New word: Pedestriots

[geekfactory]

My newly created word for the day: Pedestriots

Ped-EST-ree-aughts

Combining Pedestrian and Idiot. Used when pedestrians do something so icredibly stupid, you're sure that if they needed licenses for walking, they'd never be on the streets.

Examples include:

* Deciding randomly that stopping and reversing is a valid course of action.

* Upon hearing their cell phone ring, stopping in their tracks, oblivious to anything else around (or behind) them

* Walking six abreast, making everyone else go into the street or get run over

* Standing DEAD CENTER of the wheelchair ramps at the corner, and talking to a friend

* Stopping in the middle of the stteet to window shop, with a minimum of six feet between them and the window, then sloooowly moving forward towards the window at varying speeds.

Any other recommendations for Pedestriots?

-Peter

[bicycledriver]

These are all completely normal actions for pedestrians, and are some of the primary reasons why sidewalks are built for pedestrians and roadways are intended as the proper place for vehicles. All of these actions are normal and lawful on sidewalks. Ordinary pedestrians have little difficulty dealing with other pedestrians doing these things.

Drivers of vehicles are frustrated by such activities, because drivers of vehicles have inferior maneuverability and often wish to travel faster. This is why pedestrian traffic is usually segregated from vehicle traffic.

To insult pedestrians for ordinary, lawful pedestrian behavior on pedestrian-only facilities suggests an incompatibility in paradigms. This illustrates one of the reasons why pedestrian advocacy groups resist the operation of vehicles on sidewalks, because they do not want to give up their ability to exercise their manueverability and to move (or stop) at will, in safety and without negative social pressure, in pedestrian spaces.

[geekfactory]

You've obviously never walked down a crowded street at rush hour in Manhattan. If I'm walking down a crowded street, and genius-walker decides to do a 180 right in the middle of the street, causing a minimum of five people to scatter, I'd say no, that's far from normal.

Perhaps where you live it's a lot easier. Doesn't work that way in NYC. I used to keep a website up called "shutupandwalk.com" which had photos submitted of people from all over the country blocking sidewalks by stopping to chat on their cell phones, without so much as a SHRED of common sense or civility of the people behind them.

Dead stops, jutting out from a stopped position to halfway across the street for no reason, walking six people in a row preventing ANYONE from passing on either side are NOT normal actions of pedestrians. They're selfish actions, brought on by people not thinking, nor being courteous.

[bicycledriver]

Pedestrians bump into one another all the time when somebody does something unpredictable. It rarely causes injury unless somebody is in too much of a hurry or moving a potentially dangerous load. People consider harmless bumping more of a social reality (or even a social opportunity) than a hazard. But it becomes progressively more frustrating to people the faster they want to travel in pedestrian spaces and the lower their maneuverability, e.g. longer stopping distances and restriction to wide, ramped surfaces.

[god1138]

Yep, Steve, I think Geekfactory hit the nail on the head.

It's not a matter of "normal" or "legal" behavior; I think the point Peter was trying to make is that their behavior is inconsiderate and uncourteous. Part of being a functioning part of any society is manners and courtesy to those around you at any given time. If some people were more thoughtful of those nearby, or if their brain didn't stop functioning when their cell phone rings and their motor control didn't come to a complete and sudden stop, perhaps it would be a better world.

Kind of like cell phones in theaters ringing off the hook while you try to follow a movie like Adaptation... hey, it may be "legal" and in some cities "normal" but it's obnoxious and rude and inconsiderate as hell to those around you.


-Robert
"BORN TO GLIDE"

[BruceWright]

I live in LA. I don't interact with more than a handful of pedestrians in a normal travel day. None of them pose any difficulty for me, as there are so few of them, and they rarely are even around other pedestrians. If I EVER saw 6 pedestrians side by side on a sidewalk in LA, I would think that gasoline had been outlawed.

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

[Poindexter]

Oh man, I ran into (literaly) Pedestrioctic behavior daily in Manhattan and Brookyn.

Here's my favorites:

Walking down or up a stair (esp. in a subway) on the wrong (left) side. Whenever I was walking down stairs and a pedestriot came walking up in front of me I did not yield. This action prooves that there are and certainly should be regulations for pedestrians. The first is stay to the right on stairs. In fact, I think there used to be an ad hoc organization in NYC called the Walk Right Campaign.

