By Robin Cohn
How do you spot visitors in New York City? Easy. They’re the ones standing at a red light—even though no cars are coming.
It’s said New Yorkers are aggressive walkers. There’s a reason. In the city, walking is a form of transportation. It’s not that different from driving. How do you like following a car going 30mph in a 65mph zone? Like drivers, we aim to get wherever we’re going as quickly as possible. That’s why we walk fast. Take the Upper West Side for example. With its mixture of restaurants, shops, green markets, businesses, Lincoln Center, and Juilliard, we’re all in a hurry even when we don’t have to be.
We take street crossing seriously.
- Green: GO. NOW. SERIOUSLY.
- Yellow: Don’t worry, you have plenty of time.
- Red: Look both ways before crossing.
We’re usually nice people but less so when stuck behind slowpokes fanning across the sidewalk. When we cross a street, we don’t cross corner to corner. We go diagonally towards our destination. More efficient and faster. If familiar with traffic patterns, we know streetlight timing. Often, tourists think we’re about to commit suicide and give “tsk, tsks” as we continue crossing on a red light. A long red light, a turning lane, a down-the-road truck all mean it’s safe.
We understand getting around is tricky. We want to assist. When we see visitors holding maps, we help whether they like it or not. When I first moved to NYC and asked how to get somewhere, I was taken aback when asked my destination. None of your business, you nosy people. Now I know we need the info to give the best directions. Uptown. Downtown. How do you know if you don’t? It can be daunting. I recently helped a man wandering around Broadway near Lincoln Center. He was looking for his hotel. Had to tell him it was on the southern tip of Broadway. I frog marched him to the subway.
We want visitors to like our quirky city. Truly. New York City is an awesome place like no other and we want visitors to enjoy it. And understand there’s a method to our walking madness.
Always a fast walker until I spent time on crutches and now as an older, much slower person who uses a cane, experiences which have made me much more aware of disability rights and “ableism.”
Though I try to be considerate and stay to the side, I have yet to find the slow lane. I have often been bumped, pushed aside, and flat out run over by my fellow New Yorkers in a rush. It’s made me aware of how self-absorbed many are. Fine to be speedy, but a little more awareness and courtesy is in order.
Truly frightening to be on crutches and attempting to navigate the streets.
Me too! Once I walked faster than anybody else. Now almost everybody walks faster than me. Adds another dimension to being street aware.
If you ever see me standing at a red light, just remember that I was up all night with a sick kid — and my mental faculties are reduced sufficiently that there could be a speeding box truck right there and it wouldn’t register until I was halfway across. Sleep deprivation is a trip, man.
So when I’m that tired, I’m not walking out without an engraved invitation from the traffic gods in the form of a big sign telling me to walk. Gotta take extra care when you’re running in zombie mode! But it doesn’t make me a tourist. Just really, really tired.
My back’s been acting up lately and so I’ve been conservative crossing streets–no jumping or bobbing and weaving in emergencies! It feels so weird.
Like Johnny T, of glove and boots, says “There are only two speeds in New York move fast or get outta da way”.
https://youtu.be/D6xd6YvoHLM
In New York, with all the wrong way travelling bicycles, etc., I wound amend the green light instructions to “Look both ways before crossing”. That’s what I do.
The problem these days is not isolated to the visitors/tourists, it is also new transplants who seemingly have no clue how to move to the right and/or not be staring down at their phones while they navigate busy city streets.
Yes, and on escalators that are wide enough for 2. KEEP TO THE RIGHT EXCEPT WHILE PASSING.
Move to the right? They’re streets, not highways.
Yes, you move to the right. Common practice until recent times.
Moving to the right is the right approach on sidewalks too.
Basic systems are in place to keep places civilized. It’s not too complicated and most people observe this spectacularly simple thing.
Here’s another tip – don’t make way for cellphone zombies. When one of those morons approach you and are unaware of your existence, just stop in your tracks. They will either bump into you or move over. And you can brace for impact. Then I just stare at them with incredulity if they look into my eyes, which of course they almost never do.
Thank you for this. I love you. I wish there were more like us.
As a retired ER nurse I saw the results of accidents where someone was waiting off the curb to cross and got clipped by a turning car, and lost a leg in the process. I learned to wait on the curb. You don’t need a jump start to cross the street- it’s not a race
I was taught that DONT WALK means run
1) When walking, keep to the right. especially you, dog walkers
2) don’t stop short. people behind you actually know where they are going.
3) Clean up after your dogs! The mess creates a traffic jam.
Whatever happened to walking ones dog in the street not on the sidewalk. You can clean up their poop bit what about their urine?
As a long time westsider, I find that the new “improvements” in traffic light timing make it much more dangerous to cross streets like we used to. Prior to vision zero, you knew how much time you had after the light turned red to avoid getting hit. Now several streets have delayed green for cars to go, but others dont. If it was all consistant it would be ok, but it is not. And the very worst are the blinking yellow arrows at some intersections, which drivers interpret as “step on the gas”. 73rd street and amsterdam avenue near the subway station strikes me as one of the worst designed nightmares in thr neighborhood.
