🔗 Share this article

On a damp, grey morning in London's Soho district, a young man stands a metre behind a woman talking noisily on her mobile. She violates his rules of “pavement etiquette”, so he raises his phone to start filming. Engrossed in her call, she remains unaware, yet observing from afar, the scene feels deeply uncomfortable. What if she turns around? Is this permissible? Is this even OK?

Suddenly, she ends her call and hurries across the street, oblivious to the recording. Footage secured, Roh returns to where I am hiding and delivers his verdict, rated on a ten-point scale – with 10 being perfect sidewalk behavior. “That’s a two,” he says. Her crimes? “On her phone, halting abruptly, pretty much in the centre of the pavement, meaning people have to walk around her. Absolutely not.” She didn’t see us, but that somehow feels worse; It seems like we’ve just pickpocketed her. Roh giggles, unbothered. As an unofficial sidewalk enforcer, this is his mission.

The Beginning of a Movement

The first video 21-year-old Roh shared appeared in July. Within twenty seconds, he follows several pedestrians, calmly analyzing their gait to camera before rating them for speed, path, footwork and phone use. He has since rated pedestrians in NYC in more than 30 videos, and has recently diversified to other US cities. This is his first time amid the particular disorder of central London. “So far, it appears similar to New York,” he says. At that moment, a Lime bike almost collides with us by a movie theater. “Come on!” he exclaims. “Those city bikes are a new thing. That’s an automatic zero, pal.”

Nobody yells at anyone for walking badly, yet everyone senses it

Roh says he tries to make sure that no one can be recognized in his footage and he has strict rules regarding those exempt for criticism. Small kids, groups of children, individuals with disabilities, elderly people – though his method for deciding whether someone is less able is unclear. At one point, we watch a petite lady, who I would guess in her sixties, pushing a Brompton bike, making her path through a school group while on her phone. He observes her and decides against filming, even though she is breaking almost every one of his criteria. “I target people who actively choose to be inconsiderate,” he states. And it’s not just since they annoy other pavement users, he says. “They are also risks to safety.” The lady on the bike is quick, and obviously is in a hurry.”

The Guidelines of Sidewalk Conduct

Rather than presume there is a right way for walking, Roh suggests that everyone simply has the right to move freely. Yet whether it’s manspreading on buses or skipping lines, annoyance at bad public behavior is not only common, it's a foundation of British humour. However, while holding strong opinions on proper conduct is typically British, expressing anger publicly isn't the British way. “Rage only ever applies for cars – it's identical in New York,” says Roh. “The reality is, nobody shouts at others for walking badly, but we all feel it.”

Sidewalk manners are declining,” he says, in part due to smartphones. He stops to indicate the number of individuals nearby who walk while gazing at their phones. “I call these people neck strainers,” he says. “People stuck in a downward tilt on their devices, not with us in reality.”

When judging walkers, the first thing Roh looks at is speed. “If your walking is poor – so not in a straight line, or dragging something – yet your speed is sufficient, then you likely don't hinder my journey,” he explains. Then it’s placement. “If you’re zigzagging, aimlessly cutting people off, being inattentive to the environment, that’ll lose you some points automatically.” Within these, there are some subcategories that will feel both new and familiar – shared bikes on sidewalks, phone-gawping, scooters on pavements, chuggers, wheelie suitcases that could be lifted, individuals distracted by food while moving to watch where they are going. Additionally, there are the head-on walkers who crash into you, he notes, as we move away to avoid one. “If you’re checking your maps, then simply step aside,” he mutters to some ladies prodding a screen with their hands.

The world is so disconnected. We’re consumed by our phones

A Vocabulary of Misdemeanours

Roh has a glossary of offenses that forms the basis for his system. The lady at the café performed a “sudden stop”, he explains, which occurs when individuals stop abruptly. “Woompf! Complete halt. Directly before others, without looking behind.”

A particular irritation is people walking side by side: “paired walkers” or “triple wides”, and “connected pairs”, meaning two people linked together somehow obstructing to, you know, get through,” he remarks. What's the largest group he has encountered? “Sometimes you get a linked quadruple-wide, whereupon …” Sighing deeply, he shakes his head.

Naturally, Roh isn't the pioneer to get in a flap about this stuff. It’s a genre if not created then normalised by the humorist a famous essayist, whose cutting maxims on public conduct have been the basis of books and world tours. Roh is indifferent when I mention her name and makes a note to research her.

We bypass some gentlemen gathered centrally on the sidewalk. They ought to make room for those of us who have somewhere to be,” he murmurs. But it goes deeper than that – one of Roh’s biggest frustrations is urban planning favoring cars over pedestrians. Sidewalks are slim, and frequently uneven next to smooth streets. Some pavements even slip into roads and back again, with little warning. Strolling in cities is a leveller, but it’s also discombobulating and even dangerous, turning a potentially civilised urban stroll into a crowded, hurried dash. “These places aren’t for people, though they should be.” In truth, it’s about getting from A to B at speed – or economic pressure. As Colson Whitehead wrote in The Colossus of New York: “Everyone thinks they are more deserving, everyone thinks their day was tougher than everyone else’s, and they're all right.”

The Drive For the Project

Being part of Generation Z, Roh is immersed in online platforms”. Born and educated in Ohio, he got a glimpse of his future at high school, when he had to deal with “hallway rage”. People in corridors, lingering crowds … “I’m gonna be late to my class due to others? Unacceptable, it must cease,” he says. “I’ve always been a speedy pedestrian, always knowing where I’m going.”

After moving to New York for better prospects, he was shocked by the way people moved in this tight urban space, so he joined the throngs who use social media into a lucrative sport, and started recording.

Despite Roh's concerns regarding mobiles, the irony that his entire body of work is filmed and parsed through a screen is not lost on him. “Society is fragmented,” he admits. “We’re just consumed by technology. It's not only younger generations, but it’s everyone now. Age doesn't matter. But my activity, is a form of engagement,