In many places (in Europe at least, I don't know much about the rest of the world), cars are prioritised on roads with larger amounts of traffic (pedestrians have to "ask premission to cross" or wait) and pedestrians are prioritised on roads with less traffic (they can just cross, and the cars have to stop). This is a reasonable compromise in my opinion.

There are some places where you as a pedestrian feel like a second-class citizen though. Lack of pedestrian crossings, heavy traffic in city centers, police who think jaywalking when there is no traffic is a problem etc.