Something you notice as soon as you get out on the streets around here is that nobody bothers to pay any attention to those weird light thingies that they've got attached to the poles at all the intersections.
You know, the one with the red hand and the little sprinting guy.
Around here, all pedestrians go around like they've got a license plate pinned to their hind ends. I haven't seen anyone who actually does have one on their trousers, but I wouldn't rule it out. The little sprinting guy means cross -- this is true even if you last saw him while you were at the previous intersection. Flashing red hand means run so you can get one foot in the road before the cars start rolling forward. And a solid red hand... well, that means that you should maybe at least glance down the street before stepping into traffic.
And the people in cars, while they might be ready to cut each other off, all assume that you're going to cross in front of them. So if you don't, you feel a bit of a twit.
The scary thing is that it took all of about five minutes for me to start walking like this, too. For one thing, if you don't, don't expect to get anywhere -- you'll never get a walk signal long enough to cross a street, and if you do, it's because you waiting twenty minutes for it.
Just try not to get smushed. It's simple.
IT's TRUE! San Francisco has solved this problem by making crosswalks that automatically go to walk about every minute or so. Since you don't have to wait long and you KNOW it's going to let you walk regularly as clockwork, you can stand to wait. I haven't jaywalked here in a while but in Boston I did it all the time - you had to :P
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