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I'm german and I often wait there too.

As long as I can remember thinking about this, I've seen it as habitual practice of self-control, i.e. practising self-control by not giving in to the urge to cross the street early - and automatically on top of that because it became a habit long ago.

I guess at the end of the day they are Germans lol

Part of this is showing to children that there are rules and the rules should be followed. If there are a bunch of people waiting and no kids around, it takes just one to step into the road and the rest will follow. If you do the same with kids watching you, somebody will yell at you.