Jay-walking

Being in this country has a way of often making me feel like an uptight American. At first I just thought it was me, and then after a while it sort of sunk in that it is just us as a nation.

I don't know if this is a good example, but let's take jaywalking. Jaywalking is illegal in the US. Plus Seattle has the reputation for actually giving out tickets for offenses. While I know everyone still does it, you tend to be at least somewhat covert about it and never do it in front of a police officer (at least one that you see). In this country, jaywalking is perfectly legal. Mind you, common sense prevails and if you step out in front of a car I'm pretty sure they have less qualms about running you down than in the US, but you are indeed free to make your way across the road at your own leisure. I'm starting to get the hang of this, but I was standing waiting for a pedestrian signal on an empty road the other day, and there was a police van opposite me and there was no way I was going to cross under such circumstances.

One of the side effects of this is that there are often separate pedestrian crossing phases that go unused because everyone walked against the signal. This has led to the creation of an additional type of ped crossing that I don't see getting implemented soon in the US. First off, they are weird here with naming ped crossings. Your most basic is the zebra crossing, which is just painted white lines with no signal, and cars have to yield to you while you are in the road. Next you have the pelican crossing, which is sort of your basic signal with a green man and a red man telling you when to walk and when not to walk. The third kind is a puffin crossing, which is the special one. With a puffin crossing, there are actually sensors in the sidewalk to tell if someone is waiting to cross the road (there is also a button you push), as well as sensors in the road to see if you have made it to the other side yet. The green and red lights are on the near side of the road, so you can't see them while you are crossing so you can theoretically keep an eye on approaching traffic or some non-sense, and you just need to have faith that the sensors are working and the light won't turn until you've made it across. There are also toucan crossings, by the way, and they are for shared use with cyclists.

And the English seem to find the naming schemes bizarre are well.