Some Pedestrian Observations

Man in motion in a metropolis may be man at his meanest. In a car he jousts for the right of way. In the subway or on a bus he jostles for a seat. On the sidewalk he just walks where he likes, on others' heels, up their backs, into their paths. Or does he? According to Michael Wolff, a doctoral candidate in social psychology, an outstanding characteristic of pedestrian behavior in a big city is consideration.

Even pedestrians in Manhattan, says Wolff, cooperate with fellow walkers. They might not exchange pleasantries like their small-town counterparts, but they "do take into account the qualities and predicaments of other pedestrians in regulating their own behavior." For instance, they generally follow certain unwritten rules of sidewalk traffic. Some of these parallel the written laws of the road; some simply reflect good old-fashioned chivalry.

Among the unwritten rules: people moving on sidewalks, like vehicles moving on roadways, should keep to the right;* elderly citizens have the right of way over their youngers; deference is also due cripples, couples and tourists, such as somebody meandering across the pavement to photograph the Empire State Building. (Wolff is uncertain whether women are accorded the right of way over men, but these days that question might have less to do with sidewalk standards than with the feminist revolution.)

Collision Courses. Wolff bases his observations (and he emphasizes that these are all they are, pending further research this summer) on an experiment he conducted last year for a class project at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Aided by another doctoral candidate, Verena Hirsch, he spent two weeks studying pedestrian phenomena on Manhattan's 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Much of the experiment involved Wolff and Mrs. Hirsch setting themselves on collision courses with other pedestrians and gauging their reactions.

The episodes were filmed by a movie camera in a twelfth-floor window above the street. What the camera did not record, though, were the remarks of pedestrians buffeted by the psychologists: "Whatsa madda? Ya blind? Whyn't ya look where ya goin'? Ya crazy or sump'n?" The way Wolff sees it, such comments indicate that New Yorkers, though inured to many other inconveniences, are not tolerant of sidewalk bumping; they expect some degree of cooperation from other pedestrians in order to avert collisions.

Most pedestrians observed in the study demonstrably made that effort. A popular maneuver in busy traffic was what Wolff dubbed the "step-and-slide"--a slight angling of the body, a turning of the shoulder and an almost imperceptible sidestep, all of which is reciprocated by the oncoming pedestrian.

Wolff also noted behavioral patterns among pedestrians walking in the same direction. Generally, they move in a sort of formation that permits them to see over the shoulders of the people in front. When one person in a cluster of individuals changes position, the others adjust theirs to accommodate the new "over-the-shoulder" relationship. Walking directly behind somebody is usually saved for congested sidewalks, when the person ahead is used as a sort of blocking guard. Hurrying through a crowd alone is often more tiring than timesaving. "To beat the rush-hour mob in New York," says Wolff, "you have to dance like Nureyev."

-In Britain, as some bruised Americans have noted, it is the left.

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