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On a damp, grey morning in Soho, London, Cameron Roh stands a few steps behind a woman talking noisily into her phone. She is breaking his “laws” of “pavement etiquette”, so he raises his phone to start filming. Lost in conversation, she remains unaware, yet watching him from a distance, it’s fist-in-mouth awkward. Suppose she notices? Is this permissible? Is this ethical?

Suddenly, the woman hangs up and hurries across the street, oblivious to what has just happened. Evidence duly captured, he comes back to where I am hiding and delivers his verdict, which is marks out of 10 – with 10 being perfect sidewalk behavior. “That’s a two,” he says. Her offenses? “Using her mobile, sudden stop, pretty much in the centre of the walkway, meaning people have to walk around her. No, no, no.” She was oblivious, yet that makes it more unsettling; It seems like we stole something from her. He laughs, unfazed. As a self-appointed sidewalk enforcer, this is his mission.

The Start of a Movement

The initial clip 21-year-old Roh posted appeared in July. In about 20 seconds, he follows five different walkers, quietly unpacking their walking style on film before rating them on pace, path, steps and mobile usage. He has since rated pedestrians in NYC across dozens of clips, and has recently diversified to other US cities. This is his first time amid the particular disorder of central London. “Up to now, it seems comparable 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 instant fail, pal.”

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

Roh says he ensures that no one can be recognized in his videos and follows strict guidelines about people who are off limits for criticism. Small kids, school groups, individuals with disabilities, elderly people – although how he determines if someone is impaired remains vague. At one point, we watch a petite lady, likely in her sixties, maneuvering a folding bicycle, navigating her way past students while using her mobile. He observes her and decides against filming, even though she is breaking almost every one of his rules. “I target those who deliberately opt to be inconsiderate,” he states. And it’s not just because they bother other pavement users, he adds. “They also pose risks to safety.” The woman with the Brompton is quick, and obviously is in a hurry.”

The Guidelines of Sidewalk Etiquette

Rather than presume there is a right way for walking, Roh suggests that all people deserve the right to move freely. Yet whether it’s spreading out on transit or queue-jumping, annoyance at bad public behavior is widespread, it's a foundation of British humour. That said, though having firm views on proper conduct is typically British, getting angry about it in public is not our style. “Rage only ever applies for cars – it’s the same in NYC,” Roh remarks. “The reality is, no one screams at anyone for walking badly, but we all feel it.”

Sidewalk manners is “getting worse,” he observes, in part due to mobile devices. He stops to indicate how many people around us are walking while staring at their screens. “I term these individuals neck strainers,” he comments. “People stuck at a 45 degree angle on their devices, not with us in reality.”

While evaluating pedestrians, the primary factor Roh looks at is speed. “If you’re walking badly – like meandering, or pulling an object – yet your speed is sufficient, then you’re probably not affecting my journey,” he says. Then it’s placement. “If you weave, randomly blocking others, not paying attention to the environment, that’ll lose you some points instantly.” Among these, exist specific types that will feel both new and familiar – shared bikes on sidewalks, phone-gawping, scooters on pavements, chuggers, wheelie suitcases that are small enough to be carried, people who are too busy eating on the go to look their direction. Additionally, there are oncoming pedestrians who crash into you, he says, as we move away to dodge someone. “If you’re checking your maps, then simply step aside,” he mutters to a group of women prodding a screen with their fingers.

Society is increasingly isolated. We're absorbed by our devices

A Vocabulary of Misdemeanours

Roh has a glossary of offenses that forms the basis for his system. The woman outside Caffè Nero committed the “brake check”, he says, which occurs when individuals stop abruptly. “Whoa! Hard stop. Directly before others, no checking the blind spot.”

A personal bugbear is people walking side by side: “paired walkers” or “triple blockers”, and “connected pairs”, which is a couple linked together somehow obstructing the flow of traffic,” he says. What’s the biggest phalanx he has encountered? “Sometimes you get a linked quadruple-wide, at which point …” With a heavy sigh, he shakes his head.

Naturally, Roh is not the first person to get in a flap over this issue. It’s a genre if not created then popularized by the humorist Fran Lebowitz, whose sharp observations about how people should behave have been the basis of books and world tours. Roh shrugs when I mention her name and plans to research her.

We bypass a group of men huddled in the middle of the pavement. They should “leave space for people like us who have somewhere to be,” he murmurs. But the issue is broader – a major concern for Roh is that cities seem increasingly designed cars over pedestrians. Sidewalks are slim, and often badly paved compared with the roads beside them. Some pavements even slip with traffic lanes, with little warning. Walking in cities is a leveller, but it’s also discombobulating and even dangerous, transforming a peaceful walk into a crowded, hurried dash. “These places aren’t for people, even though they are.” In truth, it's about efficient travel – or economic pressure. As an author noted in a famous book: “Everyone thinks they have greater needs, each feels their day was tougher than others', and everyone is correct.”

The Drive Behind the Mission

As a member of gen Z, Roh has always “lived and breathed online platforms”. Raised and schooled in Ohio, he got a glimpse of his calling during school, when he faced “hallway rage”. People in corridors, lingering crowds … “I’m gonna be late to my destination due to others? Unacceptable, it must cease,” he insists. “I’ve always been a fast walker, always knowing where I’m going.”

After moving to New York for better prospects, he was surprised by pedestrian behavior in dense cities, so he joined the masses who have turned TikTok and Instagram into a lucrative sport, and started recording.

Despite Roh's concerns regarding mobiles, the irony that his entire body of work is created via devices he acknowledges. “Society is fragmented,” he admits. “We're overwhelmed by our phones and our AirPods. You think it’s just gen Z and gen Alpha, it's all ages. Age is not even a defining factor. But doing what I do, is a form of engagement,