I agree about the delayed green lights. The drivers sit staring at the light. The pedestrians look at no car moving, see the red, and decide they can cross. At precisely that moment the light turns green and the drivers take their foot off the brake. As both a driver and a pedestrian I sympathize with both sides but the pedestrians need to stay put.
What Anon said! And the inconsistency is infuriating.
Love this!
So true. But the dark side is pedestrian casualties. Whenever I greet a guest from out of town, one of the first pieces of advice I give them is never to trust the traffic signals. It the sign says “walk” you still have to look both ways to avoid a car that runs through the light or a bike or scooter going the wrong way.
Love this article and could use some advice. As someone always on their way from A to B as fast as possible (you should see me in Fairway) I have a real problem with “slowpokes fanning across the sidewalk”. What is the polite way to handle this? I usually look for the biggest area of daylight between the obstacle and then try to slide through. Sometimes there will be inadvertent contact, at which I will say “So sorry!”which of course I’m not. One time I looked back and said “Hello folks. You are in NYC. You can’t take up the whole sidewalk here”. Not nice but I couldn’t help it.
How do other nicer people handle this?
When feeling nice, I use my loud-voice and announce from behind “YOU GET HALF OF THE SIDEWALK IN NYC. YOU DON’T GET THE WHOLE SIDEWALK. JUST HALF AND ALWAYS STAY TO YOUR RIGHT.” Not yelling at any individuals, just a neutral and instructional “general” announcement of how we do things. They typically won’t turn around to look* and won’t be sure if it’s directed at them but they will hear the announcement and slowly move to the right.
*(if they do turn around, I just look at them as I pass because I own it).
Sorry, I’m not one of the nicer people u speak of….I usually say “ heads up” or let’s move..loudly too..most of em couldn’t care less…but I feel sa5isfied…LOL
I try to be nice and usually say “Excuse me, coming through” and someone moves over, unless it’s a group of teens.
There is an adversarial relationship between pedestrians, motorists and cyclists, and the tension is at its all-time worst. Nobody wants to yield to anyone, even when they’re legally in the wrong. There’s nothing “quirky” about this. It stems from an epidemic of entitlement mentality and people sometimes die as a result.
I wish people would just walk on their right. There is always someone walking on their left, and they disrupt the flow for everyone. Dog walkers are terrible. They are all over the sidewalk with their untrained dogs. Also, don’t walk side by side. These people think they own the sidewalk. If you are walking this way, just step behind the person you are walking with until on coming traffic goes by. Also, if you are standing still talking with someone, move to the far side. Don’t just stand in the middle of the sidewalk. And why to people choose a choke point, like a tree planter or a stairway to a townhouse, to stop to have a conversation or to look at their phone. When people do this there is less room for others to get around you.
Sometimes, when person(s) aren’t moving and block the sidewalk, I tell them it’s a sideWALK not a sideSTAND.
To the 3 and 4 across people …I loudly say ..break it up, or single file!I just gotta say something to wake em up…and it usually DOES!
Some big omission: E-bikes going the wrong way thru reds, also bicyclists running reds and or, like e-bike drivers, illegally riding the wrong way.
Right, the colour of the light doesn’t matter with e-bike drivers and many bicyclists.
We lived near 79th and Riverside. We would regularly see perplexed tourists with maps looking confusedly in all directions. We would ask if they were looking for the Museum of Natural History. “How did you know?”, they replied. “You turned the wrong way when you got off the subway. Just walk straight up this hill until the street ends and you’ll be at the back side of the museum”. Dozens and dozens of times.
And if you are playing with your phone… GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!
You are a hazard to yourself and the non-oblivious people around you! Not to mention looking looking like a foolish zombie.
i had a rental car – trying to make a right turn on a green – and to my right is someone in the crosswalk pausing to look at their cell phone. All right he had the walk light but really ? I gently beeped horn to get his attention – he looks at me and points self-righteously to the “walk” sign. Progress through the crosswalk – don’t stop! Also as a bike rider – (many here hate bike riders – some are bad actors some are not) folk who stand out in the street to get a jump on the light change – I am not digging this ! I weave out into the lane to miss them and put myself at risk !
If the city created a law against walking while looking at your phone it would collect a fortune in fines. The worst are people who do it while crossing the street or walking out of subway stations.
If you need to check your phone, blow your nose, adjust your baby’s stroller, or anything similar, step all the way to the side. I don’t walk as quickly as I used to but I go out of my way to get out of the way for those who want to walk faster than me, cars that need to turn, etc.
When our tenants moved out of our UPW apartment, and we were about to move in, they gave us the best advice for walking and crossing streets. They advised that when the “Hand” went up solid red, we had 6 seconds of grace to cross the street. When ever we visit our second home, I find myself counting as I cross on that solid red “”hand”.
What on earth could ever be so important that anyone needs to cross during those six seconds.
Tricky getting around. After 20 years in NYC I find the street address system incomprehensible. Further mystery. Why don’t stores have their street number posted?
Why most businesses don’t have their street number displayed on the entrance is a mystery to me. It would be so helpful! My pet peeve! Thanks, Richard M!
It would also be helpful if shops, restaurants, professional offices, etc., with addresses on the avenues would post the cross streets in their ads and Web sites. An address like “2043 Broadway” tells you nothing. Thank goodness for The Manhattan Street Locator — one of my most frequently used apps.
The Manhattan Street Locator is an app now? I haven’t used it this century — not since the internet maps started appearing.
Im native New Yorker. Upper West Side for almost 46 years. I stop at Red Lights. Simple reason. Traffic is anarchy in the City these days. I play my part in order. Nothing to say a car or bike wont come out of nowhere in a flash. I do walk fast. But I’m never in such a hurry that I can’t take the time for a light.
Totally agree…
Well said. I love this article.
Yah, I used to be Ms. Speedy, weaving and dodging and ducking, once even so flagrantly I got a jaywalking ticket. Now, with a cane, it’s a different game. I suss out the safest places to cross. It’s been quite an education, especially when negotiating the broadway – 96 Street area — people keep getting struck and killed there. Nobody ever mistakes me for a tourist….
Watch for bikes regardless of light color, and look in BOTH directions
What a great collection of comments, and all right on target. I once had an early morning class in Philadelphia (where people walk several feet slower per minute than New Yorkers – you could look it up, as Gilda would say) – and found myself on a tight schedule getting off the bus first and dashing to my office only to be tripping over the natives as we all headed in the same direction. It took me a while to realize that They walk slower than We, and if I didn’t want to be continually stepping on heels and pushing my way around slowpokes I had to either slow down or leave pavement for the street if I wanted to meet my class on time. Lots of studies that show New Yorkers are faster than everyone else, at least on our home turf. Now if we could teach foreign students and visitors that (1) we pass on the left if from behind and (2) keep to the right otherwise (just like street traffic but not like bikers) we would be doing a great service to the pedestrians. And don’t worry about colliding with cell phones: readers seem to have a sixth sense that makes them avoid collisions if you don’t stop for them. Try it: it’s fun! (But don’t expect an apology.). As for bikers on sidewalks, I put out my arm and frighten them if only for an instant, occasionally yelling “Get off the *#&m sidewalk!” Try it: you’ll feel better.
https://spoilednyc.com/just-walk-faster-11-differences-between-real-new-yorker-fake/
Robin’s article about the City’s pedestrians is so true! We’re wild and crazy j-walkers, almost as reckless as the folks behind the wheels of their cars always in a hurry to get somewhere.
But she doesn’t explain the origin of your headline, the now-famous line, “Hey! I’m walkin’ here” — spoken by Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso character in John Schlesinger’s Academy Award Best Picture of 1970.
I happened to be walking on Central Park South with camera in hand the day Hoffman and co-star John Voight were filmed crossing the street. I’m happy to share my photo of the two of them, if you tell me where and how to send it.
Send it to info@westsiderag.com
Thank you
I walk VERY fast… because I love it and it’s exercise and I’m HERE and it’s exercise and it’s not the inside of a room and I don’t belong to a gym and did I mention it’s exercise? Yes.
But more than a decade ago I broke my ankle in several places and was painfully tottering around on crutches for quite some time, tough times, man: especially walking down those 5 flights everyday, bag of garbage in my backpack because both hands were busy manipulating those clumsy aluminum feet…
Life in the slow lane, Turtle Lane, how the other half lives, so yeah:
I learned of needs to speak slow lane; I’m ready, maybe…
Yes, pretty much this time last year I managed to break my foot and it definitely made me think slow. I’m 42, and suddenly I was looking at every kid on a razor scooter or jogging dog walker with fear. I hope now I am more aware and respectful of the elderly or injured who may be less stable.
Look out for bikes at all times.!!
It never ceases to amaze me. But, I have to look multiple ways, 360 degrees, to check for speeding, reckless, electric bike riders, cars that might run a red light, and illegally placed street signage. I am 67, wracked with arthritis in my knee and hip, but mostly in both of my feet. And yet, because my cell phone is in my pocketbook, I still walk faster than 75% of the people in this City.
For some levity…
A relative – born and raised on the Upper West Side – has been living in Amsterdam for a few years for work purposes.
His Dutch friends tell him he “walks too much” (instead of bicycling)
I cross the street whenever I feel like it. I jaywalk all the time. I find the quickest way from point a to point b. Avoiding smokers/vapors who have covid is number 1 priority. Walking in the middle of the street as much as possible since covid has kept me safe.