German here. The accusing looks are a thing but it's mostly old people in my experience. In cities with lots of young people it's quite common to just cross the

German here. The accusing looks are a thing but it's mostly old people in my experience. In cities with lots of young people it's quite common to just cross the road when traffic permits. Having lived in the UK though I feel like I should also say that it doesn't go that far ;-) Your comment about exercise assumes that everyone rides for - well - exercise, but that's not generally true here. For example, students rarely own a car here, most cycle. I'm not a student any more and still don't have a car. Not because I couldn't afford it, but because I just don't need it (there's a good car sharing offering in my city for the rare occasions where I do need one). I do nearly everything by bike, from getting to work or around in the city to groceries. When cycling about with 20kg of stuff strapped to my bike, exercise is usually not what I'm looking for :-) Oh and there are a lot less stop signs here than in the US, at least the parts of it that I've driven in (DC area). Traffic planning accounts for cyclists as well here, so long stretches of road without having to stop are much more common. We even have a bunch of Fahrradstrassen in my city - roads where cyclists have priority (cars only allowed if there's a sign permitting them)