Saturday, April 11, 2020

Walking Rules of the Road during the Pandemic

Walking has been my primary form of exercise for several years now.  I’ve averaged 19,268 steps a day since the start of the year, according to my Fitbit.  That’s a little short of 9 miles a day.  
So when the order to be “Safer at Home” was issued by my state, with the caveat that we could go out for “essential services,” like groceries, or get some exercise, I knew my routine wouldn’t change very much when it came to what I did to stay fit.  
Only it did.
I noticed in the first week of the stay at home order that the number of people walking or running around my neighborhood jumped up.  A few at a time at first, but pretty soon it was getting…  Not crowded.  In the freeway reports they’d probably call it, “busy but moving.”  
There was just more people out there.  And there were times, mindful of trying to keep my distance from people, that is not possible to stay six feet away from other people on the sidewalk.  I decided to opt for a “scoot faster than a virus can catch you” approach.  Moving to the other side of the sidewalk and picking up speed to get past oncoming walkers, or move to one side and hitting the accelerator to pass people in front of me walking slower than I was.  
Things got more complicated the second week, after the government warned people to take the stay at home order seriously and not go to the beach or the park like it was a holiday.  They repeated the warning to keep one’s distance from others.  And later added that you needed to wear a mask outside.  
It was shortly thereafter I noticed it.  One morning, someone wearing a mask was coming toward me.  I was wearing mine.  I moved closer to the right edge of the sidewalk to put as much distance as I could between us when we passed.  
The other person then stepped off the sidewalk and into the street.  He walked around a parked car as I slowed down to watch him.  At a driveway, he cut back onto the sidewalk and got back on the sidewalk.  
He had avoided me.  It took only a moment to realize he was doing it as a social distancing measure, but it still took me by surprise.  There had been an instant flash of, “What do you think is wrong with me?” when he made his move, clearly to stay away from me.  
I kept walking.  I got it.  Six feet is six feet, and a sidewalk was half that distance or less.  
It happened a couple of more times on that walk and I was starting to wonder if I shouldn’t be stepping off into the gutter a time or two.  Sometimes I’d think, “Oh-kay…  This will be my turn to step off,” when I saw someone to coming, only to see them move off the sidewalk well before the point I’d picked to move aside.  
The first time I did move out of the way I was pretty much forced to do so.  It was a couple, walking side by side, taking up the entire sidewalk.  I thought that at some point they’d go single file, like other people had done.  But when they made no indication of doing so, I stepped into the grassy median then into the street.  
As we passed the woman gave me this smile that seemed to say, “I’m so glad you recognized that it was your place to step into the gutter and NOT ours.”  
And there were other times when it was clear I had to be the one to give way.  A parent pushing a baby stroller.  Couldn’t expect them to take that thing four-wheeling over a curb.  Or someone walking two dogs, where one was sniffing a tree on one side of the sidewalk and the other was doing its business in someone’s yard on the opposite side.  With the leashes covering the path like police tape I wasn’t going to cross, I got into the street.
There was one time when me and the other person did a long distance version of you first.  I moved early into the gutter.  Then looked up to see that she had done the same.  I got back off to see her with one foot off the sidewalk to give it up to me again.  I decided to steam ahead forward.  She took the sidewalk and steamed forward herself.  We nodded at each other as we passed.  
So, with the quarantine giving us all more time to think over silly stupid things, I’ve decided to think up what would be good walking etiquette in the time of the pandemic.  I share them with you hear.
Walking Rules of the Road during the Pandemic
(Or, How to decide it’s YOUR Turn to Step Into the Gutter)
First, a definition: “Your Side of the Sidewalk” is the right side of the sidewalk in your direction of travel.  This is the same as how we drive so it should be easy to remember.  Right?  Right.  
Basic Rule: If Your Side of the Sidewalk is closest to the street, and you meet an on-comer during your walk, YOU should be the one to step into street to maintain social distancing.  
Or, put more generally, the person whose Side of the Sidewalk is closest to the street is the one that should give way and step into the street to maintain social distancing.  
Obviously, stepping into the street should only be done when it is safe to do so.  When there is no vehicular traffic that could endanger you.  If there is a median between the sidewalk (those places where they have trees growing or signposts planted), and walking there allows you to maintain social distancing, then it is fine to use the median instead.  
Personally, since its the grassy median in my neighborhood that serves as the most commonly used canine pooping spot, I prefer the street.  
Parties walking together should, when an on-comer approaches, form a single line and then follow the Basic Rule above.  The leader of the line is whoever is ahead at the time the on-comer is spotted.  Groups become a living train or big truck carrying a trailer, following the rules of the sidewalk after that.  
Driveway cuts in the sidewalks should be treated as passing lanes on mountain roads, to go around slower walkers while maintaining social distancing.  
Exceptions to Basic Rule
People pushing baby strollers have the right of way.  This is mainly because they tend to take it anyway, but also because we don’t want to encourage people to take their children into the street.  Children are our future.  It takes a village.  We should make sure these innocent babes are protected.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah.  
People walking multiple dogs (more than one) are excepted as well.  Mainly because the dogs are moving however they please and almost no one these days seems to take the time to train their pets to heel and walk with them in an efficient organized fashion, but also because we don’t want to encourage people to take their precious fur-babies into the street.  Doggies are our future.  It takes a village.  We should ensure these innocent creatures are protected.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah. 
People with just a single dog should be expected to follow the Basic Rule above.  If you can’t keep a single dog on a leash under control, then you have clearly abdicated your darwinistically derived place as a member of the top species on the planet and don’t deserve special consideration.  
If there is any confusion as to who should be abdicating the sidewalk to the other, then hand gestures should be used to indicate which direction everyone intends to go.  The gesture should be big enough to be recognized and unmistakeable.  Look at the NFL rule on signaling for a Fair Catch for guidance.  The person who makes the strongest, clearest indication of direction first will be allowed to maintain right of way on the sidewalk.  The other person…  Well, if you find yourself in the role of the “other person” more often than not, you just need to be more assertive in general, I imagine.  
I was fully prepare to start implementing these rules on my own this week.  If I did it forcefully and consistently enough, other people would pick up on it and follow along.  Just as I picked up on my responsibility to occasionally step into the street to maintain social distancing.  The rain storm that swept through Southern California removed the necessity of doing so.  During my walks this week I’d had the pathways pretty much to myself.
Yes, I walk even when it rains.  That’s what umbrellas and Tilley hats are for.  
But now that I’ve posted my proposed Basic Rule and Exceptions, I’m hoping everyone will see the underlying logic behind them and adopt them as the most reasonable way to maintain social distancing while keeping from going stir crazy staying inside all the time.  
Or, all this walking will turn out to be a fad for other people and I can just go where I darn well please like before.  Wouldn’t that be nice.  

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