> Here in Germany many would stop at the last possible moment just to make it clear you broke the rules.

> If I could pick a skill for everyone out in traffic, I'd definitely choose empathy and patience over seeing imaginary lines.

As someone from Bangladesh, I couldn’t disagree more. Give me rule following Germans any day of the week.

It's an odd kind of rule following though, that includes driving at seventy kilometers an hour down a narrow street just because it's permitted, or roaring past a cyclist with a kid on the bike just because that's also legal.

I don't know if my native country (UK) has unusually good drivers, or if the germans are unusually bad, but my feeling is that german drivers are very good at following rules, and also quite good at killing pedestrians and crashing.

PS: just checked it up on wikipedia, and the data half-heartedly supports my position, depending on what metric you think is relevant. The German death rate from road traffic is relatively low, but the 'road fatality per kilometer' is relatively high. So essentially, when germans do drive, they frequently kill people, but thankfully, they don't do so much driving as other nations do.

>> Where to walk is also a cultural thing.

In NYC (especially in certain parts of NYC of all the places I've been) it is not only a cultural thing but a power-cultural thing. Some people "expect" others to move out of their way, often taking extra space on a sideways or purposefully walking so you need to bunch up against a wall (or jump temporarily into the road.) I've even had someone scold me (while I had right of way on the right side) for not being more courteous.

You can only imagine the sort of behaviors some of these people exhibit in their offices when there is a real hierarchy or power dynamic.

You can cross busy streets in India on foot - it comes with practice. But doesn't mean drivers wouldn't be aggressive towards you. Pedestrians are almost never given right of way even on designated crosswalks.