our rule, and the one we tell any visitors we have is: if the number plate says AG, the car may stop. If it says ZH, it most likely wont.. If it says TI, stand back and if it has a big D sticker on it, they are likely to park on the footpath where your standing (it happened to me again today.. i must be quite invisible)
I think that's a gross exaggeration. I still think Swiss (as it is now called) is safer/more disciplined than many countries by a factor of 10. That doesn't mean things should not improve though.
I guess it does go both ways here - the number of people I've seen an inch away from becoming an unpleasant stain on the underside of a tram (maybe 30 metres long, big, bright red, hard to not spot) or bus (only a bit smaller) because they haven't looked before crossing.
I actually saw a woman bounce off of the side of a bus while she crossed the road once. The light was green for the bus as it went through and she just kept on walking. Despite becoming quite intimately acquainted with the side panels of this form of transport, she merrily walked around it as it stopped at the stop and climbed on board without a hair out of place.
So I guess I'm the only one who's always been pleasantly surprised by how willing drivers are to stop at pedestrian crossings? In my experience, often they are waaaaay too willing, and stop even when there's plenty of time/space for them to drive across before they could possibly manage to run me over.
safety first. No one crosses the street until the car comes to a complete stop. No worries about the glares from drivers. I prefer to have my family alive and well. If the driver makes a face, give him a smile. As they say
"If you see someone with out a smile, give them one of yours".
According to Touring Club Suisse, Switzerland has the second highest mortality rate on zebra crossings in Europe and a lot of total accidents involving pedestrians here actually happen on pedestrian crossings - though I think that's probably because there are so many of them here. Geneva's pedestrian crossings are picked out for special criticism as accident blackspots. TCS reckons bad lighting, poor siting and disregard for the highway code are the main factors. They also reckon pedestrians need to be less complacent. Echoing the point Papa Goose made, they're too ready to step out regardless just because they have the right of way to put their bodies in front of traffic. Around two thirds of total pedestrians killed here are pensioners. Probably tells you something. The younger generation I see here have a very high awareness when it comes to road safety and are very cautious at pedestrian crossings - they look directly at you and tend not to cross until they've seen you coming to almost to a stop.
This is not true. I think I've recently looked it up in another thread and the fine is 40 Fr. However skaters, inline skaters and scooter users must use the sidewalk.
The law states that pedestrians may not use the right of way if an approaching vehicle can't stop in time.
It's sad that sporadically pedestrians don't use the right of way when I approach a pedestrian crossing on the bicycle. They must've made bad experiences.
Reminds me of the other day as I was walking to the local Coop. As I approached to within a few meters of a zebra crossing of which I did not intend to use, I noticed a car come to a stop at the crossing. Looking around, I did not see anyone else walking anywhere near the crossing, so I began to wonder how I had expressed any intention to cross? I looked at the driver, who was a kindly looking old woman who was smiling and waving me across. Throwing common sense to the wind, I crossed, and promptly re-crossed at the next zebra a 100 meters down the road. Politeness should always be acknowledged, I suppose.
Just to fan the flames, from the OP's actual link, some gems that might otherwise go unnoticed...
"Two-thirds of pedestrians killed in Switzerland are pensioners." The study did not factor in the age demographics in the respective countries (i.e. the study is flawed). How much someone spends on the road clearly also plays an important role. The study also did not factor in the age demographics in the respective countries (i.e. the study is flawed). "There are so many pedestrian crossings in Switzerland that normally people don't cross the street other than at a pedestrian crossing." The study did not consider variations in crossing behaviour in any way (i.e. the study is... well, you're getting the hang of it now ). Empirically, from purely personal experience (so Rule 1 applies) ... I found/find ZH drivers pretty good at crossings; I still don't step out until they're clearly going to stop tho'! Was warned in my first week here (ZH) about AG plates, and to step back if seen. I would probably not have made week 2 without that advice! (sorry, AGers...) In Genf city, they might as well save the money spent on crossings, noone (traffic or pedestrians) seems to pay a blind bit of attention to them)! It's a complete picnic in CH compared to S France (Nice and environs)! TTFN
My observation is that many road layouts were built with scant disregard for pedestrians. There is a zebra crossing with traffic lights on my way to work and as a pedestrian I spend ages and ages waiting for it to turn green and when it does the phase is so short that I miss it when I blink. There are also places where the first green phase only lets you reach a traffic island in the middle of the road and then makes you wait another eternity before it lets you cross the other half of the road. Not far from my house there is a pedestrain underpass which is spooky at any time of day. Normally the lighting is broken and the place smells of urine. Sometimes druggies congregate there. I can understand that a lot of people avoid that and jay-walk the street above instead. This sort of thing only encourages pedestrians to disregard the rules. I really don't blame them. Planners have a lot to answer for.
To some extent planners have become more aware of this and some of the newly styled placed in Zürich are a huge improvement. But there are still plenty of the old ones around.
I used to pass a certain street with my young son who used to nearly jump out of his skin with fright when cyclists came up behind us suddenly ringing their bells, or shouting in plan get the h*** off the path, scared the life out of me too. No it wasn't a bike lane, the bike lane was marked clearly on the road, but the traffic was always heavy. Thought of having more than a cane!
This is a subject covered a number of times previously on EF, anyway:
Zebra crossing in the UK, complete with white stripes, Belisha beacons and white painted zig-zags on the road as you approach have largely been abandoned as they are dangerous.
Panda, pedestrian-controlled, crossing have replaced them.
The Swiss pedestrian crossing with yellow stripes, inconsistent signs (before, after or at the crossing on the left, right or centre of the road) and every 200 metres with no regard for blind bends, brows of hills, walls and hedges that conceal pedestrians until they are on the crossings are lethal - and it is little wonder you are more likely to be run over on a pedestrian crossing than crossing the road without one.
Add to this frustrated motorists who wait 2 minutes for 15 seconds of green light, are forced to wait 35 years for a by-pass round the richest city in the world only to experience massive queses as roads are closed and parking spaces removed, radar that measures their every indiscretion to within 2kph - and ask who in their right mind will stop for pedestrians? Especially ones who saunter across the crossing slowly, don't even look in the direction of the oncoming car, let alone acknowledge or thank the driver.
I'm particularly charmed by the sweet Swiss drivers who stop on a roundabout to let me on. One of them even allowed another Swiss driver to back-end her to let me on.
I'm glad you brought that point up. I would seriously love to know what fkcuwit dreamed that one up, it's insane. Try crossing a busy road with two small children only to get stuck in the middle with traffic roaring past inches from each side of you - the kids are terrified of this. The person responsible should be....well I don't know, they should have something unpleasant. Sutter's 2nd hand T bag maybe.
@Abfab - the bypass, yep, I don't get it either, build a road to relieve traffic burdens in the city and then promptly shut have the roads in the city. Daft.
It has to also be remembered that it is much easier for a pedestrian to stop then for a 1.5 ton moving vehicle. I a huge fan of separating the two anyway. Why is that the Swiss will spend tons of money on consecutive road narrowings, speed bumps, signs instead of building an overpass?