Come on, no place has real rules on where to walk, but in the end most people walk on the right (in places that drive on the right). The fact that escalators are on the right and you drive on the left, just means y’all can’t make up your mind ;)… hence the confusion when there is no signs.
I’m from the UK, and I walk on the side that faces incoming traffic. If traffic is going in the same direction as me, I’ll walk on the side furthest from the road. I don’t trust drivers and would rather others and myself to be able to see how close they are to the pavement.
In hallways it depends which room I’m going to. It’s contextual really.
I’ve never had any problems negotiating my way through a corridor or street. I guess there just isn’t enough people to demand an unwritten rule where I am.
Walking on improved tails people (US) tend to walk on the right, thus allowing cyclists to pass on the left. IME.
Well, if we are talking about walking on roads where there is no pavement (no sidewalk for those of you who speak American) to separate pedestrians from vehicle traffic, then this is a rule that is explicitly taught in Britain. I would hope that it is taught elsewhere too, because it is eminently sensible and non-arbitrary: if you are walking on the roadway itself you should observe the opposite rule to vehicles, so that you are not struck from behind by a vehicle going in the same direction on the same side as you.
However, I was under the impression that we were talking about situations that only involve pedestrians, on pavements/sidewalks, in hallways and corridors, etc. In those circumstances we British have found no good reasons to institute the sorts of arbitrary rules that vehicular traffic needs. Things work out fine by themselves. I really do not understand why anyone would think that any such rules are necessary, and frankly, I have grave doubts whether they are ever consistently observed anywhere. I can’t say that I ever noticed people doing so (not that I was looking out for it) in 20 years of living in the USA, and I certainly never consciously obeyed any such rule myself, though I was sometimes on some very crowded sidewalks.
Ah, you mean improved trails… I spent a good couple of minutes trying to work out what you meant. Spell-checker gone mad? Some kind of dig at American people having tails, that they use to walk on?
I spent two weeks in the UK, but way back in 2002.
I was quite surprised to find that despite driving on the left, most people there seemed to naturally walk on the right, same as they do here in the US. I made a mental note of it, as I found it truly baffling.
Additionally, the McDonald’s near Waterloo Station sold Quarter Pounders rather than “Royale with Cheese.”
As has been pointed out, in that you seem to be rather unusual.
You’re wrong on that. Based on my personal experience, they are in New York, Washington DC, Auckland, Wellington, and Panama City. (Frankly, I have grave doubts that pedestrian traffic in Britain is actually as completely random as you allege).
If you didn’t find yourself bucking traffic on crowded sidewalks, I have to assume you adopted the local convention without being aware of it. If you attempted to walk on the left in downtown Manhattan in areas of heavy traffic, I promise you your headway would be significantly slower and you would likely get a lot of dirty looks.
Did you go in a Burger King?
Anyway, I’m another Brit who is not aware of, and doesn’t really see the need for, any convention as to which side people walk on. As **Fake Tales of San Francisco **said, considerations such as preferring the side furthest from the road make more sense to me.
All of you people saying it is “natural” to walk on the right obviously have never been where I live (I’m in the US, but would rather be vague about the exact area). I swear that even when I try to force people around here to walk on the right by walking to the right myself, those approaching me would rather walk into me than move to my left (their right). It is amazing that people here don’t understand the walk on the right “rule”.
I can assure Americans, despite their personal experiences over here, there is no rule and no habit of walking on any particular side of the pavement (or sidewalk) in the UK. Believe me, I’ve lived here for 60-odd years and it just ain’t so.
I’ll go along with this. 40-odd years of living in the UK and as far as I can tell it’s always been a free-for-all. Well, oop north in Manchester it is at least.
I’ve been looking at google images in london and new york
5th ave, New York: http://goo.gl/maps/ZQrE. Distinctly walk-on-the-right.
Oxford st, London: http://goo.gl/maps/xUOY. Surprisingly, also walk-on-right
Why would it sell “Royale with Cheese”?
There’s no set-in-stone ‘rule’ that we have to walk on the left - but our escalators have a convention of walking on the left (and standing on the right so that people on the left can pass you).
I think this, and other posts like it, may be missing the point a little. I’m not saying that there is any formal convention, just that (at least in NY and some other places), people have a tendency to walk on one side out of habit. They may not even be aware of it; I suspect most New Yorkers wouldn’t if you first asked them.
Regarding any “need,” having a convention as to two-way flow on crowded sidewalks would certainly tend to speed traffic flow, by minimizing the people walking against the flow and forcing others to avoid them. This is especially true in New York where people are notoriously fast walkers. The benefit is less on uncrowded streets or where foot traffic is more leisurely.
The same rule exists on most escalators and moving walkways I have seen in the US.
I’d say walking on the right is a well established custom in the US. But once, I was walking on a railed sidewalk and a woman met me coming the other way. The custom under discussion was apparently not so established for her. She came straight at me, somewhat aggressively.
I said, in a cheery voice, “Bear right.”
And she said, “No, YOU bear right.”
. . . ¿huh?
I thought so too. But I took 4 busy (subway) escalators today in Osaka and in each case people stood on the right and walked on the left. Has Osaka changed or have we got it the wrong way around?
Do you live near me? As I said above, people here seem to rather walk into you than move to the “correct” side if you are on the “correct” side to begin with.
That’s exactly what they do here. They head into your path when they see you’re politely leaving theirs clear. What could the reason for that ever be?
Of course the woman I spoke of above had some kind of spatial misunderstanding laid on top of that…
I’m in New England. You?
I had the same experience just moving from one part of the US to another. The original area followed the “Boy Scout Rule” of walk on the left / drive on the right.
Then I moved to an area where the standard was to walk on the right. Of course even there there were enough people used to walking on the left that they had to post signs on the major walking paths to encourage people to walk on the right.