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How Walking With Smartphones May Have Changed Pedestrian Etiquette
An anonymous reader writes The phenomenon of 'distracted walking' — pedestrians who walk while using smartphones — has raised civic attention in the last few years, with Utah issuing fines and cities in China creating dedicated 'smartphone lanes' for walkers who need to keep up with Whatsapp on the move. This article argues that smartphone users have become so accustomed to other people getting out of their way that they will no longer negotiate for sidewalk space even when not using their phones.
3. Bicyclists
You haven't ridden a bike since you were 16, have you?
Do you think cyclists feel entitled to their right of way to the point where they are oblivious to oncoming collisions? If that were true, don't you think after, say, six months, there wouldn't be any cyclists left because they had all been run over?
Walking down the street with a screen attached to your face and being oblivious to the world around you is a lot different than riding a bike through a busy intersection and dodging every third car driven by someone with a screen attached to their face.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
Do you think cyclists feel entitled to their right of way to the point where they are oblivious to oncoming collisions?
Yes.
3. Bicyclists
That one goes both ways. I see plenty of entitled cyclists asserting right of way when they don't have it, but I have also seen a number of times where drivers are either oblivious or malicious to bicyclists, nearly running them down. This includes cases where there are bike lanes and the cars feel the need to cross into said lanes for nothing more than getting around another car or running through crosswalks despite the signal and despite having a red.
tl:dr: people are dicks, especially on the road
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I am with you on this. If you have a place to go, walk with determination. Don't look like you are in a hurry, just go. If you are just aimlessly wandering around, pretend you are trying to get somewhere. Obviously I am not being a dick and running people over.
Being over six feet tall does help, but anyone of any size or gender can do it. Works great at concerts too.
Though sometimes the lady in red grabs my attention and I walk face first into an agent... doh!
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I'm a special snowflake just like you. It's okay for us to use cellphones when driving but not anyone else. We are special and know how to do it safely. Rules are for other people.
I am with you on this. If you have a place to go, walk with determination. Don't look like you are in a hurry, just go.
You left out the most important part: Don't look at anyone. You must look through them, as if they were below your notice entirely. Once you appear not just to have someplace to go but also to be completely oblivious of anyone in your path, that is when they tend to move out of your way of their own accord.
It doesn't hurt that I'm over two meters and twenty stone, of course. If you're small, prepare to be ignored even harder.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"