3 ms·

I find the handing over of personal responsibility for my safety to be alarming. If I'm about to cross the road, I am perfectly capable of deciding when it's s

I find the handing over of personal responsibility for my safety to be alarming. If I'm about to cross the road, I am perfectly capable of deciding when it's safe or not. If the light is red but there's no traffic, it's safe to cross. If I'm standing at a crossing and the light is green, meaning that I can walk, but there's a car out of control heading down the road (or an ambulance with its sirens on, etc) then it's not safe to cross, regardless of the green light. I'm living in Germany at the moment, and you definitely get angry looks and comments for crossing when the light is red (especially if there are children around - because teaching kids to think for themselves and take personal responsibility for their safety is bad?). I find it all very weird.

Swenrekcah 5y ago
Regarding the angry looks with kids around, they aren’t able to judge the speed, distance or even direction (of sound) of an approaching car nearly as well as us before the age of 8 or 10. So it’s prudent to instil in them a respect for the rules. Then when they’re teenagers they’ll automatically rebel and learn about personal responsibility :)
retromario 5y ago
The other points are fine, but a 3 or 4-year old does not understand nuance or personal responsibility. I think that in general German society encourages a strong sense of personality responsibility as part of developing healthy children and adults, so kind of a weird thing to pick on. Personally I jaywalk when it's safe and no kids are around.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  Is it jaywalking when you're not stepping in front of a car? When I hear the word, I tend to think of people who take for granted that a car will stop for them and probably even conspicuously turn away from it. I don't think of it as meaning "crossing the street where there is no marked crosswalk" absent traffic, or "crossing the street at an intersection" even if there is no marking and someone who wants to make a turn.

Swenrekcah 5y ago

Regarding the angry looks with kids around, they aren’t able to judge the speed, distance or even direction (of sound) of an approaching car nearly as well as us before the age of 8 or 10. So it’s prudent to instil in them a respect for the rules. Then when they’re teenagers they’ll automatically rebel and learn about personal responsibility :)

retromario 5y ago

The other points are fine, but a 3 or 4-year old does not understand nuance or personal responsibility. I think that in general German society encourages a strong sense of personality responsibility as part of developing healthy children and adults, so kind of a weird thing to pick on. Personally I jaywalk when it's safe and no kids are around.

perl4ever 5y ago
Is it jaywalking when you're not stepping in front of a car? When I hear the word, I tend to think of people who take for granted that a car will stop for them and probably even conspicuously turn away from it. I don't think of it as meaning "crossing the street where there is no marked crosswalk" absent traffic, or "crossing the street at an intersection" even if there is no marking and someone who wants to make a turn.