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The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

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Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#31

Post by burgerbrain »

mkr-hn wrote: post #30
alexqgb wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, um, those signs on the freeway saying "slower traffic keep right"... those are the products of self-absorbed narcissists who have done what? Infiltrated the Department of Transportation?

There are situations, most streets in and around Atlanta for example, where "slower traffic" means a vehicle going the speed limit. Most people around here don't trust that the engineers who plan roads have some sense of what they're doing. :)

Speed limits on roads are almost always political decisions, not engineering ones. How else do you explain the straight as an arrow, flat as a pane of glass, brand-spanking-new, 60mph limit roads crisscrossing the american midwest?

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#32

Post by georgemcbay »

burgerbrain wrote: post #3
gaius wrote: post #2

I don't think this is fair on the so-called "ragers". F'rinstance here in London we really do get people who will ride the escalator to the bottom, step off and just stop, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a conveyor mechanism directly behind them delivering a stream people to just where they're now standing. Of course they know, they've got all the senses of everyone else. They're just self-absorbed, and…

Exactly. "After all, it seems simple enough to just go around the slow individual." Trust me, if I'm able to do that, then I do , no questions asked. Unfortunately the other common behaviours of slow walkers include: sudden erratic motion, walking side by side in lines with others, and stopping dead in choke-points.

The only time I approach sidewalk rage is with those side-by-side walkers. Nothing sets me off like a group of 3 people approaching me in the opposite direction on a sidewalk that is exactly wide enough for 3 people to walk side-by-side, and all 3 clearly see me and none of them give me a path to walk by them.

ONE OF YOU JACKASSES IS GOING TO HAVE TO MOVE OR GET WALKED INTO.... IT IS SIMPLE PHYSICS HERE!

ehm... sorry about that. It is one of my few real rager pet peeves.

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#33

Post by burgerbrain »

Xurinos wrote: post #23
alexqgb wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, um, those signs on the freeway saying "slower traffic keep right"... those are the products of self-absorbed narcissists who have done what? Infiltrated the Department of Transportation?

I will be using "you" to mean people that rage in general, not specifically you because I do not know how you react. :) First, you bring up a different subject: Are we talking about freeway signs or sidewalks? I was going with the sidewalk examples. Why should the same rules apply? Why would you be angry if a walker on a sidewalk was not following the same rules as a car driver on a freeway? It is insensible anyway:…

"Let's talk about road rage now. In the presence of signs that clearly state "slower traffic keep right", why would you be angry if someone drives slower on the left? Sure, they are disobeying traffic signs, breaking the law, etc, but why is that your concern? What gives you the authority to "punish" (honking horns, riding a lawbreaker's tail, giving the finger on your way by, swerving angrily around to indicate your opinion, etc)?"

Are you joking? If somebody is driving slowly in the left lane, they are creating an unsafe traffic condition. It isn't wrong simply because there are signs saying not to do it, it's wrong specifically because it negatively effects other drivers on the road.

Furthermore, honking your horn is not "punishment", it's a form of communication.

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#34

Post by pinko »

edw519 wrote: post #8

Closely related: Checkout-Line Rage: When you empty your shopping cart with only one hand because you're on the phone. When you don't step forward to enable the next person to emply her cart. When you take 27 items through the express line. When you pay by credit/debit/check/etc. and don't know how. When you use coupons. Movie Theater Rage: When you enter the theater 5 minutes after the movie started and complain you…

> [...] When you use coupons.

Unlike many of your other examples I'm not sure I see how someone using coupons could be considered inconsiderate towards you. It's not like they have a faster option (aside from paying more).

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#35

Post by bld »

georgecmu wrote: post #27

A lot of their examples involve narrow passages in locations, where it's likely that a large percentage of pedestrians are pressed for time: airports, subways, business districts. There's etiquette that prescribes behavior in those places, and often it's quite official. In Moscow, which has one of the busiest subway systems in the world, you learn as a child to stand on the right and let people pass on the left, rega…

Washington DC's one of the few places in the US I've seen with that same escalator etiquette in the Metro. I love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually apply at shopping malls.

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#36

Post by dasil003 »

lukeschlather wrote: post #29
viraptor wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you don't sign your work Also, when you put your name anywhere in the file, since not only the code is going to outlive you career there, I can get more detailed information from the VCS. It's like a badly drawn graffiti tag.

Some of us have done too much work in environments where VCS scares people. Actually, when I worked with UniBASIC/Datatel, VCS was basically impossible because the architecture was so bizarre. Unless I wanted to write my own, and of course I had actual tasks I was trying to accomplish and writing a VCS was not really worth it if I couldn't get anyone else to use it. Better to adopt the habit of copying database recor…

One nice use of git in this circumstance is just turning some directory into a versioned directory. Then every time you work on it, you commit everything that's there with a comment "all the shit everyone else did since I last touched it", then you have a nice record of what you did and also big clusters documenting whatever fuckups may have occurred.

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#37

Post by sophacles »

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #25
edw519 wrote: post #8

Closely related: Checkout-Line Rage: When you empty your shopping cart with only one hand because you're on the phone. When you don't step forward to enable the next person to emply her cart. When you take 27 items through the express line. When you pay by credit/debit/check/etc. and don't know how. When you use coupons. Movie Theater Rage: When you enter the theater 5 minutes after the movie started and complain you…

I sense a general case: X Rage: when you're inconsiderate toward others.

Shouldn't that be:

X Rage: The act of getting angry with those who are inconsiderate and unfollowing of situational norms for X?

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#38

Post by sophacles »

doron wrote: post #14
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. "After all, it seems simple enough to just go around the slow individual." Trust me, if I'm able to do that, then I do , no questions asked. Unfortunately the other common behaviours of slow walkers include: sudden erratic motion, walking side by side in lines with others, and stopping dead in choke-points.

It Got worse with smartphones too, people seem to respond to read their emails or ply their stupid flying bird game in the most idiotic of places (the subway stairwell comes to mind) Sometimes i stifle the urge to just push the annoyance down the stairs.

Does that mean the other times you just push? :P

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#39

Post by dnsworks »

As someone who walks 8-10 miles per day in an urban area, I often wonder why it is that I'm the one contorting my body so as to politely not bump into slow walkers. When I'm in a bad mood, to be honest, I just plow through the people who meander 3 or 4 abreast as slowly as they can.

Re: The perils of walking slow: scientists analyze sidewalk rage

#40

Post by Semiapies »

georgemcbay wrote: post #32
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. "After all, it seems simple enough to just go around the slow individual." Trust me, if I'm able to do that, then I do , no questions asked. Unfortunately the other common behaviours of slow walkers include: sudden erratic motion, walking side by side in lines with others, and stopping dead in choke-points.

The only time I approach sidewalk rage is with those side-by-side walkers. Nothing sets me off like a group of 3 people approaching me in the opposite direction on a sidewalk that is exactly wide enough for 3 people to walk side-by-side, and all 3 clearly see me and none of them give me a path to walk by them. ONE OF YOU JACKASSES IS GOING TO HAVE TO MOVE OR GET WALKED INTO.... IT IS SIMPLE PHYSICS HERE! ehm... sorry…

My solution: if there's nobody behind you...stop.

They assume, consciously or not, that you will change course for their benefit, but you can't change course if you're not moving. Suddenly, you become a stationary object, and they will adjust to that. I've never had people blunder into me when I've done that, and I've sometimes noticed them correct their walking formation afterward.

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