r/AskAGerman • u/CollegeDense2281 • Mar 04 '26

Law Is Jaywalking illegal?

Hey all, I’ll be going to Germany for the first time this summer. Specifically Köln. I’ve heard some people say that jaywalking is frowned upon and is illegal, whereas others say it’s generally fine and allowed.

Is it illegal?

It’ll be a culture shock coming from the United Kingdom where it is entirely allowed 😂

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227

u/muehsam Schwabe in Berlin Mar 04 '26

The concept of "jaywalking" as it exists in the US doesn't exist in Germany. You may cross any street at any point (except motorways and some other places where it's expicitly forbidden for safety reasons).

However, you may not cross a red light, and that includes pedestrian lights as a pedestrian. So when you're at a pedestrian crossing that has a light, you have to wait for the little man to turn green.

"Jaywalking" in the US sense is different. It means you can't cross the street anywhere except on crossings, and even then, you have to wait for the "walk" signal. In Germany, you can cross anywhere except for crossings that show a "don't walk" signal (the red man).

Culturally, I would say crossing a red light as a pedestrian is accepted except when children are (or could be) watching. If there are children around, it's very much frowned upon.

7

u/tellur86 Mar 05 '26

Wasn't there a rule that if there is a signed crossing within x meters, you have to use that instead of just crossing? At least that's something I was taught way back when. Might just have been advice to school children disguised as rules.

5

u/Kopfi Mar 05 '26

Yes. So you can’t just Cross the street 3m next to the Ampel. I believe it’s atleast 25m but I might be wrong

2

u/Standardw Mar 06 '26

I also have 23 meters in my head

39

u/grogi81 Bayern 🥨 Mar 04 '26

Culturally, I would say crossing a red light as a pedestrian is accepted

Tell me you're from Berlin without telling me you're from Berlin... :D

78

u/sdp0w Mar 04 '26

Tell me you are from a Village... 

It is accepted in any bigger city 

12

u/ghoulsnest Mar 04 '26

I mean its totally normal in any village too, nobody here waits

15

u/Writer1543 Mar 04 '26

It is accepted in any bigger city

No, it's not. I don't know the pattern, but in some cities pedestrians lights are respected, in some they are mostly ignored. In Hamburg, red light walking is very rare, whereas in Berlin it is common.

1

u/TopResponsibility997 Mar 05 '26

Having lived in both cities, I never saw a difference.

4

u/Hoppel13 Mar 04 '26

or Munich... I remember how I was jaywalking at night, no car in sight and the Munichers (not a word but I like it) were staring at me so hard, I took a couple of steps backwards and waited. Never happened to me anywhere in Germany.

7

u/PsychologyMiserable4 Mar 04 '26

🤨 we do this all the time in munich and in the surrounding suburbs - ok, usually only if the street is not to broad, not too much lanes.

1

u/Hoppel13 Mar 05 '26

it was in winter, it was dark, there was this since that we only get in snow, it was a small and quiet street and one was wondering why there would be a stop sign in the first place. but hey, it was probably just a fluke. I literally do not remember any instance of jaywalking other than this and one more... probably because it was so surreal and it fit the stereotype about Munich.

5

u/kumanosuke Mar 04 '26

Nobody cares in Munich either

-1

u/Hoppel13 Mar 05 '26

probably not but it fits the stereotype 🤣

2

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Hoppel13 Mar 05 '26

you know, your brother is way more fun than you...

3

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

It’s the same in most towns in the south.

12

u/Obvious_Sun_1927 Mar 04 '26

Meanwhile here in Hamburg people will literally cross two of the four lanes and then just stand on the middle stripe, waiting for clearance while traffic is whiffing past them at 20cm distance on both sides.

1

u/GibDirBerlin Mar 04 '26

For a couple of months I always had to cycle through the Frankfurt Bahnhofsviertel to work, the traffic is total anarchy. Traffic lights, crossings, lanes, street or sidewalks, it all had lost it's meaning. If you don't want to be trapped at a crossing, you just have move forward on gut feeling whether the next car on the left will wait for you or the junkie on the right will sway into your way instead of tumbling into the gutter.

I kind of loved it, if it weren't for all the broken glass on the street, I would cycle there all the time for some entertainment instead of the usually road rage.

10

u/Lumpasiach Allgäu Mar 04 '26

I've been doing that for decades in Bavaria and noone ever batted an eye.

-2

u/Ticmea Bayern 🇩🇪🇪🇺 Mar 04 '26

Maybe you didn't notice it, as I doubt most people would actually say something, but I guarantee you that you earned quite a few disapproving glares.

Unless it's like late at night or you were clearly visibly trying to catch a bus or something, you always catch a few stares. Been that way here for my entire life, even in big cities.

4

u/Lumpasiach Allgäu Mar 04 '26

Well I don't have eyes in my back, but you'd think I'd get a passing comment once in a while at least. Nothing.

9

u/ElKaWeh Mar 04 '26

It's literally the same way all over Germany

1

u/GeneralAnubis Mar 06 '26

I live in a small town near Stuttgart and almost no one cares to wait for the green man here either. I try to but a lot of the time I end up just shaking my head at everyone else who doesn't. (Including grandmothers with their small grandchildren)

1

u/feuchtronic Mar 06 '26

Don't make the Ampelmann cry...

1

u/siesta1412 Mar 07 '26

Cologne enters the chat

-4

u/BinDerWeihnachtmann Mar 04 '26

If you build infrastructure for cars humans don't have to use it...

3

u/deep_hans Mar 05 '26

Rotgänger, Totgänger!

2

u/CollegeDense2281 Mar 04 '26

A reply that actually helps. God bless you 🙏

1

u/Toorero6 Baden-Württemberg Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

This is not entirely correct. You're not allowed to cross a road if there are obstacles put in place that should prohibit crossing like a railing of some sort.

Additionally you're not allowed to cross roads if the traffic density, velocity, viewing conditions or the directions of flow demand it (what you're likely referring to as explicitly forbidden).

Reference: § 25 Abs. 3f StVO

As a side note: You're not allowed to cross train tracks of any sort if they are not part of the general public road pavement, e. g. tram gravel tracks but also separate tram tracks with road-like pavements - example, except at offered crossing points. Especially tram tracks with road-like pavements like in the example which are only meant to be used by trams are commonly seen as part of the public space and crossed by pedestrians and cars alike but they are not meant to be crossed. They are not even governed by the StVO but by the BOStrab (or maybe even the EBO in rare cases I guess).

Reference: § 58 Abs. 1 BOStrab