Hey Lady! Yeah, you there with the death wish stepping right on down into the street without a care in the world as to the oncoming traffic. Didn't your parents ever teach you to look both ways before crossing the street? I don't know if I can continue to be so lucky as to not wrap you and your eighteen shopping bags around my front tire. Seriously, old Swiss lady, stop attempting suicide in front of my bike.

Let me let you in on a little secret that will save both my poor brakes from all those emergency stops and your poor facial muscles for all those scowls you throw at me after I have to swerve around you: That street that you are attempting to cross is used by trams, cars, buses, motorcycles and bikes. Most of them go faster than you do, and some of them make more noise than others. Just because my bike doesn't sound like a tram doesn't mean that it can't do damage to you if you just walk out right in front of it. Please look where you are going.

I cannot read your thoughts. If you are planning on stepping out into the bike lane, please give me some kind of indication so that I can slow down or get out of your way. Eye contact would be great, though I would even take a quick glance in the general direction.

If you do happen to notice me after you've stepped off the pavement, please do not stand there with a deer-in-headlights stare watching me try to bring my bike to a stop 3 cm before your nose. Please take a little initiative for your own self-preservation and get out of my way. It would just make everything easier for both of us.

Thanks.

Dear Cyclist,

I was crossing under the instruction of the Green Man.

Please note that when all the other vehicles stop in front of those yellow stripes, that includes you too.

Thank you,

Lady with eighteen bags of shopping.

Ah, but my dear Swiss Lady,

If we could only be fortunate enough to always meet at designated intersections it would be a pleasure. A real pleasure. We can do our little dance of I wait, you go and everyone is on the same page. Let's agree that if you stop running out from between parked cars, sprinting across the street without warning to catch your bus, and making beelines from one store the other one across the street, I will stop protesting loudly at you in my least dainty English.

Sincerely,
Cyclist

Dear Cyclist,

kindly take note that the yellow stripes on the road is a pedestrian crossing, not a bicycle crossing. I will be happy to stop for you as soon as you step of your bike. I will of course try to do an emergency break whenever you ignore the fact that it is a pedestrian crossing and fly over the yellow stripes half a meter in front of my car. Be aware however that the bike you so proudly ride is somewhat faster than your average pedestrian and please also be aware that I am not a mind reader. Thus, as much as I love to save your life, simple physics might not let me.

Dear Soccer Mom in oversized 'Sports' Utility Vehicle,

Please be aware of the dimensions of your vehicle when overtaking. It's marginally wider than your ponyass (those 70cms of space between your car and the gutter is where I'm holding on for dear life). This awareness could also be extended to cornering while not indicating, realising there's a parking space just on your right - while not indicating - and refusing to accept cyclists have priority when approaching from your right, particularly on those wretched mini roundabouts. Fanks.

I know what you're refering to. I myself already had several near- and twice real accidents with suicidal pedestrians. The sitution is especially bad in Basel, a place where jaywalkers seem to have their own rights. And the cops give it a s**t. When I would tell them about the extremely dangerous situation at Unterer Rheinweg they only said "jo, jo..." and drove on...

The frailty of age: diminished eyesight and hearing, unable to react quickly, wandering mind, weak limbs, etc.

So please be careful of old Swiss (how do you know she is Swiss?) and other ladies and gentlemen.

Dear car driver,

I teach my children to carefully stop and wait at the edge of the perfectly well-marked pedestrian crossing, to ensure that you STOP before they walk out in front of your car...THEY ARE NOT POLITELY WAITING FOR YOU AND the 6 OTHER PEOPLE in cars behind you, to drive past them...they are waiting for you to STOP so it is SAFE for them to cross...

And no, my stroller is not an apparition, I really do wish you wouldn't expect me to stand out in front of your car and wave my arms to get your attention, before you stop your car and I can safely retrieve my toddler and said buggy from the side of the road, and cross with my three children to the other side...

Is jaywalking illegal in Switzerland?

All of them are ****ers, no exceptions.

Whether they are on a SUV, smart, bike, inline skates or just walking around.

Everyone is so self absorbed they pay little attention to the others. Unless they risk a fine or third party liabilities off course.

And well off course, not only the "swiss" but everyone else out there.

So when I go out on my bike, car or walking, I simply assume everyone else is an idjit and am alert and anticipate their moreonic actions. That keeps me safe

Hi,

I had double take when I read this. As a pedestrian I find that the quality of driving is appalling when it comes to respecting pedestrians.

Cyclists never stop at zebra crossings and motorists seem to take as an affront for a pedestrian who dares to want to try and cross the road at a zebra crossing.

The number of times when I have had to a motorist the finger is very high and often you do wonder why bother crossing at a zebra crossing as so many motorists seem to the only purpose of the lines is so that they can line up the pedestrian and hit them. Often cars do little more than slow down a little bit and then pray that the pedestrian walks sufficiently quickly across the crossing so that they do not hit them.

As a pedestrian I am always careful when I cross the road. I just wish that the drivers were equally careful.

Have fun

Martin

It is a traffic offense.

If there is an accident, the insurer may deny the jaywalker some of the compensation, because of negligent behavior.

On pedestrian crossings it seems to be a regional/city thing. In areas where I've lived here it's exceedingly rare for a car to sneak by when I'm waiting to cross, when it happens often the driver notices and mouths an apology.

Where I live now, 8 out of 10 pedestrians wave to the stopped driver at crossings in thanks. Very polite!

I haven't spent enough time in larger cities here so perhaps that's small town grace for you.

As to cyclists:

Having spent a number of years with a bike as a primary means of transport, I'm often astonished at the disregard for personal safety I observe here. Cyclists cruise along a good meter+ from the side of the road, ride outside of bike lanes, turn without indicating. There are many cautious drivers out there but it just takes one brainfart or one idiot to create a life changing moment for a cyclist. I always took it upon myself to ride defensively; whereas I see all too often riders who seem to have, as the OP put it in reverse, a sense of entitlement.

