East v West ........different cultures

One of the things that surprised me when i was travelling around Europe, was the obdience that pedestrians showed to traffic lights. There seemed to be an amercian approach to "jaywalking", ie you only cross the road when the green man says you can. I was often amazed when all age groups would stand at the lights waiting to cross, when you had a clear view for miles of the lack of oncoming traffic. Maybe there is a new EU directive which has yet to reach the UK, but i adopted my usual approach - ie dont walk on red when there are old people or kids about, but at other times just be sensible.

Now i recognise that i actually have more in common with far eastern culture. To be fair its the motorbikes which take the view that green/red lights are purely advisory (and therefore discretionary), and if there is a gap, or a half gap, or a quarter gap, or there might be a gap...... they just move forward. As a pedestrian i have decided that waiting for the green man in the far east is probably a fairly sensible approach, but when he turns up you just walk........dont look,,,,,,,,try to ignore the hooting...........remember you have right of way............... and just walk (ideally at an even pace) and remarkably they will MISS YOU.

Of course when i get to Australia then i will probably need to be a bit more careful. Now i am not saying that Australian drivers are dangerous (although some states do have strange rules about being able to turn right even if its a red light) but they can spot a Pom a mile off and if they are not going to win the cricket then they might get their retaliation in early.