The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article that may need translation for readers in cities other than New York. You see, since most of us here rely heavily on our sidewalks as our main tributaries for transport, having those sidewalks clogged by slow/clueless/electronically-encumbered pedestrians has long been cause for fire-breathing rage (see my earlier blog posting on this topic The Land of the Twittering Zombies ). They discuss at length a scientifically-devised barometer called the "Pedestrian Aggressiveness Syndrome Scale" that delineates how pedestrians show their rage. Apparently there's even something called "intermittent explosive disorder," which is a disorder I've had a CHRONIC case of for quite some time. Did you know that there is even a Facebook group called "I Secretly Want to Punch Slow Walking People in the Back of the Head" that boasts nearly 15,000 members?
Here are some statistics the article points out:
The average speed of walkers in Lower Manhattan is 4.27 feet per second.
Other speeds:
