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On a rainy, overcast 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 and presses record. Engrossed in her call, the woman doesn’t see him, yet observing from afar, it’s fist-in-mouth awkward. What if she turns around? Is this allowed? Is this ethical?

Suddenly, the woman hangs up and dashes across the road, oblivious to the recording. Footage secured, Roh returns to my concealed spot and gives his assessment, rated on a ten-point scale – where ten means flawless sidewalk behavior. “She scores two,” he declares. Her offenses? “Using her mobile, sudden stop, right in the middle of the pavement, meaning people have to walk around her. No, no, no.” She didn’t see us, but that somehow feels worse; I feel as if we’ve just pickpocketed her. Roh giggles, unbothered. As a self-appointed sidewalk enforcer, this is what he does.

The Start of a Trend

The initial clip the young man posted appeared in July. In about 20 seconds, he trails several pedestrians, quietly unpacking their walking style on film before rating them for speed, direction, steps and mobile usage. He later evaluated pedestrians in NYC across dozens of clips, and has recently diversified to other US cities. It's his debut amid the particular disorder in London's heart. “So far, it appears similar to NYC,” he says. At that moment, a Lime bike nearly hits us by a movie theater. “Come on!” he cries. “These shared bikes are a recent addition. That's an instant fail, pal.”

No one screams at others for walking badly, yet everyone senses it

Roh says he ensures that nobody is identifiable in his videos and he has strict rules about people who are off limits from judgment. Small kids, school groups, the less able, elderly people – though his method for deciding if someone is impaired remains vague. At one point, we watch a small woman, who I would guess is in her early 60s, maneuvering a folding bicycle, making her path through a school group while on her phone. Roh watches her and opts not to record, even though she violates almost every one of his criteria. “I target those who deliberately opt to act thoughtlessly,” he states. And it's not only because they bother fellow pedestrians, he says. “They are also risks to safety.” The woman with the Brompton is “fast, and obviously is in a hurry.”

The Guidelines of Sidewalk Etiquette

Instead of assuming one correct method for walking, Roh suggests that all people deserve the right to walk. Yet whether it’s manspreading on buses or skipping lines, frustration at poor public protocol is not only common, it's a foundation of UK comedy. That said, while holding strong opinions on proper conduct is a very British pastime, expressing anger publicly isn't the British way. “Anger is reserved for cars – it's identical in New York,” Roh remarks. “The reality is, nobody shouts at anyone for walking badly, but we all feel it.”

Sidewalk manners is “getting worse,” he says, partly because of mobile devices. He stops to indicate the number of individuals around us who walk while gazing at their phones. “I call these people neck breakers,” he comments. “People stuck at a 45 degree angle on their devices, disconnected from the real world.”

When judging walkers, the primary factor Roh considers is pace. “If your walking is poor – like meandering, or pulling an object – but your pace is adequate, then you’re probably not affecting my progress,” he explains. Next is positioning. “If you weave, aimlessly cutting people off, not paying attention to the environment, that will cost you some points automatically.” Among these, exist specific types that will feel both new and familiar – shared bikes on sidewalks, phone-gawping, e-scooters on walkways, charity fundraisers, rolling luggage that could be lifted, individuals distracted by food while moving to watch their direction. Then there are oncoming pedestrians who crash into you, he notes, as we step aside to dodge someone. “If you’re checking your maps, then just pull over,” he mutters to some ladies tapping a screen with their fingers.

The world is so disconnected. We’re consumed by our phones

A Vocabulary of Infractions

Roh maintains a list of misdemeanours that forms the basis for his ratings. The lady at the café committed the “brake check”, he says, which occurs when individuals stop abruptly. “Woompf! Hard stop. Right in front of you, 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 “making it harder the flow of traffic,” he remarks. What’s the biggest phalanx he has encountered? “Sometimes you get a four-person barrier, whereupon …” 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 category if not created then popularized by the humorist a famous essayist, whose sharp observations on public conduct have been the basis books and tours. Roh is indifferent when I mention her name and makes a note to Google her later.

We walk round a group of men huddled in the middle on the sidewalk. They ought to make room for people like us with destinations,” he murmurs. But the issue is broader – one of Roh’s biggest frustrations is that cities seem increasingly designed for vehicles rather than people. Sidewalks are slim, and frequently uneven compared with the roads beside them. Some pavements even slip with traffic lanes, with little warning. Strolling in cities is a leveller, yet it's confusing and sometimes risky, turning a potentially civilised urban stroll into a crowded, hurried dash. “These places aren’t for people, even though they are.” Really, though, it’s about getting from A to B at speed – or capitalism. As an author noted in a famous book: “Everyone thinks they are more deserving, everyone thinks their day has been harder than others', and they're all right.”

The Motivation For the Mission

Being part of Generation Z, Roh has always “lived and breathed social media”. Raised and schooled in Ohio, he had a preview of his calling at high school, when he had to deal with “corridor frustration”. People in corridors, people loitering … “I’m gonna be late to my destination because of you? No way, that’s gotta stop,” he insists. “I've long been a speedy pedestrian, always knowing where I’m going.”

Relocating to NYC for its golden opportunities, he was shocked by pedestrian behavior in dense cities, so he joined the masses who use social media into a lucrative sport, and started recording.

Given Roh’s reservations regarding mobiles, the paradox of his content is filmed and parsed through a screen is not lost on him. “The world is so disconnected,” he says. “We're overwhelmed by our phones and our AirPods. It's not only younger generations, it's all ages. Age doesn't matter. But my activity, it’s a way of getting out,