When I have gone out / do go out, I always use sidewalks and when a car wants to drive through an area I need to go through as well.. then I wave for them to go first and they do, although I have gone before as well when the driver waits for me to go. Back when I was in High School, I had to cross a street near it and usually had to wait a while because of so much traffic but sometimes people let me pass.. only once I followed a couple of people across simply because they were right there though.

I can't remember any other times I've seen people walking/running into the street in front of a car, except for a time when my mom and I were going to a place with a lot of shops. We were pulling into the area when someone on the sidewalk decided to jog for it rather than wait for us to pass, waving at us while he did so as if we waited for him.. my mom expressed her frustration at it afterward.

I'd imagine behavior like this is common in the big cities, where there are a lot of people.. in the area where I'm at now, I don't have much trouble crossing because there aren't many people here so I just wait on the sidewalk until no cars are coming my way.