Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: Sidewalk hogs
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May 8, 2010 at 4:46 am #594747
BookGalParticipantHere’s a little rant … Please share the sidewalk. Do not walk two or three or four abreast, especially when you see another person or persons walking toward you. Or, if you hear people coming up behind you.
Goodness gracious folks – didn’t your parents ever teach you anything about good manners and being considerate of others?
Please make room. That means walking single file until after you pass the other person. Really, its quite easy to do – it won’t take a lot of effort on your part.
It is the little considerate things we do that make neighborhoods so much more pleasant for everyone.
May 8, 2010 at 1:33 pm #694021
SmittyParticipantI love busting through the “three abreast” coffee chatters who think they own the sidewalk. Being a relatively big guy I love picking a line and sticking to it……but I’m sure they think that I am the rude one.
May 8, 2010 at 1:44 pm #694022
anonymeParticipantI am a small woman, not a big guy, but I’ve frequently crashed through these hog lines. I sometimes announce “Two-way sidewalk!” as I do so.
May 8, 2010 at 2:24 pm #694023
JoBParticipantlove it when i am wielding a walker or wheelchair…
EXCUSE ME .. i’d hate to hit you with this thing:)
May 8, 2010 at 6:07 pm #694024
dawsonctParticipantRight there with you, Smitty.
My favorite sidewalk hogs are the parents with each holding a coffee and a pastry from Bakery Nouveau, a stroller, a toddler, and a dog, lurching down California, completely spread apart, parents ignoring the dog and the toddler while the fumble for their I-phones.
I guess when even THAT overwhelms your multi-tasking abilities, paying attention to, and being thoughtful of your fellow pedestrians is WWAAYY down the list of priorities.
May 8, 2010 at 7:03 pm #694025
JanSParticipantsort of the other side…I walk with a cane. I am just a tad slower than quite a few walkers. I get highly annoyed when someone who is more surefooted than I am comes up behind me, gets on my heels and is breathing down my neck. Please to go around me, PLEASE. I am not going to move for you, as I am the one with the cane. If I am walking with someone I will stop and move over at times…but it’s NOT always my problem, NOT always up to me to accommodate you, the more sure footed one. You walk on the grass for once and give me the sidewalk.
Thank you very much :)
May 8, 2010 at 9:03 pm #694026
JayDeeParticipantI am considerate of those with canes/walkers/infirmities. I may be there one day, but not yet. Until then I bide my time and cool my jets.
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I am fairly large and sometimes when confronted with an unyielding group of peds, I will just stop (looking behind me before I do so) and wait for the truth to dawn on them.
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My pet theory is that people walk like they drive. You get those seemingly able-bodied folks who stop at the end of the escalators downtown and are surprised when others literally run into them.
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OK: I have ended my “Andy Rooney” moment: “Don’t you just hate it when…”
May 8, 2010 at 9:41 pm #694027
cakeitseasyMemberYes, and judging sidewalk etiquette, many never learned to keep right either. Personally, I think a lot of social discourtesy trickles down from the ‘hippy generation’ who felt they had to break through rules and social norms to express themselves with complete, unfettered freedom. Yield to others on a sidewalk? Leash the dog? Follow traffic rules? Don’t cramp my style, man, you’re such a facist, loosen up, it’s a free country! I notice a lot more of this behavior around Seattle than any other city I’ve been too. It could also just be that it’s a city that is increasing population faster than it can adjust. Still, you have to wonder about people who were raised with the attitude ‘what’s the problem? they can just go around ME.(because my right to enjoy myself trumps being considerate).
May 9, 2010 at 3:07 am #694028
pamMemberamen to all of the above!
May 10, 2010 at 6:58 am #694029
dawsonctParticipant40+ years later, can’t we let the hippies off the hook as the genesis of all societies ills?
Most of the oblivious sidewalk hogs appear to me to be under 40, which places them squarely in the selfish Reagan generation, thinking their exceptionalism trumps the need for consideration and politeness.
June 29, 2010 at 2:45 am #694030
blackwatchMemberI’m totally with you, I’m really tired of Hippy bashing. The hippy movement might have been a bit naive at times, but at least our hearts and ethics were in the right place. There was kindness and concern for others, rather than the eat or be eaten attitudes that abound today.
June 29, 2010 at 4:30 pm #694031
theeParticipanti glad this thread is back… it has so much potential!
