Avoiding an intercept course

[K'Ehleyr]

You're walking on a footpath, side of the road, on your own, no other pedestrians nearby. Suddenly you spot another pedestrian walking along another path that will join yours in 15 yds or so. You are both walking at the same speed and if you don't do anything about it you will end up walking with a stranger.
Now is it just me or does everyone immediately do something to avoid this? Adjust speed; faster or slower? Faster, damn they have too, 10 yrds to go; slower, nope they've done that too; stop tie shoelace, bugger wearing boots, 5 yds to go; Emergency tactics... Full stop, fake *pricked ear* 'what's that sound?', rummage in bag and produce mobile, study as if reading new text message. Potential intercept pedestrian joins path ahead and collision has been successfully avoided! You return to previous course and speed at an acceptably spaced distance.
Well otherwise what would you do? End up side by side? That's certainly not British . Please tell me it's not just me

 

[John Clark]

It's not just you, though I don't think I've ever gone through all the steps you've mentioned

 

[Luckyflux]

You're walking on a footpath, side of the road, on your own, no other pedestrians nearby. Suddenly you spot another pedestrian walking along another path that will join yours in 15 yds or so. You are both walking at the same speed and if you don't do anything about it you will end up walking with a stranger.
Now is it just me or does everyone immediately do something to avoid this? Adjust speed; faster or slower? Faster, damn they have too, 10 yrds to go; slower, nope they've done that too; stop tie shoelace, bugger wearing boots, 5 yds to go; Emergency tactics... Full stop, fake *pricked ear* 'what's that sound?', rummage in bag and produce mobile, study as if reading new text message. Potential intercept pedestrian joins path ahead and collision has been successfully avoided! You return to previous course and speed at an acceptably spaced distance.
Well otherwise what would you do? End up side by side? That's certainly not British . Please tell me it's not just me

You're not alone, I have done this many times. If it is some regular person that will eventually end up next to me then I will do something like check the phone, tie my shoe, grab a smoke....Most of the time I'd rather walk alone. Unless it is a hot girl that I would soon end up walking with, then I'll adjust my path to make sure I end up walking next to her! If she stops, then I'll stop, If she speeds up then I'll speed up.

 

[cultcross]

Definitely. It's one of those very British situations where you go wildly out of your way to avoid even the mildest social awkwardness with strangers. The "studying your new text message" dodge is the most useful part of that particular technology's invention.

 

[backstept]

what if someone's walking towards you . . . the annoying thing is both sidestepping and going the wrong way so you end up pretending to play defense without a basketball
left, right, left, right

 

[JuanBolio]

I start walking faster, if I have to. I usually don't, since my usual walking speed is almost twice that of most other people. But yeah, I'll usually just pass 'em with a friendly "Good evening" or something. Unless I'm drunk. When I'm drunk, I'll put my arms out to my sides like an airplane, making propeller noises and sounds of machine gun fire as I follow them around, banking and twisting as if we're in a dogfight.

 

[Pingfah]

^ Yes quite, very few people walk as fast as I do so it's not something I have ever really thought about.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I always stop and pull out my iPod and make a big production of trying to find a new song, like I can't do that while I'm walking.

 

[DBR]

I have a cane: people get out of my way or they are mean, inconsiderate, cold-hearted, bastards. According to society, not me. I didn't ask for it.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

I'm glad I'm not alone

what if someone's walking towards you . . . the annoying thing is both sidestepping and going the wrong way so you end up pretending to play defense without a basketball
left, right, left, right

I understand the British etiquette in this situation is a subtle indication of ones chosen path with ones briefcase or umbrella

But JB I like your style too

 

[Zulu Romeo]

You're walking on a footpath, side of the road, on your own, no other pedestrians nearby. Suddenly you spot another pedestrian walking along another path that will join yours in 15 yds or so. You are both walking at the same speed and if you don't do anything about it you will end up walking with a stranger.
Now is it just me or does everyone immediately do something to avoid this? Adjust speed; faster or slower? Faster, damn they have too, 10 yrds to go; slower, nope they've done that too; stop tie shoelace, bugger wearing boots, 5 yds to go; Emergency tactics... Full stop, fake *pricked ear* 'what's that sound?', rummage in bag and produce mobile, study as if reading new text message. Potential intercept pedestrian joins path ahead and collision has been successfully avoided! You return to previous course and speed at an acceptably spaced distance.
Well otherwise what would you do? End up side by side? That's certainly not British . Please tell me it's not just me

We're just antisocial creatures at heart. Me, I just walk a little bit slower than my normal slow pace, or look around with a quizzical appearance on my face like a strange person. The other person then walks faster to avoid me.

