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The story
The article, published in Newsweek Japan, contrasted England, where cars often stop for pedestrians, with Japan, where cars rarely stop at crosswalks that have no traffic lights. On 5ch’s Breaking News+ thread, many users shared personal experiences like, “As a kid I had no choice but to find a gap in traffic and dash across myself, but more cars have started stopping over the last decade.” Others pointed out that “Japan’s average stop rate is 57%, and the regional gap is huge,” while some questioned why England was chosen as the point of comparison. One user described a pedestrian’s self-defense tactic: “I only cross after making eye contact with drivers from both directions.” Overall, attention focused less on the rule itself than on how unevenly it’s actually followed.
Cars Are Pedestrian-Friendly in England, But Japan Is a “Crosswalk Backwater” | Newsweek Japan
Edge of Europe
Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 7:15 PM
Source: newsweekjapan.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Ever since I was a kid, as the pedestrian, I've had to spot a gap in traffic and dash across myself.
The regional gap is huge.
Japan's average is 57% of cars stopping, so if you think that's "really low," it's probably just that drivers in your area have bad manners.
Apparently the top-ranked region hits 88%.
Just stating the obvious baseline here though.
The rules for signal-free crosswalks have gotten more media coverage here and there, so things have shifted a bit.
Even so, cars that actually stop are still the minority, and in some places a crosswalk might as well not exist.
More cars do stop now, yeah.
When I was in elementary school, basically nothing stopped for you at a crosswalk without a signal.
In the end you just had to dash across the moment there was a gap in traffic from both sides.
Adults drive cars. That's just normal, isn't it.
Bikes that cost about as much as a car — that's a world poor people just wouldn't get.
The world's most famous British crosswalk
Exactly this.
Cars, bikes, people staring at their phones while walking — they're all hazards.
I just wait for them all to clear out.
True that.
Especially never trust a Prius or a minivan/station wagon.
This really should be publicized as a nuisance behavior.
Whenever it's finally my turn, that's exactly when they suddenly start crossing.
Maybe it depends on the area. Around where I live, it's rare for a car NOT to stop.
Even as a pedestrian, when I cross a signal-free crosswalk, I never cross until cars from both directions have actually stopped.
Even if the near-side driver stops, the far lane often doesn't. Sorry to the near-side drivers who stop early and end up waiting longer because of that.
I've told my kids too: "Never cross until you've made eye contact with drivers in both lanes and they've actually stopped."
Rules exist to be followed.
Ignoring them just shows a lack of elegance — in other words, it's simply "crude."
Rules don't exist just to be followed.
If you seriously believe that, you're an idiot.
Rules exist to be broken, don't they.
Love the way you took the bait!
Go ahead and be a proper "gotcha bear" about it (old 2ch/5ch slang for someone who good-naturedly admits they fell for a troll).
That's Britain you mean — England alone is even smaller than that.
Japan is mostly mountains, you know.
Gut feeling is they've got way more of the kind of open suburban roads where reckless "Nagoya/Osaka-style" drivers (a Japanese stereotype for aggressive driving) would crash.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
In Japan, drivers are legally required to come to a stop for pedestrians even at crosswalks without traffic lights, but according to the annual survey published by JAF (Japan Automobile Federation), this stop rate was once strikingly low and is said to have only genuinely improved in recent years. The figure raised in the thread — “57% average, with big regional differences” — appears to be drawn from this kind of survey data. In the UK, meanwhile, the Highway Code likewise clearly requires drivers to stop at zebra crossings where pedestrians are waiting, so the rule itself isn’t hugely different from Japan’s — but there’s said to be a real gap in how thoroughly the habit is drilled into drivers through training and culture. The thread also raised the question of “why compare with England specifically,” but that’s an easy point to misread: the article was written by a British journalist reporting on the difference between their own country and Japan — it wasn’t Japan holding England up as a comparison on its own.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Cars Are Pedestrian-Friendly in England, But Japan Is a “Crosswalk Backwater”.”
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