Sarcastic Secret #1: Walk Left Stand Right
December 23, 2009 at 1:28 am Chad Upton 2 comments
This is my first Sarcastic Secret, so I should explain that this category is reserved for things that most people already know — things that shouldn’t be a secret, but remain unknown or unclear to some.
Standing is acceptable when you’re on an escalator or moving sidewalk,and sometimes unavoidable. But, standers should stay to the right and leave the left side open so others may pass. You wouldn’t block the left “passing” lane on the highway, and you shouldn’t block it on foot-ways either.
It’s common to see signs reminding people of this rule and I support the people at Detroit’s McNamara Terminal who take this rule very seriously — they painted a line down the center of the moving sidewalk along with the words “walk” and “stand” on the appropriate sides.
Although I took this photo in Detroit’s airport in April ’08, apparently Kansas City has similar dedication to the walk left stand right rule of order in their airport.
BrokenSecrets.com
SF Photo: ATIS547 (CC) | Sources: Juxtaexposed
Entry filed under: Sarcastic. Tags: foot, footpath, keep left, keep right, path, Sarcastic, secret, slower, traffic, walk.
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1.
Andy | June 3, 2010 at 8:34 pm
It should be noted that this type of rule depends on where you are in the world. In countries that drive on the other side of the road, the positions should be reversed.
The same principle goes for people walking towards each other and moving left or right to avoid bumping into the person going the other way. You should always move to the same side you would if you were driving there.
2.
Amanda | July 21, 2010 at 1:36 pm
re Andy – That logic *should* apply, but at airports and escalators I’ve been on in the UK, they have the same “stand right walk left” signage. Maybe on the sidewalks people tend to move left (didn’t keep statistics while I was on the sidewalk!) but at least on moving walkways/escalators, the convention defies driving rules.