Sorry, I guess I should have more specific - if it’s a signalled pedestrian crossing, of course the signals need to be followed. I was wondering in the context of a crossing that only has markings, but no signals.
It looks like it changed last year, but the UK. The law was previously that pedestrians in a crosswalk should wait until it was clear to start crossing, as opposed to cars should stop if someone is waiting to cross.
I remember in NJ USA as a kid being told that cars didn’t have to stop at zebra crossings. I don’t know if it was true, I wasn’t skeptically investigating things when I was 7.
The best I could find was this blog talking about how the rules say they should stop, but they frequently don’t: https://www.expataussieinnj.com/understanding-road-rules-for-pedestrians-in-nj/
So maybe the rules are one way, but the locals don’t follow it so you can’t treat the rule as being in place.