You’re walking to work, making good time, and then… someone steps in front of you, moving at a snail’s pace. Or a tourist blocks your path to snap a picture. Or someone in front of you is focused on their Blackberry, not where they’re going.
We’ve all been there. If just the thought of any of these scenarios makes you reach the boiling point, though, you may have a problem. Apparently, you don’t have to hit the road to feel the rage.
Researchers say “sidewalk rage” is real.
Aggressive walkers can express their frustration in different forms and intensity levels – ranging from staring down a slow walker to physically bumping into them. Experts say acting out on sidewalk rage may be a sign of a psychiatric condition known as “intermittent explosive disorder.”
“I am one of those sidewalk ragers, it just drives me crazy,” Joe Camposo, of Westbury, confessed to 1010 WINS’ John Montone. “It’s either move or get out of the way. I have no patience.”
Two women from Brooklyn told Montone they’ve been victims of sidewalk rage getting pushed, knocked down and elbowed.
Researchers are conducting studies to determine what sets people off and how it can be curbed – especially since the sidewalks aren’t getting any less crowded.
According to a study conducted by the NYC Department of City Planning, the city was listed as having the highest population density in the country with 26,403 people per square mile in 2000.
According to the study, the average speed of walkers in Lower Manhattan is 4.27 feet per second – tourists clocked in at 3.79 ft/s, smokers at 4.17 ft/s, cell phone users at 4.20 ft/s, men at 4.42 ft/s, and woman at 4.1 ft/s.
So, if you can’t get rid of all those people in your way, then you have to get the anger out of your head.
Frank, from the Upper West Side, suggests getting away for a while. He admits that he used to be an aggressive walker until he spent a few years in Los Angeles.
“You kind of calm down over there, you mellow out,” Frank said.
If you can’t take a vacation from the mean streets of New York City then take a deep breath and realize those slow walkers aren’t out to get you.
{CBS Local/Matzav.com}
Thank G…d we have a new disease…”intermittent explosive disorder”! Imagine all the people finally have a name for their “frustration” and soon we will be sitting in a courtroom dismissing them for being insane because “they simply can’t help themselves…probably genetic or something. Murder, strangling….pick any…anything goes.”I’m sorry, I couldn’t control my impulse to hurt you”!. Wew…we are really getting somewhere these days. Responsibility? who ever heard of such a word?
Wake up everyone.Times are changing and they will not get better. Who knows what will be flooding the markets in the coming years. Get used to it…and if you don’t like walking in the streets..stay home.
True, it IS very frustrating when we sit on a bus, train, whatever and overhear peoples private conversations, true, true about all of it.But unless they ban the stuff, we are living in a new “rather crazy” world and if we won’t learn how to make the adjustments, we will “go crazy”.
To all of you who don’t have the courtesy of keeping your conversations private when in public “I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR TALKS, SO SHUT YOUR PHONES!!!!!!!!There you go. I’m ready to be COMMITTED!!!!!!