Customarily used for transportation over short distances, walking, or bi-pedal perambulation, engages the human body’s own lower body muscles for movement of the body entire. A skill usually mastered within the first couple years of life, and with multiple health benefits, walking has fallen to the favor of the automobile or other wheeled contrivances. Even the advent of computerized systems account for the drop in miles walked per employee in the workplace. This lack of practice had caused some confusion and conflict in public places where humans have little choice but to propel themselves bipedially. This degradation is most evident when comparing the walking patterns of pedestrians in high-density cities (one of the few places left on earth where walking farther than a city block is practiced on a daily basis) and pedestrians in more residential cities or cities of commerce such as malls, supermarkets or superstores. The necessity of signaling devices at crosswalks point to the dearth in common sense that many of today’s pedestrians suffer from.
To rectify this knowledge gap, I present the simple guidelines below. The general walking rules apply to most uses, with enclosed-space walking and city walking tips following.
Walking is simple. Stand. Lift one foot (any one). Move it forward a comfortable distance, shift weight onto that foot bringing it back into contact with the floor and lifting the other foot off the ground behind you. Swing it forward in front of the first foot and then transfer weight accordingly. Many find difficulty in walking a straight line. While this is not necessary in most applications it introduces the most essential point in this treatise…courtesy. While walking is a physical function, the brain must have constant vigilance of three things: Where you wish to walk to, how to get there, and how not to collide with or impede other people or objects. In the case of walking a straight line, zigzagging along the sidewalk may take one longer to reach the destination. It also makes it more difficult for those around you to gage how to pass or avoid you, thus hindering them as well. For most people the inability to walk unswervingly manifests itself not in this gross exaggeration but in a tendency to list gradually in one direction and gradually back.
One must always remain consciousness of one’s surroundings. As you do not expect a kiosk to step aside for you, so too must you not assume other pedestrians to demonstrate the courtesy not afforded to them. This specifically pertains to groups of humans walking together. Couples who link arms sometimes find situations that necessitate a temporary separation. Don’t panic! Keep your partner in sight, disentangle appendages, navigate around said obstruction and reunite on the other side. This procedure enables both parties to continue forward motion. Some couples attempt to skirt around obstacles by using the sidestep. This is not recommended as stumbling may occur in tight spaces.
Groups of three or more traversing spaces narrower than a street’s width must also accept the harsh reality that they may not span their line sideways into infinity. Only in cases of civilized warfare and the childhood game ‘Red Robin’ is people encouraged to raze others with an unbreakable line. Forcing commuters to dip off the curb to scuttle your family of five out for a stroll endangers others and, when executed in a city, exposes your status as a tourist.
The rules that govern the sidewalk closely align with those of the road in that pedestrians generally keep to the right, and stopping suddenly in the center of the thoroughfare is dangerous and may cause accidents. Pedestrians are advised to navigate out of the lane of traffic if they wish to reconnoiter or reverse direction. Where the rules of the road and the sidewalk diverge is where they converge.
In the early days of the automobile (following the centuries of horsemanship preceding) drivers depended on their own common sense when faced with an intersection. The introduction of ever more rapid modes of transportation accelerated motion beyond the speed of cognition, necessitating the installation of traffic signs to dictate to motorists when they may proceed in safety. As motorists rose to dominance by virtue of their speed and size the motorcar took precedence over other modes of transportation on the road. Streets expanded and sidewalks shrunk, and though cities provided signs to govern street laws, pedestrians found themselves stymied at wide intersections where at all times (due to turning vehicles) they found themselves the target of motorists who no more expected to find a dodo in their path than a pedestrian.
This history lesson illustrates how crossing signals came into usage, and why they remain absolutely essential at many intersections across the country. Why cities felt the need to install these directives on one-way roads or those of two lanes or less may better be explained by the other earmarks on the bill. Many law-abiding pedestrians take their frustrations out on the walk signal button, punching the knob again and again for hopes that the electric light will permit them to cross a ten step distance with nary a vehicle in sight. Others tap their feet and stare at the silent street. The wise look both ways and cross. On roads 4 lanes or wider, pedestrians best obey ‘the man or the hand’ for a many reasons, the first of which is safety, the second concerns simple courtesy. Cars depend on the interval of green and red to dictate their motion. Pedestrians enjoy the freedom of choice, and if abused, they may stoke he ire of enough motorists to revoke it. Courteous pedestrians should take note of the following steps:
The first key is to stop. Second, look both ways, (even on a 1 way street one must check the cross streets for signs of vehicles turning into the space you wish to cross.) Gauge the interval of time your legs will carry you across the street at your regular pace. Now I cannot stress the monumental responsibility vested upon the pedestrian that follows the following advice so please don’t take it lightly: if no vehicles are present, or traveling at such a rate or distance insufficient to hurl them into the vicinity of the crosswalk in the time it would take to propel you from one side to the other, then venture across. This entire process depends solely upon the pedestrian’s gait and not upon the motorist. The motorist has far more to concern themselves with in less time than you. The pedestrian must never assume that the motorist will give him the right of way. If the light changes during the crossing process the pedestrian must hustle, the same as when a car approaches a stoplight switching from yellow to red, they must step on the brake. Never expect a car to brake for you. The number one rule in jaywalking courtesy is never to make a car brake for you. All parties will reach their destination faster if each passes the other at their own time and rate.
By following these recommendations and employing common sense and community values to judge your actions on a case by case basis, all pedestrians will reach their destination in time and unscathed.