I'm going 45 mph, zipping through traffic on a two-lane road when I'm hit with every lead-footed driver's biggest fear: two cars barely going 20 mph pacing each other. There's no way to pass them without seeming rude.
I could honk my horn or I could tailgate the slow drivers, but neither one is guaranteed to work. I'm stuck behind the slowpokes and will be late.
This is what traveling through Baker University Center has become.
For those of you new to Baker (and some of you who may have forgotten), there are certain courtesy rules to remember about the crowning jewel of our $80+ million student center: the escalator.
If this sounds a little bit redundant for some of our longtime readers, it is. A Post staff member wrote a Between the Lines on this same subject after Baker opened its doors in January 2007, and a student wrote a letter to the editor about escalator etiquette the following January. Based on my frequent trips on the escalator these past two weeks, I realized that everyone could benefit from a reminder.
As you're all well aware, some people are in a hurry on our campus. People oversleep, forget about meetings and lose track of time all the time. When these people head through Baker Center, they often get hit with a roadblock: people standing side-by-side on the escalators.
The two-by-two concept worked really well for Noah, but in a busy thoroughfare like Baker, it is discourteous. Much like the highway, the left side of the escalator should be used as a passing lane.
When two people stand abreast on the escalator, they're like those two cars pacing each other going 20 mph. Sure, the rushing person could ask them to move with a polite, Excuse me ' the pedestrian equivalent of honking your horn ' but that usually garners a confused or dirty look. I could even tailgate the pair by standing on the step immediately behind them, but that usually just makes everyone uncomfortable.
The escalator is not a ride. If it was
people going up it would cheer and the people going down it would raise their arms and yell Post Chief Photographer Sara C. Tobias said.
While this would be hilarious to see, it's not very practical.
A better situation for all travelers would be for those who would like to coast on the escalators to stick to the right side, leaving the left side open to commuters in a hurry.
Now this doesn't mean you can't ride the escalators with your friends, loved ones, classmates, coworkers or blended family bunch. You can even do a musical routine like the Bradys in The Brady Bunch Movie.
As long as you keep it on the right side of the escalator, that is, because I'd feel bad honking at the Bradys' station wagon.
Nicole Franz is a senior studying journalism and the managing editor of The Post. Send her your ideas for choreographed routines on the escalator at nf131905@ohiou.edu.
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