People who don't move out the way on the pavement

[EarwigO]

Is it just me or is this getting worse?
You're walking along, someone (or a group of people) come the other way, you both need to move slightly to pass without colliding. Only they don't.

It used to be a thing I noticed men doing - I got so annoyed with having to step into the gutter/press myself against a wall to avoid them, I stopped doing it and let them walk into me. At which point they invariably apologised!

But it seems to happen so much more frequently now, and not with men - usually a couple or a group of women.
Do they honestly not notice you? Not care? Just expect you to disappear out their way?

🤣

I was quite annoyed the other day. I was walking along quite a wide pavement, enough for 3-4 people to walk abreast easily. It's relatively empty, not many people, no hazards like lampposts or billboards.

I hear a bell ring behind me so I move over so I'm brushing against the hedge. But the bell still goes. I look behind and there's a lady on a mobility scooter following me and ringing her bell. There is plenty of room to my side as I'm walking right against the hedge so I wave her to go around, but she doesn't and she keeps ringing the bell. I keep walking assuming she will go round (there really was loads of room) but she started shouting at me so I stopped and pressed myself into the hedge a bit more and told her there was lots of room for her to pass. She wanted me to cross the pavement and step into the road! I told her no, and she did then zip past me finally, shouting the odds about no respect for the disabled and how rude I was....

It was the most bizarre thing I've ever come across. She lives locally as I've seen her before so I just hope I'm never unlucky enough to be walking in front of her again!

The other option is to just stop and stand still. I’ve noticed people trying to this to me when I’m walking with my 3 year old and I’ve already send the 7 year old in front but they want to continue to walk x number stride and expect me to walk on the road with a 3 year old.

On a side note 50 isn’t old. I teach my children to be extra considerate around the elderly and disabled in terms of giving them more space but not a 50 year old.

Try being in a wheelchair. Bloke suddenly starts walking backwards in front of me and ends up on top of me.

Yes definitely, and on the roads too. Also in the supermarket, standing in front of things rather than standing back slightly so everyone can see the shelf.

Part of its awareness. Part seems to be just plain rudeness, people don’t tend to say thank you if you stand aside or hold a door for them, or take the door, they just breeze through as if you’re their personal footman.

My dad is newly blind and walks with a stick. He also has Alzheimer’s. (Outing details so if you know me, hi!) The amounts of people, older boomers, students, anyone regardless of age - who walk straight in front of him/towards him is crazy. My mum actually finds it very upsetting how heartless and unaware people can be. Not everyone of course, most people are considerate and some are even kind, but there are enough who aren’t to make going out a scary thing for them.

The first time I noticed this was 2 burly men in a shopping centre walking side by side. I had to literally jump side ways or they'd have walked straight into me

I just stop walking and stand still so they have to go around me.

if you don’t feel comfortable doing this, why not stop and start rummaging in your handbag/looking at your phone etc?

when pushing adult DD in her wheelchair it is astonishing how many people just walk straight at us, clearly expecting us to just dissipate.

an adult in a wheelchair is heavy to push. You can’t just jink out of the way. We are considering buying one of those bulb horns you see on vintage cars!

"My dad is newly blind and walks with a stick. He also has Alzheimer’s. (Outing details so if you know me, hi!) The amounts of people, older boomers, students, anyone regardless of age - who walk straight in front of him/towards him is crazy. My mum actually finds it very upsetting how heartless and unaware people can be."

For reasons only known to everyone else, I'm more likely to get walked into if I use my mobility cane. I can depending on the weather, get around just without it.

Someone walked straight into me the other day at quite a pace - literally whacked me with their shoulder. It was a busy road and I was quite cornered in/ couldn't step backwards or out of the way without going into the road. They didn't slow down, it was like they didn't even see me and just expected me to somehow move (which would have involved stepping onto a busy road).

They were either extremely entitled or extremely inattentive. I think our attention is getting worse and worse even when not on our phones.

Second this!
I don't go out much but every time I do go out I notice this. A lot of people are just so rude these days and don't give a shit about anyone else.
Im starting to think I'm invisible.

I have a knee issue and can't move as nimbly as I could - it's an epidemic of the free range stupid walking along on their phones. I just stop dead. They will move round me once they realise I'm in the way. Motorcycle couriers in mass on the street outside shops are a nightmare, big blokes with helmets and always on their phones (twice they've reversed their bikes onto me and I've slapped the back of it.)
It's a jungle out there!!

My favourite is when I'm walking back from the supermarket maybe carrying two heavy bulky bags and someone is striding towards me in the middle of a the narrow pavement on an unswerving course - look, buddy, I can breathe in but my bags can't and I can't magically disappear them so while I can step to the side and try and take up less space you'll have to do the same or get whacked! And then...they get sideswiped by my huge, very visible, heavy bags because they wouldn't take a small step to one side. I'm not expecting people to fling themselves into the road, just use one half of the pavement!

I walk everywhere, I've only noticed it mostly from young males, so I play Patriarchy Chicken and see if I can make them move when I don't.

I do think it has got worse since Covid. Driving is also worse. People won't give way to anyone and won't move to one side to let others past.
I've found that people are very very selfish at the moment and wrapped up in their own needs and wants with no thoughts for others. eg. I want to walk down the pavement with my friends 3 abreast so that's what I am going to do, irrespective of whether someone's trying to push a buggy or is using a wheelchair.
But then I'm really upset at the moment because I'm going to need an operation soon and I've had to forewarn a couple of people (related to work) and all I got was how I would be massively inconveniencing them and telling me when I can schedule my operation for. One of them even said "You don't need that operation. It can wait". I've said and have repeated this several times "No, I'll be having the operation as soon as I am given an appointment".
FUCKS SAKE.
Sorry that was a slightly off-topic rant, but it is similar - shows how selfish people are.

This has brought back a memory of when I lived in London and worked near London Bridge. It was raining and a man came the other way and walked into at me with such force that I ended up in the path of an oncoming double decker bus. Another passer by grabbed me and pulled me back onto the pavement. Everyone's brollies were in everyone's faces. I was so shocked by it all.

I feel a little shaken at that memory - it was 12 years ago now.

I sometimes have to use a walking stick because of a fluctuating health condition affecting my mobility from time to time, and people don't always get out the way even though I physically can't get out of their way in time.

What is this all about eh @SouthCountryGirl why does the effect happen? Research should be funded into this!

@YouJustDoYou Patriarchy Chicken 😂😂😂😂👏👏👏👏

Yes, I do it too
How about combining it with @TrashyPanda 's idea of a squeezy bulb horn?
Parp! Parp! 🤣🤣🤣

So when you do the patriarchy chicken thing (love love this name) do you do your half of the moving or do you just not move at all?

I'd love to know this too! I've got friends with guide dogs whove saud they've been walked into whilst out with their dog

I also do the standing still thing. I don't understand why it works, but it does most of the time.
I read somewhere that generally people will give way to people bigger then them. I'm a tiny five feet so it gets exhausting when everyone seems to expect me to weave around them.

Windsor! Absolute worst for this. Walking two or three abreast with no intention to go into single file. I walk straight at them now - which I realise ha made me just as rude as they are.

Yes! It's like a stand off. I'm not gonna be made to stand in the road for them. So I stand my ground and walk confidently and they'll move at the last second.

I nearly had to walk into a wall because a couple couldn't let go of each other and wouldn't go single file.

I once had a man have a go at me when I had no other option but to walk between a couple ‘split them up’ , they were both walking with arms fully outstretched. ‘Happy now? ‘ he said. People are very strange sometimes.