Walking on the left side of the sidewalk (Normal, Lincoln: live, shopping mall)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by tb4000

I've worked in the loop since 2005, otherwise this would not bug me as it does. It's common sense, man.

Yeah, common sense is walking on the left.

[aragx6]

So where are the people walking the other direction supposed to walk, AF? The middle of the street?

[MassVt]

The rule of thumb is to walk on the right-side of the sidewalk, much as you drive on the right-side of the street. There's also the concept of riding the escalater on the right-side, while leaving the lt-side open for those who wish to walk up the escalater.

Mostly just common sense, or so you would think..

[Chi-town Native]

oh good god, of course you walk on the right. same logic as the blinkin' street, that's common sense.

and I'm glad someone else brought this up so I didn't have to:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE WHO STAND ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ESCALATORS DURING RUSH HOUR?

All it takes is that one guy or gal to completely freeze up pedestrian movement, it's ridiculous. In other cities I've seen such wild concepts implemented as signs that say "Standees stay on the right."

/rant over

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Alacran

Waah waah
Crybabys

I mostly agree with this sentiment.

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Do you like getting hit by a door when walking down the street or barreled into when leaving a building by someone walking down the street?

Clearly you have not spent much time downtown in your life.

As Avengerfire points out, there is a lot more going on with a typical sidewalk than just two streams of people walking in an orderly fashion to and from the Metra stations.

Originally Posted by tb4000

I've worked in the loop since 2005, otherwise this would not bug me as it does. It's common sense, man.

Wooo, since 2005, wow, that practically makes you both the Mayor and the chairman of the Urban Studies Department at UIC ...

The City Center doesn't only exist for office workers to walk to and from commuter rail stations. It's mixed use. Some of the users will be slower, some will be doing random errands, others will be, yes, walking to and from commuter rail stations.

So get over yourself. You talk about "on the right" as if it's some sort of in-born instinct that everyone has, which is patently absurd.

First of all, the idea of travelling on the right is from driving. Sure, most pedestrians are also drivers, but not all of them are.

Second, if you read your drivers handbook, in shared traffic auto/pedestrian traffic, pedestrians are actually supposed to walk on the left side of the road so that they can see cars coming - so "on the right" isn't quite as absolute as you seem to think.

Third, merging patterns in heavy pedestrian traffic make it nearly impossible at times for people to even get to the "right" side of the sidewalk without coming to a dead stop trying to merge. Which apparently also annoys other people posting here.

Fourth, people merging in or out of a building will have a hard time "crossing traffic" during peak periods to get to the "right" side.

Fifth, have you even ever seen a crosswalk during rush hour? Everyone and their brother fills up the entire side waiting to cross, so there is effectively no "right" or "left" in either crowd waiting to cross, and as they meet in the middle it is a bit of chaos, but trying to funnel into a left or right wouldn't really be any more efficient.

Sixth, people with luggage or carts or just large bags frequently force people to break stride and move around in whichever direction is nearest. I suppose next you'll say people aren't allowed to carry bags or pull luggage?

I could go on, but the fact of the matter is that compaining about people not walking on the "right" side of the street is not only neurotic and ignorant, but is so myopic and selfish that it is bordering on anti-social.

[Irishtom29]

I usually walk on the right but there's alot going on on downtown sidewalks and you have to tolerate it. Emathias summed it up well.

I'm never in a hurry anyway, I'm a slow stroller. I'm walking to enjoy the walk.

[Chicago60614]

I certainly notice that people walk on the right. It always stands out when someone is wandering down the sidewalk on the left getting in everyone's way. You can walk to the right and not be hugging the building next to you. Not to mention that most places seem to have revolving doors anyway.......

The escalator thing drives me nuts. You can always see the person who's going to go and stop as well. There's just something about them that signals they're going to plop down in their spot.

The worst is when everyone is walking up the escalator as you come off the train, then some random person will go to the left of the escalator and just stop. They can clearly see the entire path in front of them clear of people as they walk up - so they KNOW exactly what they're doing. If it's a tourist, I always stomp loudly up the escalator and stop immediately behind them. They normally don't realize what they're doing, and go "oops" and move.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

The worst is when everyone is walking up the escalator as you come off the train, then some random person will go to the left of the escalator and just stop. They can clearly see the entire path in front of them clear of people as they walk up - so they KNOW exactly what they're doing.

exactly!

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

If it's a tourist, I always stomp loudly up the escalator and stop immediately behind them. They normally don't realize what they're doing, and go "oops" and move.

Why the passive-aggressive act? A simple "excuse me" will move people over; it works fine with me when I block the left side.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Why the passive-aggressive act? A simple "excuse me" will move people over; it works fine with me when I block the left side.

Your old-school politesse is mind boggling to many of the posters here.