The same rule should be applicable in subway transfere tunnels.

People (mostly tourist pedestriots) who stop at the top of stairs (or worse) esculators.

Moms (or in Manhattan - "Caregivers") who push their baby strollers into the cross walks to see if any traffic is coming before they jaywalk.

Subway riders who push into a crowded car before other passengers get off and stand in the door instead of moving to the middle of the car.

"Anyone who wants to be a New Urbanist has never been Old Urbanist." Michael Poindexter (critic)

[Poindexter]

Here you go.

www.joeyskaggs.com/html/walk.html

"Anyone who wants to be a New Urbanist has never been Old Urbanist." Michael Poindexter (critic)

[clm]

Bruce,

Six abreast is a social lack-of-pecking-order thing.

In L.A. you need to go to a teen movie to experience it. After the movie is over, fall in behind a flock of 13yr olds and see what happens :)

Chris

[geekfactory]

Thank you. How come Europe gets the whole "walk on the left, pass on the right" thing? Even FRANCE gets it! But no. We can't seem to figure it out.

I travel about 250,000 miles per year in the air for business. Internationally. You should SEE how pissed I get when I return to the US after a week of BLISSFUL walking up the stairs on the left with narry a problem, only to run into some dimrod who decides to stand DEAD CENTER on the middle of the escsalator step.

Grrr.

quote:Originally posted by Poindexter

Oh man, I ran into (literaly) Pedestrioctic behavior daily in Manhattan and Brookyn.

Here's my favorites:

Walking down or up a stair (esp. in a subway) on the wrong (left) side. Whenever I was walking down stairs and a pedestriot came walking up in front of me I did not yield. This action prooves that there are and certainly should be regulations for pedestrians. The first is stay to the right on stairs. In fact, I think there used to be an ad hoc organization in NYC called the Walk Right Campaign.

The same rule should be applicable in subway transfere tunnels.

People (mostly tourist pedestriots) who stop at the top of stairs (or worse) esculators.

Moms (or in Manhattan - "Caregivers") who push their baby strollers into the cross walks to see if any traffic is coming before they jaywalk.

Subway riders who push into a crowded car before other passengers get off and stand in the door instead of moving to the middle of the car.

"Anyone who wants to be a New Urbanist has never been Old Urbanist." Michael Poindexter (critic)

[bicycledriver]

quote:Originally posted by clm

Bruce,

Six abreast is a social lack-of-pecking-order thing.

In L.A. you need to go to a teen movie to experience it. After the movie is over, fall in behind a flock of 13yr olds and see what happens :)


And just look at these people!:

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4222/friendsagaincover.jpg

I would caution Segway proponents from saying things that would be found offensive to pedestrian advocates who value the freedom and social opportunities enjoyed by pedetrians in pedestrian areas.

[geekfactory]

Would it be rude or offensive to say that your link doesn't work?

[bicycledriver]

I don't know why I couldn't get it to work as in image insertion, but listing the URL alone works.

[geekfactory]

THEY'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLOSED STREET!!! They're not on the sidewalk!! And I don't see how comparing rush hour in New York City to a closed off street for a photo shoot is a valid comparison.

[bicycledriver]

The photo depicts the sort of casual social interaction that many people expect to participate in when using pedestrian facilities. people who want to communicate with one another travel abreast. Men typically walk together two in front (talking) and one behind (quiet or less active.) But women often walk three or more abreast, as they all try to participate equally in the conversation, or try to include everyone in the conversation.

There are many places where it is more polite to break apart from traveling abreast to traveling at a smaller width. But the temporary delay this causes to others on occasion really doesn't warrant condemning the practice in general. This is why cyclists oppose laws that prohibit cycling two-abreast, because such laws prohibit effective communication between cyclists even when there is no convenience impact on other road users.

[pdantic]

My favorites are:

-- Pedestrians who are looking one way and walking the other way
-- Pedestrians who can't walk and talk on a cell phone at the same time, therefore they're oblivious to anything going on around them.

I saw a guy ALMOST get flattened by a bus the other day. Yappin' on the cell phone, walking down the street, walks against the "Don't Walk" light and right into the path of a bus. Fortunately the driver saw him, locked up the brakes, and swerved to avoid hitting the ped.