June 29, 2010 at 5:23 pm #694032
ws4everMemberand in the name of common courtesy while pedding around, don’t people teach their kids (of all ages) not to point and stare, or not to say disparaging things about passersby? It’s the comments that I see otherwise civil-looking people make that just floor me.
June 29, 2010 at 6:44 pm #694033
SmittyParticipantI love this thread. I am not in the “hippie generations fault” camp. I grew up in a area with a LOT of hippies and while I never thought they were the sharpest knives in the drawer (nuclear freeze? really?) they were all kind and courteous. Compared to the Y or whatever is after generation X(the best ever!!) and their WTO crap, they were saints.
Sidewalk hogs are almost always SAHM with a DTNL, IMO.
June 29, 2010 at 8:34 pm #694034
KBearParticipantSend the sidewalk hogs over to this thread
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/rant-chupacabras-tethered-to-signsbike-racks-outside-stores
and they’ll be taken care of. Sidewalk cows and chickens also accepted.
June 29, 2010 at 9:09 pm #694035
HolyKowMemberJune 29, 2010 at 10:26 pm #694036
KevinParticipantIf I’m overtaking a group of sidewalk hogs I generally will break into a little jog and get around them and then continue to keep to the right. Ok, so maybe once in awhile I may look behind with with a glare. I do like the “coming through” announcement that one writer suggested.
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When meeting a group head on I generally tend to keep right and then come to a screeching halt right before the point of “collision.”
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Amazing how even once nose to nose, most of them STILL don’t get it.
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My favorite comment is “kind of like driving a car”… or occasionally asking the question “I hope you don’t drive your car on the wrong side of the road”…
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I just can’t understand why more people don’t have the common sense to keep right. Most of them seem to EXPECT that you will step off the sidewalk or path and YIELD to them.
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June 29, 2010 at 11:06 pm #694037
CMPParticipantI’ve found that you’re either a yielder or a hog. I always move out of the way, and have even tried to make myself play the “walk straight” game and can’t do it. Try it some time when you’re at the mall. You’ll be amazed at how many people just come right at you, expecting you to move. Be considerate please!
June 30, 2010 at 12:18 am #694038
TrishaMemberI use the same method as JayDee above – I just stop and let them work it out/walk around me. That way, I am not being overly aggressive, but I am also not giving up my right to also use the sidewalk.
June 30, 2010 at 1:57 am #694039
Genesee HillParticipantI stay to the far right and if “the other pedestrian(s)” don’t figure it out, I just stop in my tracks. Exceptions, of course, to people pushing strollers, elderly, or others who obviously need some leeway.
June 30, 2010 at 5:55 am #694040
spanaMemberI do this wacky thing where I say “Excuse me” and smile as I pass those pesky other pedestrians! WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN
June 30, 2010 at 11:50 am #694041
kgParticipantI too tend to be aware of others as I walk down California while out with my small children. I do find it rude to ‘hog’ up the entire sidewalk, so I make an effort to not let the kids run around all hibbedy jibbedy. I don’t quite understand the multi-taskers who can’t enjoy a nice day to be bothered by getting their nose out of their smart phone.
That being said….It will be an interesting news day on the WSB when someone wants to barge through in between me and my child holding hands because they perceive us to be taking up too much room as we slowly meander down the sidewalk on a nice day.
June 30, 2010 at 4:32 pm #694042
austinMemberI was wondering when we’d get to the other side of the fence on this thread. Threats of violence from a protective parent wasn’t the direction I was expecting, but kudos.
June 30, 2010 at 5:21 pm #694043
JoBParticipanti wouldn’t dream of busting through a mother holding hands with her kids…
those that irritate me are holding the cellphone in one hand.. pushing a stroller with the other.. and have kids and dogs attached to leashes…
a mother actually connecting to and paying attention to her children? I not only get out of the way.. i do so with a smile.
I have considered carrying a cane though…
just to stick through the spokes of the idiots on bikes who think their right to move speedily down the sidewalk without alerting your to their presence trumps your right to walk slowly enough to enjoy the scenery…
or to trip the joggers who barrel through people walking without breaking stride…
or to crack over the heads of …
but…. that is another thing altogether ;->
June 30, 2010 at 5:58 pm #694044
ErikParticipantI always walk on the parking strip to get around groups since I’m usually faster and have much better balance than most people.
This olde hockey player knows better than to bust through lines…I’ve put enough people on the bench with my thirst for the puck.
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