I notice that in the US, even for somebody like me who has complete contempt for traffic, it was a little dangerous to cross roads because, besides being illegal and running the risk of being beaten up (like that guy in Atlanta) the fact is that car drivers don't know how to behave. I found the same in S Korea when I visited, except that koreans tend to slow down in panic rather than accelerate, so crossing roads is a less risky business.
By contrast, in london or paris traffic and pedestrians intermingle all the time, and so it's actually quite safe cos both sides know the rules and are acclimated to each other. I generally take the view that, all things considered, drivers prefer not to run people over cos it's inconvenient. So you can "play" with the traffic a bit when you cross.
I can't comment on spain cos I didn't have long enough to experiment properly, but they seem okay. keep to the Fen Causeway
I was told by several recent visitors there that in London, drivers do care about pedestrians just like you say, and just like I observed in Western France, but Paris was different. (As further evidence, there are the car mirrors punched off by Jérôme, too ;-) ) Unfortunately, Budapest is another such case -- which doesn't IMO mean that your theory is wrong, but that there are other factors (in Budapest: car = status = fuck off the road pedestrians, the road belongs to me!) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
It is noticeable that car drivers in northern england are much more accomodating to pedestrians. In fact for a dedicated player like me it's a bit boring. keep to the Fen Causeway
I was in czech republic recently, but never met traffic enough to worry about it. keep to the Fen Causeway
And why cycling pretending to be a pedestrian instead ... a not uncommon approach in this small town ... is an invitation to be run over.
And, yes, once in a great while an idiot (normally in a massive oversized pick-up truck who ought to stop and kiss my tires for not consuming any gas on my trip) honks, but even they almost always drive more or less correctly for a slow moving vehicle in the right hand half of the lane. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