Steve
The Joy of Segs: http://www.joyofsegs.com

[pdantic]

quote:Originally posted by bicycledriver

This is why cyclists oppose laws that prohibit cycling two-abreast, because such laws prohibit effective communication between cyclists even when there is no convenience impact on other road users.

As an avid cyclist, I would love to see enforced laws prohibiting two-abreast cycling. One of my cycling buddies got into a huge accident last year when two oblivious jerks on bikes riding two-abreast in the opposite direction drove him off of the bike path. End result for him? Pelvis broken in 3 places, broken arm, broken collarbone, multiple cuts and contusions. The two arses who ran him off the path didn't even stop to help him...

Steve
The Joy of Segs: http://www.joyofsegs.com

[Peter iNova]

RE: My newly created word for the day: Pedestriots

How about Seg-whole or Glidiot? What purpose does it serve to invent new forms of slur? You do the same things you accuse the 7 billion other residents of Earth of doing, right? Or have you given up human nature altogether?

Asking the entire world to change habits that have been with us since proto-hominids walked the savannahs of the Rift Valley in order to accomodate YOU is a what we would term, "a bit much." Perhaps more than that, even.

As an individual with amplified feet, the world does not bow down to your needs. Your advantage is extra, not central, and you have the opportunity to make up any lost time when the coast is clear. It's a privilege, not a right.

And when you walk the sidewalk, and talk the sidewalk talk, you are just as much an impediment to other Segway gliders as the ones you label. I saw you five months ago hogging the corner down ramp, walking abreast of your fellows, stopping to attend a whim and changing your mind. You should see how you look doing all that! Just like everybody else.

I recommend a degree or two of lower temperature. Us versus Them is not the appropriate premise here.

A good way to regard pedestrian and even automobile traffic is this: It's like the waves in the ocean. You can go aginst it or with it, your choice. But the one thing you will not be able to do is make the ocean the way you want it to be. People die trying to assert their dominance over the nature of realitiy far more often than they do by going with the flow.

-iNova

http://www.glidewalk.com

[zeppo123]

With the way all the Segway patents mention Chariots your new word could have been used for the name instead of Segway.

[ftropea]

Walking should be banned ;)

Either that or we all sign up for pedestrian traffic school.. maybe BicycleDriver can develop the curriculum? iNova can write the book and I'd be happy to "beta" test it all!

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea

[/sc] Admin - "Keep your wheels on the ground!" - Contact Me (segwaychat@segwaychat.com)

[geekfactory]

Inova: Another word I'll create - "HUMOR." As in, things that are meant in...

Just making a point that some people need to practice thinking before they walk. Relax, my friend. Wasn't labeling the entire world. Nor was it in entire seriousness.

Lighten up a bit. It's almost Friday.

[Peter iNova]

quote:Originally posted by geekfactory

Inova: Another word I'll create - "HUMOR." As in, things that are meant in...

Just making a point that some people need to practice thinking before they walk. Relax, my friend. Wasn't labeling the entire world. Nor was it in entire seriousness.

Lighten up a bit. It's almost Friday.


Still, I DID see you hogging the down ramp on foot...

-iNova

http://www.glidewalk.com

[QuadSquad]

quote:Originally posted by Peter iNova

RE: My newly created word for the day: Pedestriots

How about Seg-whole or Glidiot? What purpose does it serve to invent new forms of slur? You do the same things you accuse the 7 billion other residents of Earth of doing, right? Or have you given up human nature altogether?

Asking the entire world to change habits that have been with us since proto-hominids walked the savannahs of the Rift Valley in order to accomodate YOU is a what we would term, "a bit much." Perhaps more than that, even.

As an individual with amplified feet, the world does not bow down to your needs. Your advantage is extra, not central, and you have the opportunity to make up any lost time when the coast is clear. It's a privilege, not a right.

And when you walk the sidewalk, and talk the sidewalk talk, you are just as much an impediment to other Segway gliders as the ones you label. I saw you five months ago hogging the corner down ramp, walking abreast of your fellows, stopping to attend a whim and changing your mind. You should see how you look doing all that! Just like everybody else.

I recommend a degree or two of lower temperature. Us versus Them is not the appropriate premise here.

