Walk on the Right

When you are walking down the hall, or down the sidewalk and encounter someone coming towards you, what do you do?  Do you step to the right and continue walking? Step to the left?  Keep going as you were and force the other person to squish to the side to pass you?

I was taught by my Dad to walk on the right when someone is walking toward you.  Easy.  From what I can tell, no one really does this anymore.  Whether I'm on the sidewalk, at the store, in the office I've found that when two people are coming toward each other it's like a game of chicken to see who will go where.  I've also found that if I do step to the right, chances are that the person opposite me is stepping to their left, so we start the fun bob and weave game of trying to decide who will walk where.  Geesh.  Just walk to the right already.

My copy of Emily Post's Etiquette is buried in an unopened box somewhere in the basement, but even the advice on her website seems to acknowledge that no one walks to the right.

             

Walkers should stay to the right on city sidewalks--although the odds of people actually following this rule are about the same as an alien craft landing on the block. Maneuvering your way down the block is all about bobbing and weaving past others as expertly as possible. 

 

Why?