4 ms·

I spent three weeks there, it wasn't an exhaustive study on the psyche of the German people I'll give you that. But it was drawn on substance, I had numerous me

by dlitwak 14y ago

I spent three weeks there, it wasn't an exhaustive study on the psyche of the German people I'll give you that. But it was drawn on substance, I had numerous meetings with berlin tech people, and just thought the jaywalking observation seemed in line from the impressions I got from those meetings. But there are differences in culture, so I guess if referring to the "Germans" as a whole offends you there is nothing I can do.

buster 14y ago
I much rather think that the observation "germans don't jaywalk" did fit into your pre-existing prejudices about germans, because obviously all germans are tidy, always on time, accurate, law-abiding and what not ;) Three weeks looking around and always telling yourself "HA, anotherone NOT jaywalking!" is hardly substance.
mxfh 14y ago
It's not exactly hard science to generalize from a three week visit to a part of the City of Berlin, which is the most heterogeneous place it's gets when it comes to trying to define The Germans, yet i think your observation seems to be quite in line with mine, assuming you traveled from and to the trade fair (ICC) and the usual start-up neighborhoods. It definitely makes a difference where in Berlin you stay. Jaywalking is highly localized and time depended. (The hilarious construction site crossing at Unter den Linden, which many are forced to walk for the lack of an operating U-Bahn is not the norm.) The red light phases here are actually manageable to wait through, no comparison to feeling the you-shouldn't-even-think-about-walking-here attitude pedestrian traffic regulation radiates in most of the US. The real equivalent to jaywalking is crossing the red lights by bike, if you opt to going by foot you're not in a hurry in the first place. And yes there are quite a lot of bikers out there, even in the current perpetual winter. That said Hamburg's comparably long pedestrian red-light phases seem to be way more nerve-wracking to the average Berlin trained pedestrian than I ever imagined.

by dlitwak 14y ago

buster 14y ago

I much rather think that the observation "germans don't jaywalk" did fit into your pre-existing prejudices about germans, because obviously all germans are tidy, always on time, accurate, law-abiding and what not ;) Three weeks looking around and always telling yourself "HA, anotherone NOT jaywalking!" is hardly substance.

mxfh 14y ago

It's not exactly hard science to generalize from a three week visit to a part of the City of Berlin, which is the most heterogeneous place it's gets when it comes to trying to define The Germans, yet i think your observation seems to be quite in line with mine, assuming you traveled from and to the trade fair (ICC) and the usual start-up neighborhoods. It definitely makes a difference where in Berlin you stay. Jaywalking is highly localized and time depended. (The hilarious construction site crossing at Unter den Linden, which many are forced to walk for the lack of an operating U-Bahn is not the norm.) The red light phases here are actually manageable to wait through, no comparison to feeling the you-shouldn't-even-think-about-walking-here attitude pedestrian traffic regulation radiates in most of the US. The real equivalent to jaywalking is crossing the red lights by bike, if you opt to going by foot you're not in a hurry in the first place. And yes there are quite a lot of bikers out there, even in the current perpetual winter. That said Hamburg's comparably long pedestrian red-light phases seem to be way more nerve-wracking to the average Berlin trained pedestrian than I ever imagined.