It’s happened to all of us. You have a minute to get to class and need to get all the way across the school, only to get stuck behind someone moving at one mile per hour. You duck around them, dodging and weaving through the hallway, and then nearly crash into someone walking on the wrong side of the road.

Hallway etiquette–follow it!

Hallways are shared spaces. You may not be in a hurry, but that doesn’t mean someone else is not. 

When I was young, my parents would always harp on me about pedestrian etiquette: walking on the right side of the sidewalk, not blocking the flow of traffic, and being conscious of the people around us. As a kid, I was annoyed, but now I realize that it is an important part of being a human being. 

When I was 15 in Driver’s Ed, I learned much the same thing. Stay in the right lane, don’t block traffic, and be aware of other cars. Hallways are no different. 

Staying to the right and not stopping in the middle of the hallway may seem like small things. But following these unspoken rules means more than just avoiding collisions; it means respecting others. 

So, here are a few general rules for walking in the halls. 

1: Stick to the right side of the hallway or staircase. Nobody wants to deal with opposing traffic coming straight at them. Also, slower traffic–meaning one-mile-per-hour walkers–should stay to the right. This makes it easier for people in a hurry–me–to pass them. 

2: Don’t stop in the middle of the hallway! Especially to talk to your friends! I get it, you haven’t seen each other for a full block and want to chat and share all the funny things that happened in your class. Great, but not-so-great in the middle of the hallway. What might be a nice catchup for you blocks traffic and makes life harder for everyone else. 

3: Don’t be lazy, open doors. If there is a bottleneck of traffic in front of one open door, be the person who opens a second one to relieve the bottleneck. It makes all our lives easier. 

4: Be careful around corners. Go slower and try to make a wider turn around blind corners so as not to collide with someone turning in the opposite direction. 

Some of these rules are very similar to what you learn in Driver’s Ed because, just like roads, hallways have their own traffic rules. Following them makes our hallways safer and our commutes more efficient. 

South’s hallways are crowded and there will always be chaos, but if more of us follow hallway etiquette, we’ll all get to class a little sooner. 

Respect others and stay on the right side!