Downvoted, but true. If there is no crosswalk, you can cross. But, it might be dangerous or impossible as cars have right of way.

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stvo_2013/__25.html "(3) Pedestrians must cross roadways quickly and by taking the shortest route perpendicular to the direction of travel, taking care to avoid vehicular traffic. If traffic density, speed, visibility, or traffic flow so requires, a roadway may only be crossed at intersections or junctions, at traffic lights within markings, at pedestrian crossing aids, or at pedestrian crossings (sign 293). When crossing the roadway at intersections or junctions, pedestrian crossings or markings at traffic lights must always be used."

Maybe there's no penalty, but a 6 lane road probably has traffic density/speed/flow enough to get to the "may only be crossed at intersections or junctions"

That law isn't about jaywalking. The concept of the US-english word "jay" doesn't exist ). There is no german language equivalent.

Also, this is one of the paragraphs that is just there. It's not enforced. Do you know any German that ever get fined for it? Is the police out with cameras looking for slow pedestrians? Naa, they are out with cameras looking for too speedy cars instead!

) maybe "Landei" ? But it's never used in traffic context. We simply had a car-lobby creating vile words to modify law-makers behavior like it happened in the USA at ca. 1910.

You'd never know that from the way that Germans and Austrians will stand at a red crossing signal on a completely clear road

Crossing a street at a red traffic light as a pedestrian can get you a fine. Crossing a road far enough from a traffic light won't.

No, it doesn't. I live in Germany since forever (born here), in many different regions. Never ever got a fine, never ever saw or heard people that got a fine. At most the police gives a warning, if they even notice.

For me a pedestrian traffic sign is a hint that I can now go. But it certainly isn't a requisite. If the street is empty of traffic AND if there are no little kids around, then I'll just go.

Why not little kids? We know from science that they can't judge the speed and distance of cars. When I can see "The car is far away and slow", they don't really know. So I don't want a bad example to them. And that makes you able to observe me at a red traffic light with a completely free street --- kids might be around!

Got a warning once for doing the English thing of wandering across - I was setting a bad example for the kids!

They cross at red. I have seen that.

The word "jaywalking" is often used colloquially to refer to crossing the street anywhere that isn't a controlled crossing; it's not always strictly referring to the law.

“Jaywalking” is partially a psyop by the burgeoning automobile industry to blame the victims instead of the drivers.

I suppose it didn’t work that well because as a rule a car or bike hitting a pedestrian is still almost always at fault.

It worked incredibly well. The word "jay" is a slur used to refer to "country bumpkins" or out-of-town idiots. They paid actors to spread the slur and even staged mock funerals until their newly made up slur spread and people started calling each other that.

All of this led to the 1928 Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance and notably a lot of laws in LA that shifted the liability to pedestrians instead of motorists.

Today if you "jaywalk" in most of the country you get called an asshole. It was an incredibly successful act of social engineering

They also killed mass transit so let’s call it a draw.

That's two losses for us and two wins for them

The term itself was made up by the US auto industry in the 1920s in an attempt to shift blame of traffic fatalities towards pedestrians. And it worked. Before that, streets (which are built by the state) belonged to everyone and drivers were almost always held responsible for accidents.

They made up the term jaywalking by combining "walking" with the term "jay" which was a slang term for a country bumpkin or idiot from out of town

Yes, I know. But almost no one is aware of this history; it doesn't change what I said.

Buenos Aires has much better solution: pedestrians carry crosswalk lines in their imagination, and they can apply them anywhere it's needed, at zero cost to the municipality.

That's what happens because in Buenos Aires less than half of the cars will stop at a real crosswalk. I lived most of my life in Buenos Aires, and I was flabbergasted when I moved to Madrid and learned that every car stops if they even suspect you might step on the crosswalk. Ten years later and I still walk them fearfully, while the natives literally step on them without looking at traffic. As it should be.

When normal crosswalks don't do do their job, it's only natural people will ignore then.