In the US, it’s common courtesy to walk on the right…usually. Is the same true in England, but instead they walk on the left??? - Jinx
There’s previous threads about this, often working from the assumption that “drive on left = walk on left”. But, while there exist differences between different countries, it’s not that simple, and it’s a cultural/ettiquette matter that has nothing to do with road rules. Basically, no, the British walk on neither the right nor left, but cope with intermingling paths quite happily.
Except on escalators on the Tube, where you stand on the right, or walk on the left.
Here’s a thread I started a few years ago that has some fun replies.
I lived in NZ for some years, where they also drive on the left. I found it very noticeable that people tended to walk on the left of sidewalks as well, since as an American I tended to walk on the right and often found myself “'bucking the current.”
That’s not just a British thing. It works the same way everywhere I’ve been in Europe.
But not in Australia. Here people stand on the left of the escalators. As on the roads, those who want to overtake must keep to the right.
I presume Brits walk on the right side of the road, just as Americans walk on the left. Is that correct?
If you mean by that, having to walk in the road because there is no pavement/sidewalk, yes . In the UK it is recommended that you walk on right side of the road, so that you are facing on-coming traffic.
Too dangerous to walk on roads now in England. Liable to get run down by eco-cyclists.
Most of the cyclists in this town now ride on the pavement! It now sometimes safer to walk on the road, then to be run down by one of these idiots weaving through the pedestrians.
Bloody monsters! Here you’re thrown out of the Association of People’s Cadres Mutual Aid Committee of Cyclists Celebrating the Reunification of Hong Kong with the Motherland unless you carry 30 dead chickens or 6 bottles of gas on your bike, never use lights (or indeed possess any), and always go the wrong way down one-way streets. Bells are mandatory, and must be used when travelling late at night in residential areas or when a pedestrian is audaciuous enough to be walking on the bit of the pavement that gets you to yoru destination quickest.
Yes, that’s precisely what I meant, and yes, that’s precisely what I thought.
And where I walk, there are no psycho cyclists. (Psycolists?) I’m slightly more likely to get run down by a four-wheeler (a small four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle with a motorcycle-style saddle and controls). Thank heavens for small favors.
whilst its mostly been forgotten now (and sorry i don’t have any cites, only very old fashioned grandparents) there used to be very specific etiquette to walking in the UK maybe 50-100 years ago.
First and formost was the the gentlemen would always walk nearest to the road. this was so that mud from the carriages/cars would get him and not his lady companion.
second was that you walked against the traffic. This of course was basically just a safety thing, if a crap driver is approaching you can see them and take the necessary avoidance action. this pretty much translated in people never crossing paths on the same walways where the paths were next to roads and in pedestrian areas the same sides were kept to more out of habit than etiquette.
now of course no one really takes any notice of this anymore (most younger people probably arent even aware of such concepts) and the public walkways of britain are now free for alls where size and the expression on your face dictates whether yo uget out of the way of others or they get out of your way. Plus the escalator etiquette doesnt work in many places other than London. Especially not Birmingham 
Also protects a lady from the contents of chamber pots being emptied out of windows.
The British mostly switch their brains off when in walking mode, and there’s certainly no walking lane discipline. Experienced walkers tend to walk facing the traffic, but are still bamboozled when confronted with a bicycle.
The Dutch have much more discipline, and I would often be mildly berated when I found myself using the stairs on the wrong side. The Japanese also have a similar cultural understanding for stairways, except that the side you walk on depends on which city you’re in.
Well this displaced Brit certainly has to make a conscious effort to walk on the right in New York to avoid oncoming pedestrians.
My experience in Tokyo is that you walk on the left when you go up the stairs in the subway, which corresponds to driving on the left side. People also walked on the left side in the subway passages.
In London, the up and down escalators were set up so that you were on the right going up or going down, which does not correspond to driving on the left side of the road. If I recall correcftly, people walked in the right side in the underground Tube passages as well.
In NYC, you walk on the right side when you go up the the stairs in the subway, unless, of course, you want to start a fight. If you want to start a fight, just try walking up the left side of the stairs when you’re leaving the subway. You’ll either get pushed around, or just pushed back into the subway car. 
For “Walking in Hong Kong 101” – the object of a whole raft of post-doctoral studies in the Greater China region – look up Hong Kong’s premier blog and scroll down to ‘Day Tripper’.
Having graduated from this, you might be ready for the elective on Urban Umbrella Use in Sun Tzu’s Art of War, offered by the Centre for Acculturation Studies at the University of Hong Kong.
…that was you!!! :: shakes fist ::
Yeah, we walk on the left down here…
There’s a place in America where people consistently walk on the right?
Haven’t been there. I’d like to get this passed into law, if possible.
IME it is a subtle thing. People walk pretty much anywhere on the footpath but when two people are approaching head on, they will tend to veer to the left (in Australia and NZ), thereby avoiding an embarrasing collision. When someone from a right-side driving country approaches head on with someone in NZ then they veer to the right while the native NZer veers to the left. This normally results in a confused kind of waltz as the two strangers dart from side to side trying to get past each other.