Walking in the wrong direction towards a person?

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Somehow, for the last few years at least, I *always* seem to walk straight onto a person, on the street... that is, when two people pass each other by they seem to automatically decide which way each one will go... but I always seem to choose the same direction as the other person.

Oftentimes to hilarious results... i.e. the person goes to one side, I go to the same side, and since there's a few seconds left before we clash they decide to go yet to the other side... but somehow I automatically follow them. It's absurd... but can be dangerous if it happens while cycling, usually with another cyclist (if I'm the only cyclist I would of course have much more leeway in avoiding walking people).

Do you mean you try to go around a person but they end up going the same way as you and then you try to go the other way and they end up going that way too? This happens to me quite a bit. Then I just stop moving and let them go by. I think this happens to everyone. Kids used to get mad at me for this as if they thought I was doing it on purpose but hypocritically they were doing it themselves. But strangers laugh about it so it's a good thing.


EDIT: Oh yeah this also upset guests at work when I lived in Montana but yet they were doing it too.

Last edited by League_Girl on 28 May 2012, 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This happens to me now and then - I tend to stick to the right side of a pathway though, just like how cars stick to the right side of the road. Crowded walkways tend to follow the same pattern, except for the big groups that decide to take up the entire path and walk slowly.

This happens to me too. Usually I wind up apologizing and laughing awkwardly about it.

I am probably feeling my least social when I have to walk on a narrow path

All the time!

This is particularly embarrassing when walking through crowded school hallways, rushing to get to class...

It happens to me quite often as well. I have found out about a little trick that seems to prevent many such situations though, at least when I remember to use it.

When you realize you and another person are on collision course, turn your head a little bit to one side and then move so you'll pass them on the side you turned your head to. For example, look a bit to the right and then pass the person on their right, so they'll be on your left in the moment of passing.
You needn't look at the person and you don't have to turn your head far, just a finger's width or two.

When I noticed this effect I thought about it and now I think that turning one's head slightly sends out a signal the other person will understand as "I'll go that way, so please move in the other direction" or something along those lines. It doesn't seem to be a conscious thing for NTs, but I reckon they use a more subtle form of this non-verbal hint amongst themselves which we people on the spectrum simply don't pick up and we send no hint to them or a hint they cannot interpret easily. So by exaggerating a hint they can work with we make it easier for them to read us and thus to avoid the impending collision.

This actually happens to a lot of people because I see it quite a lot in the street. I'm quite good at deciding which side of the road to go, but sometimes the other person is awkward and don't seem to be looking where they're going (again, it's usually women). Some people laugh and say ''sorry'', others are ratty about it.

It happens. But, I didn't know there might be a rule about it, until a few weeks ago. I was walking under some scaffolding and it was quite a narrow passage, just enough space for two people to pass, in opposite directions. There was an old man walking towards me, more or less in the middle of the passage. I stepped to the side, to let him pass. But, there was a woman behind me and she got really cross with him. She started to shout, 'I'm not moving to the right for you. You move to the left, like me. We always pass on the left. That's the way it's done'. I expect she wanted him to move along like traffic (remember we drive on the left here). Everyone was staring at her as she marched on. Maybe it was just her rule, I don't know. He was an old man too and I felt for him.

I have always thought of it that way aswell, in a crowded hall/walkway/shopping centers, there are one stream on one side, and an oposite stream on the other side. In my country we drive on the right, so I walk to the right of people, usually. I dont think the "I walk on this side, no wait, the other side, no you walk on that side, lets dance"-dance is related to autism.