I need to know about your side preferences!

[andrewducker]

Poll #28904

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

View Respondents

What side of paths/corridors/stairs do you walk (when you have to pick a side)

View Answers

The same as cars drive
38 (67.9%)

The opposite cars drive
2 (3.6%)

Random
8 (14.3%)

SEWIWEIC
8 (14.3%)

Comments

[purplerabbits]

The inside, if there is one, so I don't get forced into the road

On sides

[ng_moonmoth]

If there is enough other traffic to matter, whichever side the traffic dictates. If it's a wide space, such as often seen in transportation hubs, I "walk to daylight" -- look for open spots that facilitate my intended movement and exploit them. If I am walking in a space shared by motor vehicles, "walk facing traffic" is the statutory default (as in, the vehicle code specifies that as what one should do whenever possible).

Stairs are different. If traffic doesn't dictate, I will go to the inside wherever possible to save steps.

[affreca]

Are you talking about paths next to a road, or ones inside buildings? Because I interpreted this as paths away from roads.

[andrewducker]

I was thinking not next to roads.

[rhythmaning]

Generally the same as cars drive - but only on pavements or wide paths.

But also, I walk faster than many people, so I tend wander all over the place to get past people. And that often means walking on the side beside the road, so I can step into the street to get past someone. Having first checked I won't be getting in the way of any cyclists, obvs.

And I noticed the other day walking across North Bridge, with all the pedestrians forced onto one pavement, an ad hoc one way system seemed to have established itself anti-clockwise - that is, the other side to the one we'd drive on - and I was forced to follow the flow.

[wildeabandon]

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. If there are other people walking in both directions on a path then I walk on the side that's travelling in the direction I want to go on, and if it's a shared use foothpath/cyclepath, then I walk on the pedestrian side.

What other circumstances are there where one would have to pick a side?

[andrewducker]

Stairs with a banister down the middle. Wide paths with the occasional other person, but no obvious predetermined side.

In both of those cases I default to the left hand side.

[simont]

Sure, if there are already people going in both directions, it's obviously sensible to go with the existing flow. But if the path or corridor is currently mostly empty, what do you do?

Perhaps you start by just walking down the centre of it, because there's no need to choose a side at all. But then maybe someone comes into view heading the other way. Someone has to be the first to make a decision about whether to veer left or right to miss the other person.

[azurelunatic]

Mostly the same as cars, but I will go the wrong way on occasion when it's not swimming upstream if there's something in particular I need to look at. However, if the path is wide enough that I can't get close enough from the "correct" direction of travel, there's probably also a weaker counter-flow.

For that exception, I'm mostly thinking about the Costco freezer aisles, which have enough room for four lanes of carts, and I keep enough room between me and the freezer that someone going the driving direction has room to get by.

[cmcmck]

Tends to be left as I'm left handed.

[gingicat]

For paths, nearly always on the side that would be the passenger side of the car; for stairs, it's also easier to hold on with my dominant hand, which is my right. And whether there's a banister on both sides also makes a difference.

Escalators (in the US) are always in this way too - the direction you're going is on the right, the opposite side is on the left.

I was in London some years ago and it was only occasionally a problem that I was walking to the left of the people approaching me and to the right of people in my same direction. (Crossing the street or catching the bus, on the other hand... so to speak)

[conuly]

As a New Yorker, I've been exhorted since childhood to walk on the right - same as the cars.

[agoodwinsmith]

When we were assembled in orderly rows as children, we were firmly trained to walk on the right. This instruction was expected to carry over into hallways during class changes. So, if I am walking and encounter people who are walking in a direction other than mine, I flinch to the right.

[ninetydegrees]

The inside. This usually means being on my right so people coming the other way can be on their right too, or if we're all walking in the same direction so that people who walk faster can use the outside. This is the usual custom in my country.

[lilysea]

When using a powerchair on a footpath with few other people or no other people =

I zig zag from left to right to avoid

uneven bits of footpath;

bumps in the footpath that are physically painful to go over;

sprinklers spraying water onto the footpath;

plants overgrowing onto the footpath.

[channelpenguin]

Same as driving (right) except walking on roads with no pavement when it's reversed so as to be facing the traffic.

In more open areas, though, I'll tend to pass people by turning right, like a boat (maritime regs specify passing port to port)

[naath]

if there are no cars,like a car, if this is a road then opposite, so I am seen, often in practice the whole space because the world i- not built with wheelchairs in mind

[cellio]

I answered for what I consider "normal", but there are also complications.

Rule 1: Go with prevailing traffic. If there are people walking in both directions, follow the ones going in my direction.

Rule 2: Like cars.

Rule 3: Rule 2 includes passing lanes. If I'm faster than the people in front of me, I'll go 'round in the traffic-like way if I can.

Rule 4: But if what I'm trying to do doesn't work for some reason and there's another option, do that. Expedience wins over rules.