was moving at a slow but steady pace with no break whatsoever.
Walking the extra few minutes west to the crosswalk, and then a few more back east to the restaurant, would have been the best bet, but our experience told us it would be wasteful because there must be a break in the traffic coming soon. There just had to be. As the minutes rolled by more we were joined by more dorm neighbors and other hopeful crossers, and we all stood there incredulous at just how perfectly bad this situation was.
Just estimating here… we absolutely waited more than 20 minutes, possibly 30. And it’s been so long I can’t remember the circumstances that finally let us cross. Also, yeah, this is a great example of the sunk-cost fallacy.
At some point drivers got afraid of the large crowd and didn’t dare get close.
Canadian here. In the province I grew up in vehicles yield to a pedestrian at a crossing (marked crosswalk or intersection).
Then I moved to Ontario for a co-op workterm. I was living with family and it was about a 30 minute walk to where I was working.
I was on my way home after my first day and crossing the street in a residential neighborhood when I stepped out in front of a lady who had stopped at a stop sign. I walked in front of the car and she beeped her horn. I thought we might be related since my cousins lived nearby so I looked at her and she was yelling at me in her car. I said “sorry” (I have no idea why) and as I turned to keep hustling she literally bumped me with her car before I could get out of the way (she had been creeping up). I was like wtf and just got out of there.
When I got home my cousin had a good laugh after I told him about this and he explained that pedestrians do not have the right of way (there are some towns and cities where they do, just not the one I was in).
I then proceeded to do lots of waiting at crosswalks.
Canadian here.
I said “sorry” (I have no idea why)
I may have a guess for you.
Wait, I’ve never heard a situation where a pedestrian crossoing at an intersection with a stop sign down have right of way. Doesn’t feel right
Took me by surprise. I was in my mid-late-20s and had lived in a number of places in and out of Canada at that point.
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I live in a rural area. The most I’ve ever had to wait was during a lunch rush one day. About 5 to 10 minutes or so.
And here I thought rural areas would have less vehicles (and people) so that wouldn’t be a thing. Meanwhile I don’t think I’ve ever had to wait more than 2 minutes, and I’m in a super dense city!
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I’ve gone down the wrong street for like 10-15m to pretend I didn’t need to cross so the vehicle approaching wouldn’t need stop for me, then go back to cross after it passes lol
Sometimes it’s just easier to let them go through if they’re the only car than to wait for them to stop and then cross, but if you wait at the corner they stop.
Wtf??? 20 minutes? Omg.
For me: 30 seconds or so? Not long enough to count or remember. Had no idea this was a thing.
I think the longest I’ve had to wait is for the light to change. Once the light flips red, the cars stop and I get a chance to walk (though it’s too short imo).
I’ll let you in on something then, be very thankful for those lights because doing that somewhere without lights is a complete wild card.
I had the opposite experience once. In England you have to stop at crosswalks if there is someone there. I got stuck for a good 10-15 one time by a steady stream of pedestrians leaving some sort of touristy place.
Back in high-school there was a street I had to cross on my way to school and there were no traffic lights at that crosswalk. It was a high speed street and there were lights at major intersections before and after that crosswalk, so cars tended to just blow through it regardless of anyone waiting to cross.
The biggest problem was not waiting for a car to stop, it was a car stopping on the first lane, forcing me to start crossing, only for a car to come shooting through the second lane without wondering why the other is stopped. That’s why I learned to avoid using the crosswalk, it was the most dangerous place to cross the street. I chose a place without a crosswalk where I could cross when I saw that both lanes are safe.
Jeez, where do you live?
I’m in Canada and have never had to wait even remotely that long in any city I’ve been a pedestrian in. It’s certainly a poorly followed law in that I’ll regularly see people not stop even if they had tons of time, but the majority of drivers do stop. I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than maybe a minute. I’d usually have to wait longer at a light than I would at an uncontrolled intersection or no-intersection crosswalk.
That said, the most annoying was in Saskatoon, where I went to university. There’s a road going up to the university where there’s a very long stretch with no controlled crosswalks until you get to the very end. I learned to just cross at the end (even if it meant needing to loop back) because crossing at an uncontrolled crosswalk in the middle was annoying. I would have often been on the top part of a T intersection and there were always parked cars, so being seen as trying to cross the road was the challenge there. But even then it usually wasn’t more than a minute and crossing from the other side was a lot easier because it was so much more obvious that you were waiting to cross. It was also a 2 lane road, but usually when one direction stops, drivers in the other lane figure it out.
Just to the South of the border.
I just walk and stare down anyone that tries to drive illegally
Ah yes, the Luigi death stare.
