Curbing pedestrian rage: A side effect of the sidewalk

I’ve heard about “sidewalk rage” and wonder if I have it. I get really angry at slow walkers and find myself cursing them at times. How can I stop?

Sidewalk rage is all the buzz lately, especially in big cities. Simply put, it’s characterized by feeling angered by people who move at a slower pace than you. This produces a hostile response such as bumping into others, cursing, hogging the sidewalk and really just being a disrespectful jerk. Fact is: The pedestrian pace in big cities is slow by virtue of the density of people, so unless there’s a mass exodus or you’re moving to farm country, that won’t change.

Sidewalk ragers have an idea of how they think others should be: Keep to the right, walk at a certain pace, keep moving. In a perfect world, or the military, people would follow such etiquette.

But there are no universal rules — people can walk as they wish.

The difference between a healthy pedestrian and a rager is the latter has a negative view of others, over-generalizes and blows things out of proportion. Angry venting only reinforces the thoughts and makes them occur more.