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0 pointse1g1y ago0 comments

I had an identity crisis in Germany when, at 2am on a deserted road, a group of hooligan-looking teenage boys told me off for crossing on red.

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pm30031y ago

Something like that happened to me on my first day as an adult in Germany. Wide road, Sunday afternoon, visibility over 1km in both directions, not a car in sight. I was accompanied by a girl from the place where I was to work. I had just met her and she was showing me to the nearby convenience store.

She suddenly started screaming when I crossed the street while the pedestrian light was red. I didn't get what the problem was so I crossed back, to much drama.

She (or her boyfriend) later told me there was a long-running campaign during the 90s aiming to curb pedestrian death, that featured vivid TV spots showing kids die because they routinely saw adults jaywalking and imitated them.

So jaywalking = killing children.

Also German children of all ages are encouraged to say to jaywalkers "You're not a good example for the children.". It happened to me more than once.

bell-cot1y ago

When there might plausibly be little kids watching, I make sure I'm very obvious about checking for oncoming traffic. Repeatedly. Before & during crossing the road.

Where onlooking kiddies seem implausible, I pretty much do the same thing. Far better to be an obvious chicken than dead right.

macintux1y ago

I was observing a parade once and stepped into the stopped traffic to talk to a driver about his vehicle.

I felt terrible later when I realized I had set a dangerous example for all of the kids around.

int_19h1y ago

This is also very much the agitprop in Russia, although in practice people mostly just ignore it. Sometimes in very frustrating ways, too, like crossing the road on red in front of an ambulance with the emergency light on.

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