French researchers have made a study of behaviour at pedestrian crossings controlled by lights. They observed 5,445 people at crossings in Strasbourg and Nagoya (Japan).
Their findings are not surprising. 41.9% of crossings in France were illegal compared to 2.1% in Japan. They conclude that there is greater respect for social conventions in Japan. They do not say if there is a greater likelihood of being fined for making an illegal crossing in Japan. Most of the illegal crossings were by people aged between twenty and forty. Male pedestrians are shown to be almost twice as likely to jaywalk as women. They claim that the risk of being hit by a car is between eight and twenty times higher crossing when the light is red.
The study, published in Royal Society Open Space, concludes:
Our results confirm that women seem to be more careful than men, or that men showed more risky behaviours as a sexual strategy.
My observations, gleaned from walking around London, confirm that more men cross on red than women. I certainly frequently nip across on a red light at some crossings; obviously not on Talgarth Road or Hyde Park Corner. When I break the rules I am not exhibiting alpha male behaviour. I simply know the sequence of lights and when it is safe to cross on red. At an unfamiliar junction I wait for a green light.
My type of behaviour has not been considered by the French scientists; another example of apparently good research and observation being flawed. Incidentally, in Valencia last year I noticed that pedestrians almost always waited for a green light. I followed their example suspecting that I was risking an on-the-spot fine. I was told that in St Petersburg the police used to supplement their pay by fining tourists for jaywalking.
I was extremely surprised this year in Pamplona, when I found out that even cars cross on their red there.
I don’t know the situation in St. Petersbourg, but I would be happy if Moscow policemen were not so kind to the pedestrians – the number of Moscow old women running across the road on red is really huge.
It is certainly illegal to drive a vehicle through a red light or over a pedestrian crossing which is in use.
I didn’t know it was illegal for pedestrians to cross at any time in England. I thought the only sanction against the pedestrians here was that, if they were run over, they would get no or less compensation. I always cross whenever and wherever I think it is safe, whatever the lights might indicate.
I see it is now usual for cyclists to use pedestrian crossings and to ignore red lights, but I believe both to be illegal.
Can you give guidance please.
You raise a point too broad to cover in any detail. My outline thoughts are that drivers tend to comply with the law to a greater extent than cyclists or pedestrians because they face harsher punishment. Do I conscientiously and accurately file a tax return because it is my civic duty or because if I am caught cheating the penalties are severe? It does me no credit, but the latter is uppermost in my mind.