In fact, I find a similar parallel phenomenon when driving. The situation: a single carriageway street with a traffic-calming chicane or a car parked so that the street is narrowed at one segment, but not enough to prevent two cars, one in each direction, being able to drive past each other at the same time at that spot at a reasonable (not top) speed. Now, I'm driving along at the standard speed, approaching this artificially created narrowing, when I see another car on the opposite side of the road, coming towards me at a similar speed. Now, the usual thing for me to do is to slow down to allow the car to enter the narrowing first, even though we can both do so normally. What happens? Despite our efforts to let the other pass, we both enter the narrowing together so that we're neatly fitting in that spot. No collision, just a neat fit. Anyone else experience this?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

There's many times where i'm walking along the pavement up a slight hill and the person in front is walking just slightly slower than me but not by much so I end up coming up behind them but because their speed is only slightly slower than mine if I try to overtake them it'll take a while to do it which means for a good 20 seconds i'll be walking side by side with them and i've had to put major effort into speeding past them because i'm already at full speed so I end up just slowing down keeping pace with them.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Avoiding an intercept course? Go to Red Alert and prepare to fire all weapons.

I usually will just walk the same rate because eventually someone will turn a different direction.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Avoiding an intercept course? Go to Red Alert and prepare to fire all weapons.

I always imagined such a situation playing out in my mind something like this...

 

[K'Ehleyr]

In fact, I find a similar parallel phenomenon when driving. The situation: a single carriageway street with a traffic-calming chicane or a car parked so that the street is narrowed at one segment, but not enough to prevent two cars, one in each direction, being able to drive past each other at the same time at that spot at a reasonable (not top) speed. Now, I'm driving along at the standard speed, approaching this artificially created narrowing, when I see another car on the opposite side of the road, coming towards me at a similar speed. Now, the usual thing for me to do is to slow down to allow the car to enter the narrowing first, even though we can both do so normally. What happens? Despite our efforts to let the other pass, we both enter the narrowing together so that we're neatly fitting in that spot. No collision, just a neat fit. Anyone else experience this?

And for some reason you feel really pleased that this has worked out so well It does mean that you have slowed and thought though, so those pesky traffic calming things do work
Also hate the two cars reaching a mini roundabout opposite each other at the same time, both indicating right and waiting for the other to go first. 'After you' 'no after you, 'no please you first' at this point I just turn left instead

There's many times where i'm walking along the pavement up a slight hill and the person in front is walking just slightly slower than me but not by much so I end up coming up behind them but because their speed is only slightly slower than mine if I try to overtake them it'll take a while to do it which means for a good 20 seconds i'll be walking side by side with them and i've had to put major effort into speeding past them because i'm already at full speed so I end up just slowing down keeping pace with them.

If you are wearing click-clack heels at least you can give warning to your imminent overtaking manouvre, if not you receive a startled look when just entering their peripheral vision and give your best 'I'm not a mugger sir/madam' impression

 

[Holdfast]

You're walking on a footpath, side of the road, on your own, no other pedestrians nearby. Suddenly you spot another pedestrian walking along another path that will join yours in 15 yds or so. You are both walking at the same speed and if you don't do anything about it you will end up walking with a stranger.
Now is it just me or does everyone immediately do something to avoid this? Adjust speed; faster or slower? Faster, damn they have too, 10 yrds to go; slower, nope they've done that too; stop tie shoelace, bugger wearing boots, 5 yds to go; Emergency tactics... Full stop, fake *pricked ear* 'what's that sound?', rummage in bag and produce mobile, study as if reading new text message. Potential intercept pedestrian joins path ahead and collision has been successfully avoided! You return to previous course and speed at an acceptably spaced distance.
Well otherwise what would you do? End up side by side? That's certainly not British . Please tell me it's not just me

If they're a cute chick, I stay right on course. And then give them a creepy Patrick Bateman smile at the next pedestrian crossing...

 

[RoJoHen]

what if someone's walking towards you . . . the annoying thing is both sidestepping and going the wrong way so you end up pretending to play defense without a basketball
left, right, left, right

You follow the rules of the road and stay on the same side you would if you were driving. If the other person follows this rule, too, then you shouldn't have an issue.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

You're not alone, I have done this many times. If it is some regular person that will eventually end up next to me then I will do something like check the phone, tie my shoe, grab a smoke....Most of the time I'd rather walk alone. Unless it is a hot girl that I would soon end up walking with, then I'll adjust my path to make sure I end up walking next to her! If she stops, then I'll stop, If she speeds up then I'll speed up.

If they're a cute chick, I stay right on course. And then give them a creepy Patrick Bateman smile at the next pedestrian crossing...

See that's not walking, that's stalking

 

[archeryguy1701]

I do the same. If there's enough space for me to get around the person, I will go the same speed, if not speed up. However, if there's not a lot of space, I generally slow down when I get near and stay behind them until there is passing room.

 

[Amaris]

I walk as if nothing has happened. People tend to avoid me though, so maybe it just works for me.


J.