Do people walk on the right side like we drive, or am I tripping?

It's an unwritten rule everywhere I've lived in Canada. Some people don't clue in or care though which annoys the shit out of everybody else just trying to walk to where they're going.

yeah, where it makes sense. In Japan they walk on the left most of the time. If it’s a wide open space it’s kinda a free for all though.

I've always walked on the right side (USA) and wish everyone did. I don't know if was taught it or it came naturally. I do remember teaching my kids to keep to the right.  When I've visited the UK, it seemed people kept to the left, mostly, and occasionally I saw signs for pedestrians to keep to the left. 

Where I grew up we were told for walking and stairs "be polite and keep right". Where I live now no one has any sense. Lol

I noticed people started walking on the right side a couple years ago. I wish everyone would do it. I hate that awkward shuffle when people are both walking on the same side and then the inevitable corny joke about it being a dance or something. Ugh. The worst!

In the us if you’re not on a sidewalk you have to walk facing traffic. It’s actually a law and if a cop wants to he can give you a ticket. I personally think some cops use that as a pretext to harass some portion of the population.

Assuming this is in the US, everyone stays to the right when driving. Logically, you would do the same when walking, so sticking to the right would be instinctive for most people. Although, crowded place like airports often throw logic out the window because everyone is trying to get to slightly different directions with different levels of urgency and it turns into a mess. So, I guess I would say it depends on how busy it is.

i actively taught my kids to walk on the right. you can always do it but it makes sense to have. a logical flow of traffic

I try to. Comes from working as a server and just generally being an awkward person that got tired of doing the "which way you going" dance with people. Now I just look clearly to the right of people (their left) when I pass them and walk purposefully that way. I find that 90% of the time they follow my lead and move when needed/possible.

Yes, although if you’re an immigrant, no one seems to tell you. There needs to be a proper on boarding program for people that are new to the country and walk on the left like they always have walked on the left.

Was this not drilled into your head in school?! Yes, that is the way.

Walking on the same side as driving is pretty intuitive, but I was actually taught as a child to walk opposite to drivers so I can see oncoming traffic. So walk on the left for the US. That said, sometimes it’s just “walk where you won’t get knocked into a ditch” over here.

Yes

We? Some places we drive on the left side

Should be a law. Lol

In the US it is very common to walk on the right side of a path. And if someone is behind you walking faster than you you're supposed to pull off to the right side so they can pass you on the left

I typically do.

It's a **spoken rule**. In Cub Scouts (elementary school age club) we learned a lot of traffic rules. The larger boat generally has the right of way because they're harder to turn. Always drive on the right in the U.S. but learn the local rules before going abroad. The person walking uphill has the right of way versus someone walking downhill. Faster traffic toward the center, slower traffic to the outer lanes. The only rule where you don't walk on the right side in the U.S. (according to a merit badge book I read decades ago) is to walk against traffic when you're on the side of the road at night. This way you can see the headlights and they can see you (some safety reason like that, I forget exactly).

Where I live in the US, I've noticed that people tend to use this rule on stairs, but on walkways it seems to be a free for all. Drives me nuts as someone who does always walk on the right side of the sidewalk!

Not if you’re at Walmart

Left side is for passing.

Unspoken rule is walk right.

Your supposed to walk toward traffic if there isn't a sidewalk so you can see cars coming and get out the way when necessary for safety. A vehicle extra large, or swerving, stuff like that.

I went to Australia and kept bumping into people on the sidewalk, until I realized that they drive on the left. Problem solved.

We drive on the left, thanks

We don't drive on the right side. I mean, you might, but any set of people including me don't. Where I come from we drive on the left and walk... well, on escalators we stand on the right and walk on the left. On pavements we kind of wing it, though historically we walk on the roadmost side if we're men out of some kind of chivalry expectation. If we're walking down a road without pavements, we walk on the right, because we want to be facing the oncoming traffic so we can get out of the way quickly if need be.

I figured it was kind of a habit people picked up from driving. Not that it really hurts my feelings when they do it, though. It keeps people from completely clogging the sidewalk a lot of the time. Is it just me, or are big groups that completely take up the entire sidewalk and refuse to move aside if someone is coming the other way generally seen as arses?

Pedestrians should walk against the flow of traffic, not with it. Bicycles, with traffic.

I *wish* people would walk to the right. Instead, what you usually get is a group of people lazily dawdling like 4 abreast, taking up the entire walkway, all staring at their phones so they're veering from side to side and you can't even get a good line to pass them. then they look at you like *you're* the crazy one when there's finally a gap and you go speed-walking around them.

Most people do except those with main character syndrome who think everyone should get out of their way so they can stroll two or three abreast taking up the entire sidewalk.

People generally do walk on the same side as they drive. And it causes some awkwardness at times, because people temporarily retain the customs from where they live... like when Brits visit and at first walk against the flow, bumping into or dodging the locals. Australians keep to the left, as well, but when they first arrive it's not nearly as disruptive because they'll be walking on the ceiling.

In the US (NY), I remember being taught to keep to the right in hallways and staircases in kindergarten. It follows keeping to the right on roads. Another similar one is standing on the right side on escalators and walking on the left side. In different countries, these (often unspoken) rules can be different. In Japan and iirc the UK, one walks on the left. I don't recall if escalator etiquette is similarly mirrored or not.

Yes, it's just a habit in countries that drive on the right. In England, I bet they walk on the left!

it also happens with esculators. almost every country i go to, they also go up and down the esculators based on the side they drive on the road. my country of aus drives on the left so we all go up the esculators on the left

My state (in the us) has a pedestrian law that says you must walk on the right side of your direction of travel on the sidewalk. Most people haven't read the laws, so they dont know it exists.