I do that all the time here in Europe and nobody gets mad. It's such an immense space and I don't want to be relegated to 30cm of sidewalk. People hang out in the streets and car drivers are chill
Yeah, in Germany you would maybe get in trouble, however this really, depends on where you're walking. But usually our sidewalks are big enough(as long as it isn't completely blocked by parking cars) so that you can walk there safely.
This is more a case of Germany's excessively law-abiding culture, IMO. It's the same in East Asia: people waiting like zombies at a red pedestrian light even tho there's not a car in sight.
I do the same in Japan. Most residential streets don’t have sidewalks so we share them with cars, pedestrians and bicycles. Some of the bigger streets have quite wide sidewalks (one car lane’s width or more) so I would use those.
But in this photo, the sidewalks are minuscule. I especially understand the dog walker choosing the road instead.
I’m happy that my town has started to widen sidewalks and reduce the width of roads to promote more foot traffic in the downtown area.
I lived in Morocco for three years and there it’s more common to walk in the street than on the sidewalk. Compared to the other places I’ve lived (Northern Europe), it’s strange, and the driving is more reckless, but no drivers got mad. Walking in the street is just what people do.