The CDC defines a slow or leisurely walking pace as 2 mph. A brisk walk is 2.5 to 4 mph.
In theory, there should be a happy medium, something in between a Sunday stroll and a moderately intense exercise. Walking to class in the middle of the day on a narrow sidewalk, however, is not the time to experiment with walking paces.
Ohio University welcomed a record-breaking freshman class of 4,550 to the Athens campus this fall. There are a lot of students with places to go and people to see on campus this year.
It’s, of course, not realistic to wish everyone to walk at the same pace; however, slow walkers bring into question common courtesy and basic human decency.
The Ohio Department of Transportation provided guidelines on pedestrian crosswalk signal lengths where the typical walking pace is 3.5 feet per second.
“Where pedestrians are expected regularly, cycle lengths greater than 60 to 90 seconds should often be discouraged,” ODOT said.
The intersection of Union Street and Court Street is often congested and busy, to say the least. With walk signals typically less than a minute long and multiple lanes of traffic, those signals also mean for some people that crossing the street in that brief time frame is the difference between making it to class or a meeting on time and being late.
There have been countless instances where I’ve been on my way somewhere and missed the walk signal because people in front of me were crowding the sidewalk and walking slowly. Not everyone’s schedule affords time to leave point A with 20 minutes to get to point B because other people like to stop and count all of the bricks they step on.
I have 10 minutes in between my classes. Exactly 10 minutes to get from Tupper Hall to Grover Center. It’s not a difficult walk; it’s not even that far of a distance. Yet every Tuesday and Thursday, I’m training for a new personal record at a half-marathon just by trying to get to class on time.
For most people, it’s time to pick up the pace.
Apparently, it’s also time for OU to offer a course on sidewalk courtesy.
As enrollment climbs in the years to come, the sidewalks seem to shrink. There’s no longer room to move around a casual, slow walker. If you want to make it to class on time, you have to walk on the road, cut through the grass or push and shove your way through a group of friends walking side-by-side on the slim sidewalk.
As I weave and navigate through such crowds, and my Apple Watch informs me I appear to be working out, pure rage consumes me. The middle of the sidewalk is not an acceptable location for catching up with a lifelong friend. You don’t own the sidewalk. Move over if you have to stop or slow your walking pace. Leave the middle of the sidewalk clear for those who need the extra space or for those in a hurry.
There is plenty of space on the beautiful, sprawling grass on College Green. Gather your friends and congregate under the trees instead of walking shoulder to shoulder on the narrowest sidewalk on campus.
The Pest is a satirical column and does not reflect the views of The Post.
