In a damp Soho morning, Cameron Roh, a 21-year-old self-appointed pavement vigilante, films pedestrians breaking his personal ‘laws’ of street decorum and posts the videos online. His first video, posted in July, rated five walkers on speed, direction, footwork and phone use. He has since rated walkers in New York and other US cities, now expanding to London.
Roh awards marks out of 10 based on factors like speed, straight-line walking, and awareness. He targets those who ‘actively choose to be inconsiderate’, such as people on phones who stop suddenly, zigzag, or drag small wheelie suitcases. However, he exempts children, the elderly, and the less able from criticism.
Roh argues that poor pavement etiquette is a safety hazard and has worsened due to smartphones. He calls phone-gazers ‘neck breakers’ and notes that while British humour thrives on public protocol frustration, public anger is rare. ‘No one screams at anyone for walking badly, but we all feel it,’ he observes.
His rating system includes subcategories like Lime bikes on pavements, chuggers, and people eating on the go. Roh advises map-checkers to ‘pull over’. The woman filmed outside Caffè Nero, who was on her phone and stopped in the centre of the pavement, received a score of two out of ten.
