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?
In the US cars do not stop. Pedestrians have to wait for the cars to pass. Even at crosswalks with red lights you have to wait and make sure the cars stop because many will not.
I was floored the first time in Europe. Walking towards a crosswalk, not even quite there yet, and the cars would stop! It was glorious.
Not sure where you are in the US, but that is definitely not my experience. Cars usually stop the moment I stop on the side of the road. At least In California
That’s straight up not true and very illegal to do so. Of course you had to add a Europe is better comment in there too
The US and Europe are both big places.