How much is jaywalking frowned upon in your country?

18 comments

1. It’s illegal in Poland, not to mention that if there’s a pedestrian crossing with lights, it’s illegal to cross the street when the light is red. Sometimes there’s nobody around so it’s obvious that some people will cross the street on the red light, but people don’t really frown upon this: nobody cares if you risk getting fined or ran over by a car, it’s your choice and you take the responsibility for that.

2. In Turkey this is the main method of crossing the street. It is only frowned upon if you throw yourself in front of the cars like there is no tomorrow. Especially on roads where cars are fast. We often have bridges as crossings on faster roads, but these are not accessible to older or disabled people (basically lots of stairs) and people are also often lazy, so they may try to cross a road with cars going at 70 kmh. This is very dangerous.

   In Germany, once I crossed an empty street on a red light and a woman shouted at me for being a bad example to children. There were no children, but ok. Generally I would avoid it unless the street is empty.

3. At least in my town most people wait at the crossing even if there is no cars as long as the light is red, I think Finnish people follow these types of rules closely and especially when there is children at the crossing to set a good example

4. Not at all. One of the best ways of spotting a tourist in Dublin is seeing someone standing at a pedestrian crossing with not a sign of any traffic coming, but still waiting until the green man lights up before moving. It is even more noticeable when others are crossing the road and they still stand there. Irish people will even cross when there is traffic to be seen coming, and still get safely across. We will also weave our way through stopped or very slow moving traffic. So jaywalking is certainly not frowned upon. It is nearly part of our culture.

5. Jaywalking here is afaik only a concept on highways/motorways, but I can’t think of any common scenarios where a pedestrian would wish to cross a motorway. On common roads, the rule is you cannot cross it on foot if there’s a pedestrian crossing near, but it’s not enforced (nor clear what distance “near” is), and it’s not frowned upon provided you understand you don’t have the right of way and aren’t inconveniencing drivers/cyclists.

6. I do it all the time. According to the traffic laws pedestrians should use zebra crossing or underpass if there’s one in close proximity (distance is not specified), otherwise it’s ok to cross the road wherever, just not disturbing traffic (motorways being an obvious exemption).

   However, I’ve met surprisingly many Finns who think jaywalking is illegal. Finland is also probably only country in the world where you can see pedestrians waiting for a green light alone in the middle of the night 😀

7. Not considered at all a problem here in Sicily.

   You cross the road when and where you can, official crossing or not.Or if the light is red for you, though usually when there is no traffic.

   Some people will just walk across and ‘dare’ the cars to stop.Obviously that can also end badly

   Most Sicilians do not follow rules very much.This also applies to car drivers, scooter drivers, cyclists etc as well as pedestrians…

8. Not at all, it’s almost weird not to do it if there’s no car around.

   I behave myself and wait when I’m in Germany though. I’ve had a few dirty looks before. I’ve been honked at in Austria once as well, despite the car being meeeeeters away.

9. I’ve heard foreigners be surprised by how Swedes wil stand and wait for a green light at crossings even when there’s no traffic, but that’s not my experience. If there’s no traffic, or very little traffic, most people I’ve seen will jaywalk and no one cares. If there are kids around I may stop and wait for the green light unless I’m in a serious hurry to catch a bus/train.

10. In the Netherlands, no one will look at you weird if you cross an empty street like they do in Germany. However, if you cross a busier street, you better make sure everyone sees you, even if there is a zebra crossing because otherwise, you WILL die!

11. I was very surprised when I went to the back end of nowhere in Canada. Straight line road to the horizon in both directions and not a car it sight so as a natural born British man I just wandered across the road. My Canadian relatives were aghast so they had to explain it was illegal there. They were fine with underage drinking and illegal weed (it was then) but crossing the round without waiting for the lights – nope..

    Here in Portugal you just cross the road when you want – it’s not a thing here.

12. In the US it is only illegal according to the municipality. Where I live in Cleveland Ohio there are smaller towns right next to us that post signs “no jaywalking” but usually those are on busier roads. In big cities like NYC or Philadelphia, I have definitely jay walked in front a police officer and never received a ticket. But it really does come down to the city itself.

13. If the lights are red, but the traffic is light enough that you can cross, but instead of waitinf those 5 seconds before the light changes, people will think there’s something bad with you. But everyone who is physically able would do it anyway.

14. It is legal as long as you don’t obstruct traffic. It is very common, and not frowned upon, UNLESS there are small children present. In which case a lot of people will wait for the green light to not teach the kids habits that can put them in danger.

15. Really common to cross a one-way street at a red light if no cars are coming, I would say it would be weird not to do it. I think when a road has 3 or more lanes, I’d rather wait for it to turn green.

    Crossing the road far from a pedestrian crossing is also common. Sometimes you have to do it because there isn’t even a pedestrian crossing.

    I work in the European neighbourhood in Brussels and it’s always so easy to spot the Germans around there because they will wait even though there are no cars in sight and give bad stares when I don’t

16. I’m from New York and basically do it everywhere and out of the 23 countries I’ve been to Romania was the one I felt the most out of place. The people seemed to really feel disrespected by my jaywalking and would give me looks

17. Jaywalking as in regularly crossing a street? Not frowned upon at all and legal to do.

    Jaywalking as in crossing when there’s a red light? Highly frowned upon and many people will call you out for it and insult you. Most people will wait at a red light even when there is no car seen anywhere, even in the middle of the night.

18. You can always spot visitors to Ireland because they just stand by an empty road waiting for the pedestrian lights to turn green. No one does that here, if there are no cars coming you cross wherever and whenever you like. Unless there are young children at a pedestrian crossing nearby, then you set a good example.