I've been hit by a car and ridden away unscathed except for a bent rim, and also left a bloodstain the size of a baby blanket on the asphalt from a head wound (no idea how long I was out that time, where were the good Samaritans then ?). Bicycles are dangerous without any cars around. Put them in a city or on a mountain road and it's a gamble, simple as that.

Dear cyclist, as one of the said ladies, I must protest most vehemently.

In newspaper reports I have often been surprised to read of the number of little old grey-haired ladies who jump out into the road without warning. We may indeed be spryer than earlier generations but this ‘jumping out without looking’ needs a bit of explanation.

We, too, were taught to look right, look left, glance right again, if nothing is coming, walk briskly across the road... or, o dear, was it first look left, then look right? Anyway, many of us little old ladies do this religiously before crossing the road. Except that we are not quite as sure of our footing as we used to be, we wear Varifocal glasses which mean we take a second or two longer to focus on oncoming cars... and we probably get a slight dizzy feeling if we move our heads quickly.

So - we look left - nothing coming, look right - nothing coming, turn our head left again, not too quickly - still clear. We then look down at our feet to ensure that we don’t stumble when stepping off the kerb and finally, duty fulfilled, we take a pace forwards into the road.

Unfortunately, in the three to five seconds these last two movements take, plus the slowed-down reaction time, you, approaching at 30/50 kmh are 25/42 metres closer than when we last looked - and a lot closer than either of us feel happy about.

So if one of the said little old ladies is looking down at her feet – she's just preparing to jump out under your front wheel.

Mind you, my contemporaries had better not do any jumping out when this particular little old lady is coming down the hill on her bike, because her reactions have slowed down too, and she, too wears varifocals…

^^Er, you remind me of my Mother

Dear everyone,

When I titled this post "Swiss sense of entitlement," I really did have just the pedestrians in mind. Now I see how narrow-minded I was in my thinking. It's everyone, in fact, who should have been indicted in that post!

Pedestrians: you are entitled to your yellow stripes and green (bzw. red) man. I'll give you that one. You can do anything you want while you are in your magic zone. You can mosey across, you can sprint across, you can foxtrot across. I don't care; you are entitled to be there. This entitlement to wander out in the road ends at the yellow lines. If you decide to cross the street anywhere else, you really had better look before crossing the street.

Old Swiss Lady: I'm sorry if I gave you a hard time in the post above. I unfairly ignored the fact that Old Swiss Lady is only one of your varied incarnations. As a militant jaywalker, you also exist in these other forms:

• Stupid Swiss Teenager - Too cool for rules and raised with that same sense of entitlement; cars, trams, and bikes should just stop whenever you decide you want to cross. You are the only incarnation that will make direct eye contact with me, right before stepping down directly into my path. Especially dangerous in groups and in the vicinity of a McDonald's.

• 20-something Swiss ipod Wearer - You are one of the most hazardous and clueless out there. You are the one who will be walking along the sidewalk and then just wander out to cross the street diagonally at a lazy 30 degree angle. You often never even notice that your life was in danger, as you don't hear my squealing brakes over your phat Baseldiitzsch rap track and in any case you didn't see me as you were walking out facing away from oncoming traffic.

• Parent with eighteen children - It must be difficult herding your breed of unrulys. However, in the interest of them all reaching adulthood, may I suggest teaching them, by example, to avoid springing out from behind buses while trying to catch the tram across the street?

• Old Swiss Lady - In fact, in hindsight, you are not so bad. When you walk out into the bike lane at least you are moving slowly enough to telegraph your movements ahead of time. What earns you special mention among this list of undesirables is the ice-demon scowl that you throw at me after I have to swerve around you. Often you accompany this with cane-waving and some unintelligible epithet : "daschgöhtnüüüt!"

Car drivers, I'm sorry to have left you out of my original post. You certainly warranted a place.
It must be great to have found that parking place. I sympathize, really. It must have been hell to drive around all day looking for it. Please take that extra microsecond though,to signal before pulling in. Your rear bumper will thank you.
Ok, so you've found your miracle parking spot and pulled in. Now what? Throw your doors open in an exaggerated show of Victory! Let the world know that you're there, that you've successfully parked, and that you're ready for anything. But please look first. Somewhere right behind you, sandwiched in between the curb and the tram tracks, could be a biker heading right for your driver's side door.

The list goes on. And on. There's a place for everyone. Even bikers.

Good post. However the real nuisance in Zürich are bikers themselves. Ignoring traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, not caring to look behind, those terrorists just race through Zürich with their air of superiority, knowing no consideration for commoners, which strangely not only include cars, which they hate with a passion, but also pedestrians. They think it's their right to ring the bell and race through a bunch of people crossing, who have to step back to avoid a collision. They drive on sidewalks, the middle of the road, wrong side of the street, parks, whatever suits them. Yes indeed Mr. 10:30, you and your kind are the real terrorists of mass transportation!

As dictated by basic life preservation. You have to have that life saving space to your right for when every car passing cuts you up. You try riding a few cm from the curb and you will be cut up every bit as much except when you take avoiding action all you have is a nice curbstone to ride in to. With painful consequences.

lest not forget that 1 in 5 of those "Swiss" sinners is statistically unlikely to be "Swiss".

Unless this is addressing the 100% of the 80%? Like those trying to get into the train every morning as those in the train attempt to alight from said train

Don't you think one day scenario will change and you will be one of these old ladies or gentleman crossing the street with bag full of groceries and bound to make similar mistake, while impatient youngster will push you to move faster? Everywhere in the world we shall have respect for seniority as it is inevitable course of life.