In praise of... jaywalking

[GrumpyGregry]

Fewer things boil my wee faster than seeing people being penned in like cattle so that they don't get in the way of the traffic. Back me up here @theclaud, it is so blinking rude and uncivilised!

At lunchtime I got let off a fine, on account of my being a visitor, for crossing on a red man in such a cattle pen, right outside the office, when there was not a single vehicle or bicycle in sight. I got a lecture on road safety from a Danish police officer who, I'll admit had very cute freckles and lovely laughter lines around the eyes, and a very fetching Heckler & Koch belt accessory. So I just nodded and agreed with every word.

Should the red man be mandatory or should people on foot be allowed to cross the road when and where they like?

 

[Milkfloat]

Should the red man be mandatory or should people on foot be allowed to cross the road when and where they like?

Well the Danes obviously think it should be mandatory

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Well the Danes obviously think it should be mandatory

Yes but only in the last few years...

 

[Fnaar]

I got told off by a cop in New York for crossing on the red man ... but it's the norm in the UK ... just a cultural difference.

 

[MontyVeda]

Seems that common sense doesn't prevail in Copenhagen.

 

[slowmotion]

In London I often see tourists waiting religiously for the green man to light up. It's usually perfectly safe to cross on the red geezer if you have one eye and half a brain. I'm a big fan of "jaywalking", even if it is a hateful US import of a phrase.

 

[robjh]

........
Should the red man be mandatory or should people on foot be allowed to cross the road when and where they like?

You know the answer to that. People on foot should face as few restrictions as possible around normal public spaces. Pedestrians do not kill, motor vehicles do.

 

[midlife]

They would have tazered you in Singapore for doing that

Shaun

 

[Markymark]

You cross in Germany when you are not supposed to and other pedestrians will tell you off, especially if they have kids with them.

 

[robjh]

You cross in Germany when you are not supposed to and other pedestrians will tell you off, especially if they have kids with them.

It can take soooo long walking anywhere in German, Swiss, Austrian etc towns as you have to constantly stop and loiter pointlessly at the edges of empty roads. Very frustrating if you're in a hurry. UK-style tolerance is much more people-friendly.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You know the answer to that. People on foot should face as few restrictions as possible around normal public spaces. Pedestrians do not kill, motor vehicles do.

Agreed. But if baffles me why the Danes don't agree.

 

[tyred]

Last summer after work, a German couple asked me for directions to a hotel. It was on my route so I said come with me and I'll show you. So they walked alongside me, I crossed a street (which was completely empty as roadworks at one end meant no through traffic anyway) and suddenly realised the Germans weren't there any more as I got to the other side. I stopped and looked back and they were standing waiting for a green man...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You cross in Germany when you are not supposed to and other pedestrians will tell you off, especially if they have kids with them.

Happens here too. And woe betide anyone on the kindergarten run who rides their christiana unhelmeted.

 

[Andrew_P]

I caused a false start in Nuremburg, 15 odd people on either side as me and my colleague raced off, you should have seen the looks! Nothing there either they were all just standing there waiting for the green man. If I am honest had I known I would have probably complied.

 

[MontyVeda]

Agreed. But if baffles me why the Danes don't agree.

I spent a week with a Danish family in CPH and got the feeling that the Danes don't agree with anything the English do.