For as long as I can remember, I have walked at a fast pace. It’s an inherited trait. My mother walked in a manner that communicated, “Lead or follow. Just get the heck out of my way.” Living in NYC has only increased the speed at which I choose to move. When caught behind a group of people meandering down the street, I now rapidly jump across lanes of traffic to walk on the opposite side. A slow walker can drive me to distraction.

 

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article (“Get Out of My Way, You Jerk!” February 15, 2011), instead of crossing the street lots of walkers now experience “sidewalk rage.” In its mildest form, extreme pedestrian anger involves one walker intentionally bumping into another or muttering an inhospitable comment under his or her breath. At the opposite end of the spectrum you’ll find 15,000 members who belong to the Facebook group, “I Secretly Want to Punch Slow Walking People on the Back of the Head.”  

 

Researchers say the root cause of sidewalk rage may be a whole bunch of “should” and “should nots” that reside within our heads. Family, friends and the media have trained us to think in certain ways, for example, “You shouldn’t hog the sidewalk.” When we suddenly encounter four people walking abreast of each other, we see those walkers as having breeched the rules of etiquette.

 

How best to handle those who walk to the beat of their own drummer? Fuming rarely resolves anything. Instead, a better approach may be to recognize slower walkers and quickly move out of their way.