European crosswalk courtesy

When you travel through most European countries, well Western European countries at least, I am amazed at the courtesy shown by both motorists and bike riders to pedestrians at crosswalks.

It took me nearly two weeks to get used to, when you come to a crosswalk all traffic stops. Even if the crosswalk light is just turning green and you are not at the crosswalk yet, motorists still wait. I would come to a crosswalk and hesitate because I wasn't sure if the motorist would stop.

After a while, I finally became confident enough to step out before I had seen the vehicle pull to a halt. After following the lead of other pedestrians I would hesitantly step onto the road. No vehicles tried to sneak through and wiz past you. Even push bike riders would stop, it was fantastic and totally different attitude to pedestrians to what I am used to.