I have a story told from the other side, from the 1980s. I was with cousins and trying to translate for a wonderful middle aged Swiss lady staying as a guest with them, who spoke almost no English. She was a fitness person, and got up about 5 am every morning to go running. One day, she confided to me a shockingly hilarious event she had witnessed on the empty streets of a small town in Minnesota, of another runner who had reached a crosswalk: "Auf dem Schildt steht es 'nicht gehen,' und trotzdem geht er!" ("On the sign, it said 'don't walk,' and in spite of that, he went!")