It’s time to stop the passive-aggressive Seattle walk

Seattle, if you ever want to be a world-class city, your people need to learn to cross the street. KIRO Radio’s Ron & Don have had it with what they call the “passive-aggressive Seattle walk.”

Offenders engaged in the passive-aggressive Seattle walk may exhibit behaviors that include walking at a slow speed, looking down at a personal media device, general unawareness of cars around them, and hands remaining at one’s side (no courtesy wave).

Ron and Don say they make deliberate attempts to be courteous pedestrians. Don typically tries to wait for a hole in traffic. If a crossing must be done in front of an oncoming car, he always makes eye contact, and tries to determine the level of rush required for the courteous driver.

“If the guy looks like he’s in a hurry, and he’s just going to do the California stop, to help him out, I will do the courtesy jog. I’ll pick it up a little bit so he doesn’t have to stop at the crosswalk and he can kind of California roll it through.”

At minimum, Ron says he always walks at an accelerated pace and never forgets a courtesy wave.

The worst offenders dwell in certain areas of the city, says Don, adding that food trucks aren’t helping.

“In this South Lake Union corridor where you have all these people moving in from Amazon – they have become the slowest walkers in the world,” says Don. “People are walking as slow as slow can be.”

If Seattle wants to be a world-class city, a city that one day might host a Super Bowl, Don says the following street-crossing etiquette should be observed:

“You’ve got to give the courtesy jog, courtesy wave. You’ve got to connect with those eyes. You’ve got to put your personal social media device down, and get the hell across the street so the rest of us can get on with our lives.”