3 ms·

I was surprised coming to Finland from the UK. It seems much more pedestrian hostile here (in Finland) in my opinion. It seems pretty rare for people to stop at

I was surprised coming to Finland from the UK. It seems much more pedestrian hostile here (in Finland) in my opinion. It seems pretty rare for people to stop at a zebra crossing here unless you're actually already in front of them (in Finland). Also in the UK traffic lights 'protect' the crossing - i.e. you will never get a green light to turn across a crossing that has a 'green man'. This means here that drivers want to get closer to the pedestrians that are crossing and 'squeeze through' as soon as they can, to avoid holding up people behind during their 'turn' of the green light. Edited to clarify that I think it is more pedestrian hostile in Finland than the UK.

calpaterson 4y ago
Having been to Finland I feel the reverse: it's much more hostile. It is not great that (as you implicitly described) they put zebras next to road turns and as you're crossing the road cars will occasionally turn right across you. Pedestrians are clearly also a lot more afraid of cars in Finland - as evidenced by their famous waiting at crossings for the green man even when there are no cars. Finland is a very different country than the UK - much worse weather in winter but much much sparser - but looking at the stats it seems to do a little worse on road casualties than the UK on most measures. eg 3.8 road deaths per 100k pop in Finland vs 2.9 in the UK and 5.1 road deaths per billion km in Finland vs 3.8 in the UK. I don't think Finland's road safety is as good as the UK though it is still one of the better countries.
hanoz 4y ago
It varies a lot throughout the UK. There plenty of places where cars are guaranteed to stop if you so much as look at a zebra crossing, and they will wait, as they are obliged to, until you're full off the other end too, not zoom on through as soon as their lane is clear.

3 ms·

I was surprised coming to Finland from the UK. It seems much more pedestrian hostile here (in Finland) in my opinion. It seems pretty rare for people to stop at

by alibarber 4y ago

calpaterson 4y ago
Having been to Finland I feel the reverse: it's much more hostile. It is not great that (as you implicitly described) they put zebras next to road turns and as you're crossing the road cars will occasionally turn right across you. Pedestrians are clearly also a lot more afraid of cars in Finland - as evidenced by their famous waiting at crossings for the green man even when there are no cars. Finland is a very different country than the UK - much worse weather in winter but much much sparser - but looking at the stats it seems to do a little worse on road casualties than the UK on most measures. eg 3.8 road deaths per 100k pop in Finland vs 2.9 in the UK and 5.1 road deaths per billion km in Finland vs 3.8 in the UK. I don't think Finland's road safety is as good as the UK though it is still one of the better countries.
hanoz 4y ago
It varies a lot throughout the UK. There plenty of places where cars are guaranteed to stop if you so much as look at a zebra crossing, and they will wait, as they are obliged to, until you're full off the other end too, not zoom on through as soon as their lane is clear.