A good way to regard pedestrian and even automobile traffic is this: It's like the waves in the ocean. You can go aginst it or with it, your choice. But the one thing you will not be able to do is make the ocean the way you want it to be. People die trying to assert their dominance over the nature of realitiy far more often than they do by going with the flow.

-iNova

http://www.glidewalk.com


CAN I GET AN AMEN!

[bicycledriver]

quote:Originally posted by pdantic

quote:Originally posted by bicycledriver

This is why cyclists oppose laws that prohibit cycling two-abreast, because such laws prohibit effective communication between cyclists even when there is no convenience impact on other road users.

As an avid cyclist, I would love to see enforced laws prohibiting two-abreast cycling. One of my cycling buddies got into a huge accident last year when two oblivious jerks on bikes riding two-abreast in the opposite direction drove him off of the bike path. End result for him? Pelvis broken in 3 places, broken arm, broken collarbone, multiple cuts and contusions. The two arses who ran him off the path didn't even stop to help him...

Steve
The Joy of Segs: http://www.joyofsegs.com


This is why cyclist's injury rates on bike paths are generally higher than on roadways. The paths are often too narrow and opposite-direction-flow hazards are common when cyclists operate left of center or too close to the center. Cyclists operating on bike paths seem to forget that they are operating vehicles, and that this involves some responsibility, such as keeping right of center when oncoming traffic may be present.

There is no reason to prohibit all two-abreast cycling on adequate facilities such as roadways. It's the narrow, inadequate facilities that cause problems for people traveling at speed. I cycle two-abreast with friends on lots of 4-lane roads that are virtually empty on the weekends, making it a more pleasant cycling experience while leaving it perfectly easy for the occasional car to pass. Note that automobile drivers and their passengers get to travel two-abreast, and that this is the primary reason that travel lanes are wide enough for them to do so, even though most of the seats in their cars are empty on their work commute, thus making much of the roadway width wasted space for empty seating at rush hour.

[pam]

I personally think (FWIW) that there are always going to be people who space out for a moment and do things that are unexpected. Or who are hyperfocused on something to the exclusion of everything else (like, maybe worrying if the chemo their spouse is going through is going to work). That's why it's incumbent on US, as Segway owners, to be aware of the pedestrians and try to anticipate them. We won't always be able to do that, but we do need to be aware.

My dad (who is in his 80's) tells me every time we go out together how he used to get upset in Tokyo (this is 1953, mind you) when the women would cross streets on the diagonal, holding him up in his car, rather than crossing straight across the road, so that he could get on with his errand. Mind you, it's now 50 years later and he's still fixated on the fact that pedestrians weren't totally alert to the automobiles and to him, etc. I've finally stopped listening to him (can't make him see reason) - but, I try really hard not to obsess about what spacey or hyperfocused pedestrians do, so when I'm 80 I won't be telling the same story over and over again. <G> If anything, I try to let them know I'm there, which usually brings them back to reality.
Pam

[wheels]

quote:Originally posted by pam

I personally think (FWIW) that there are always going to be people who space out for a moment and do things that are unexpected. Or who are hyperfocused on something to the exclusion of everything else (like, maybe worrying if the chemo their spouse is going through is going to work). That's why it's incumbent on US, as Segway owners, to be aware of the pedestrians and try to anticipate them. We won't always be able to do that, but we do need to be aware.

My dad (who is in his 80's) tells me every time we go out together how he used to get upset in Tokyo (this is 1953, mind you) when the women would cross streets on the diagonal, holding him up in his car, rather than crossing straight across the road, so that he could get on with his errand. Mind you, it's now 50 years later and he's still fixated on the fact that pedestrians weren't totally alert to the automobiles and to him, etc. I've finally stopped listening to him (can't make him see reason) - but, I try really hard not to obsess about what spacey or hyperfocused pedestrians do, so when I'm 80 I won't be telling the same story over and over again. <G> If anything, I try to let them know I'm there, which usually brings them back to reality.
Pam


Pam: Tell your father that because 'Diaginal crossing' bothered so many people, Japan adopted it as one of the modes for traffic lights in Tokyo and other major cities (Las Vegas has it downtown).

"Life's a wheelie when you're on a Segway"