Yeah, the line in Pulp Fiction applies to Vincent’s experiences with a Parisian McDonald’s, not a British one. There shouldn’t be much of an issue for a UKer to understand what a quarter pound is, especially as they still use non-metric terms like “stone,” “pound,” “pint,” although informally.
The Boy Scout Rule is referring to when you’re walking on the unprotected side of a laned roadway. NOT the same as the convention “bear right” when pedestrians are essentially forming the lanes.
Lots of people are referring to which side of the escalator one walks or one stands, but wouldn’t the better clue as to whether pedestrians reflexively walk on the left or right be which way the escalators themselves run?
In other words, in the U.S., where the up and down escalators run alongside each other, the departing escalator is almost always on the right and the arriving escalator on the left. In the UK, is the departing escalator on the left, or the right, or is there no pattern from one building to another?
Hmm, no I do this on pavements too (and I do believe taught to do so by my parents). There are many scenarios that make this the most sensible procedure. Sometimes the pavement is narrow, meaning that two abreast may mean part of your body could be in the road, such as your arm, or if you’re wearing a backpack/bag.
But for me personally it’s a peace of mind thing - I want to be able to see what the cars are doing. If someone loses control and they’re driving behind me, there’s nothing I can do about it if they accidentally run onto the pavement. If they’re driving towards me, I can react. I just feel like it’s safer to know what’s going on.
An exception - People with wheelchairs or prams should always go furthest away from the road, since wheels and small children can be unpredictable. Again, it’s contextual.
John Bredin, I’ve not observed any specific pattern. I just had a look at Google images at a local shopping centre, and it’s arriving on the right, departing on the left. Local airport I can see departing escalators on the right, and arriving on the left. Seems to be mixed!
If you take a few different sections of the street, you see no such pattern. A few shots further up, it’s just as clear that everyone’s walking on the left.
In my experience, in the UK when it gets really busy and ‘lanes’ form, there’s often more than two of them, and they just depend on common routes, not any standard convention.
I think the US vistors over here run into trouble because they expect a convention, and there is none. I’d say we have a slight tendency to pass on the left, to stay further away from traffic coming up from behind, as has been mentioned, but where there is no traffic, or where there’s a lot of pedestrians even that doesn’t apply.
Why would you expect them to be using the French name, near Waterloo Station of all places? (The Eurostar train, between Paris and London via the channel tunnel, used to terminate at Waterloo Station. It seemed like a deliberate snub to the French, to me.)
It is a Pulp Fiction reference, but he got it wrong. The “Royale with Cheese” was, supposedly, the name of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris, not London.
That’s very observant, but wouldn’t up/down patterns of shoppers, students, whatever, on single stairs tell us? Does one bear right or left in such circumstances? This isn’t rocket surgery. 
I was joking about you living near me. As I said, I’d rather be vague about my location.
Unless you also regularly walk on the other side of the street even when walking on the sidewalk, I hardly see what difference it would make. Walking 2 feet further to the left or right won’t make much of a difference.
Oh, I think it might.
And the reasoning behind what is more precisely a “walk against traffic/ride with” guideline is exactly as The Fake Armisted gives. You could avoid serious injury or death if you’re able to dive when you see 'em veering toward you. The reason bikes don’t take advantage of the same reasoning is because they’re more likely to veer accidentally for the pedestrians, too. And the latter is the most vulnerable of all.
I understand that. But it only works if you habitually walk on the side of the street against traffic whether there are sidewalks or not. Most people don’t cross a street to walk on a sidewalk just to walk against traffic because it is “safer”, especially if their destination is on the opposite side of the street. I’m assuming that the discussion in this thread is people sharing the same sidewalk/hallway/etc going opposite directions. In that case moving to the side 2 feet isn’t going to save you from a runaway auto.
In my local mall, enter on the left, exit on the right. Narrow areas such as footpaths also a definite tendency to leftness.
(I’m Australian, but in the SDMB world, it appears everything not-American is British - so close enough)
Oh, I think it might.
I’m puzzled that you don’t think 2 feet could make a difference. If you were on the berm, and someone in a car was trying to plug in their phone and veered to the side, which is more likely than a complete drive over the sidewalk, don’t you think jumping aside two feet could help?
One thing I’ve noticed in Oz and the UK is that people who [illegally] cycle on the pavement tend to strictly keep left.
:dubious:
Not enough to make me want to go against what is “normal” and screw with everyone else’s traffic flow. If that is why people aren’t moving over to the correct side, then perhaps they should stay inside. Worrying about such things will drive you insane. And it still doesn’t explain why they do it in aisles and hallways, or sidewalks when they are on the “opposite” side of the road.
It’s just an extra precaution I make without even putting any extra thought into it. Maybe you don’t know how narrow some pavements can be, or how dangerously close to it some drivers drive, but hey, I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’ve had mirrors whizz right by my head before when I’ve been facing the wrong way. If that happens when I’m facing towards traffic I can dodge it. Well, I have better chance of dodging it at least. If the car is actually driving into the pavement and crashing there’s probably not much anybody can do. But you mean to say you’ve never had a lorry/truck drive right by you? Not exactly what I’d call fun if it happens from behind. 
I’m not worried and consciously choosing the side of the street that would mean I’m facing incoming traffic. I’m just keeping as far away from the road as I can when I can’t see what’s going on. I don’t know why this is controversial. It doesn’t effect ‘traffic flow’ of pedestrians.
As for your latest post - in the UK there are no conventions that I’m aware of in corridors and such, so it’s not meant to explain that, because there are none. I was just offering the only piece of advice I’ve ever known anyone to give about which side of the pavement to walk near busy roads.
Yes. Everything Fake Tales said. Also, the safety precaution of walking against the flow of traffic is entirely separate from the long-established tradition (US/other) of bearing right in two lanes of pedestrians.
Jesus, who knew this was such a point of confusion??
Fascinating discussion! At any rate, I recall one incident from the 1970’s film “Midnight Express”. In the movie, the American kid (William Hayes) gets caught trying to take drugs out of Turkey-he winds up in a mental hospital. In the hospital, the inmates spend their days walking around in circles…clockwise. Hayes starts walking counterclockwise…at which point the guards realize he is sane.
So walking the wrong way has consequences:smack:
Hindus traditionally circumambulate aroundthe temple/deity in a clockwise direction.
India has a cultural bias for the right hand, the driving patterns of the english. The majority of pedestrians would tend to take the left side of the path in accord with this. and it did not seem remarkable to me
A few cites.
My (admittedly ad-hoc) recollection of a few escalators here has them going up on the left and down on the right.
Muslims perform the tawaf around the Kaaba in a counterclockwise direction. Saudi Arabia drives on the right.
Buddhists also go around the buddhist temples - I found people in Thailand do this on the right (counterclockwise) the one time I visited (though Thailand drives on the left) .
I posit that religious/cultural practices would be deeply embedded and reflect pedestrian / driving practice
(though of course, many places have pedestrians moving on the other side, in the middle or in no specific pattern, there does seem to me to be a greater tendency on the right).
Any Christians brave enough to speculate on their approach down a central nave or line up for the eucharist and the direction they walk on ?