please empty your brain below
4 in the morning? An early return flight or late pub(?) crawl?

Patrickov | 12.07.19 - 5:09 a.m. | #

I've seen (and partaken in, with the mindset of "do as the locals do") plenty of jaywalking in less busy parts of Copenhagen. You do have to be careful of cyclists. Before reading this post I didn't know what the fine was if caught, but it is pretty low by world purchasing power standards.

John | 12.07.19 - 7:22 a.m. | #

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the word fodgængerovergange? That's roughly 'foot-goer over-going'.

(Gang, in the sense of 'to go' is one of those Germanic words that's made it over to Scots too)

martin | 12.07.19 - 8:33 a.m. | #

Did you ride a bike? You get very dirty looks if you ring your bell more than twice. And they haven't solved the problem of what to do when a bus stop and cycle lane meet. But they do have dedicated teams and equipment for resurfacing the cycle lanes.

south london lad | 12.07.19 - 9:52 a.m. | #

Having to wait would really make me twitch if the road was obviously clear -no matter what time of day or night!

Cornish Cockney | 12.07.19 - 10:20 a.m. | #

I think I'd often be tempted to cross instead where there wasn't an official crossing, though that's a fuzzy thing to decide. In this country my rule of thumb is to use the crossing if I'm within the area of the zig-zag lines, otherwise anywhere that seems safe is fair game.

Andrew S | 12.07.19 - 11:00 a.m. | #

I also like that they use green countdown timers to the red phase, the same display turns red counting to the next green phase. Not the London orange only. Tells the peds how long to wait, as they do indeed wait.

CM | 12.07.19 - 12:58 p.m. | #

I only remember seeing the green countdown timers once, in the main City Hall Square. Elsewhere just men, no timers. But a very good idea all the same.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.07.19 - 1:05 p.m. | #

Reminds me of Berlin, another place where I saw locals waiting for a green light at the crossing, even on a deserted road at 2am!

moogal | 12.07.19 - 2:45 p.m. | #

Yup, just like here in NL, I often cross on red, with 30+ years of big city living to guide me. Often tutted at, but rarely confronted.
Traffic here in Haarlem is so light it’s not an issue, but in Amsterdam the municipal police actively target foreign jaywalkers as they are a good income stream :-)

Rob C | 12.07.19 - 8:01 p.m. | #

Back in the old days in Seattle, when it was still very much a Scandinavian town, I got to really like the no jaywalking local ways. It made walking around downtown very relaxing. You would stop at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change, just like everyone else, and everyone was pretty relaxed and easy going. Even had a polite conversations on a number of occasions with the person standing beside me while waiting for the light to change. Everyone was very neighborly.

It became such second nature that I thought it quite normal to wait for the light to change on a deserted street at 2am. In fact it gave you time to appreciate just how different big cites are in the middle of the night.

What is interesting is that jaywalking was socially acceptable in certain situations. Outside downtown late at night was OK. And if it was raining quite heavily. But only if the street was not very busy at the time. Otherwise you waited dutifully in the rain until it was your turn.

I knew I have become a local when, even when jaywalking into those acceptable circumstances, I still felt a guilty pang about crossing the street when the light was against me.

There is something very nice about living in a city with those kind of social conventions. Always very pleasant places to live.

jmc | 12.07.19 - 9:59 p.m. | #











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