> Another friend seemed perplexed when a car stopped to let him across the road.
I'm Canadian and the motorist behaviour you get depends on what part of Canada you live in.
Out east cars stop to let pedestrians walk.
In Quebec/Ontario they seem to speed up to signal that you'd better not get in there way.
Out West cars and people seem to have an agreement that people time their walking so that the car passes them before they get to the middle of the road, but no one slows down.
I was shocked in Toronto in the late 1980s when a young woman I was talking with stepped out in the middle of the street. Being accustomed mostly to Washington and Baltimore, I thought I was about to see an accident with at best grave injuries to her. The car stopped, and I started breathing again.
In Washington, DC, there is a lot of jaywalking, but in most neighborhoods the pedestrians are damn careful to be sure that they are have the space to cross.
I'm Canadian and the motorist behaviour you get depends on what part of Canada you live in.
Out east cars stop to let pedestrians walk.
In Quebec/Ontario they seem to speed up to signal that you'd better not get in there way.
Out West cars and people seem to have an agreement that people time their walking so that the car passes them before they get to the middle of the road, but no one slows down.