Do you walk to the left or to the right?

In Australia we drive on the left side of the road, when most people walk down a footpath they tend to walk to the left for that reason, the old ‘keep to the left unless over taking’ adage you learn in driving school.

It never occurred to me until the other day that if I was to travel overseas (not likely but it could happen) I might have to take into consideration on what side of the road people drive on as to which side of the footpath I may have to walk down so I don’t bump into people.

If you drive on the right hand side of the road do you find that you also walk down the right hand side of the footpath?

I’m not saying there is a wrong or right way to walk down a footpath and in no way is there a rule written anywhere (or not that I’m aware of) that says you have to, just a curious thought that popped into my head.

On a travelator, escalator, a set of stairs, a bridge it’s to the left I go, the first port of call off to the side.

I’m right handed, drive a manual car and change gears with my left hand, hand bag on my left shoulder, maybe I’m a bit ambidextrous.

2 comments

    • Jennifer Marsden on April 12, 2019 at 5:13 pm
    • Reply

    I’m pretty sure that keeping to the left and right depends on the road. My son has just moved to France and he says he never knows which way to look first when crossing a road. I know when coming from the States I had the hardest time with keeping left when walking and using stairs,

    1. I’ll be sure to check ‘left, right, left’ or ‘right, left, right’ if I ever go overseas Jennifer and remember the side I’m walking on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.