The Green Man

What you see in the rest of Germany

The East German cross walk

At most every German crosswalk you come to you, you are faced by the Red/Green Man.  (In German the name is really Ampelmännchen, or little traffic-light man).  Depending on where you are in Germany, he will either be squat and hatted (a remnant of East Germany) or thin and bare-headed.  This is the signal for whether to cross or not.  Now I know that jaywalking isn't always allowed at home, but I think that people usually cross the street whenever it's free to go.  Here, however, most people just wait for the man to turn green before they cross, even if there's not a car in sight.  Of course, there are exceptions, but it is still interesting to me how much this is usually kept to.  Part of the reason is that the traffic lights are often set before the crosswalk so that you can't tell which way the traffic is headed anyways.

Images from Wikipedia

Still, I think that this is an interesting example of culture at work.  I always wonder how such rules begin and are enforced.  In Germany in particular, it seems like there is a much stronger sense of doing what is correct in order to keep social cohesion.  It is probably the safest way to do things and therefore "proper." People here are more direct, so they are likely to tell you if you do something wrong, which helps keep others in line. When I was looking or images to illustrate this entry, I also came across this image to the right.  The sign says to only cross on green in order to be a role model for children.  Of course, this is a way that societal rules are passed along.  Germany has a feel of being very well planned out in terms of how space and time are arranged (ex: transportation system,) and it seems like little rules like these are part of the larger culture, which has a strong desire for punctuality and order.  When rules are enforced, the system runs smoothly.