How to Walk in Chelsea

With the influx of art viewers, suburban weekend thrill seekers, and good old fashioned tourists, it's nice to remember the single most important rule for walking in New York City:

Don’t make any sudden movements.

Such is the reminder from Uncle Mark (Mark Hurst, of the design firm Creative Good) in Uncle Mark's 2007 Gift Guide (PDF), a handy little guide to help you out this holiday season.

I used to think Stay to the Right was the single most important rule, but after spending some time in Penn Station on Thanksgiving I realize the sudden movements are much, much worse. Here's the rest of Mark's Rules for Walking in New York City

Walking in New York is like driving on a highway. There are rules, and there are safety risks if people don’t follow them. Even if you don’t live in New York City, you can apply walking rules to wherever you live and walk. Here is the most important walking rule: Don’t make sudden changes in course. Don’t suddenly stop or change your speed. Don’t change directions suddenly for no reason, and don’t make a surprise about-face. Just like driving on the highway: don’t act unpredictably. If you have to walk (or drive) slowly, at least do it predictably, so that people around you can travel safely. There are other rules (stay to the right when turning a corner, don’t stop at the end of the escalator, etc.), but those will wait for another time. In the meantime, The New York Times wrote a story on their own walking rules in July 2002.

Comments

[the new shelton wet/dry]

[...] How To Walk in NY { BlogChelsea } There are rules, and there are safety risks if people don’t follow them. Even if you don’t live in New York City, you can apply walking rules to wherever you live and walk. Here is the most important walking rule: Don’t make sudden changes in course. Don’t suddenly stop or change your speed. Don’t change directions suddenly for no reason, and don’t make a surprise about-face. Just like driving on the highway: don’t act unpredictably. If you have to walk (or drive) slowly, at least do it predictably, so that people around you can travel safely. There are other rules (stay to the right when turning a corner, don’t stop at the end of the escalator, etc.)…” [...]