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On a damp, grey morning in London's Soho district, Cameron Roh stands a metre after a pedestrian talking noisily on her mobile. She is breaking his “laws” of “pavement etiquette”, so he raises his phone to start filming. Lost in conversation, she remains unaware, but still watching him from a distance, it’s fist-in-mouth awkward. What if she turns around? Is this permissible? Is this even OK?

Abruptly, she ends her call and hurries across the street, unaware of the recording. Evidence duly captured, Roh returns to where I am hiding and gives his assessment, rated on a ten-point scale – where ten means flawless pavement etiquette. “She scores two,” he declares. Her offenses? “Using her mobile, halting abruptly, right in the middle of the walkway, forcing others to detour. Absolutely not.” 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 Beginning of a Trend

The first video 21-year-old Roh shared was in July. Within twenty seconds, he follows five different walkers, quietly unpacking their gait to camera then scoring them on pace, direction, steps and mobile usage. He later evaluated pedestrians in NYC in more than 30 videos, and recently expanded to other US cities. This is his first time amid the particular disorder in London's heart. “So far, it appears similar to NYC,” he notes. Just then, a rental bicycle almost collides with us outside a cinema. “Seriously!” he exclaims. “Those city bikes are a recent addition. That's an instant fail, buddy.”

Nobody yells at anyone due to poor walking, but we all feel it

Roh says he tries to make sure that no one can be recognized in his footage and he has strict rules regarding those exempt from judgment. Young children, school groups, individuals with disabilities, senior citizens – though his method for deciding whether someone is less able remains vague. At one point, we watch a small woman, likely in her sixties, pushing a Brompton bike, making her path through a school group while using her mobile. He observes her and opts not to record, despite the fact she violates nearly all of his rules. “I target people who actively choose to act thoughtlessly,” he says. And it’s not just because they bother fellow pedestrians, he says. “They also pose risks to safety.” The lady on the bike is quick, and obviously is in a hurry.”

The Guidelines of Pavement Conduct

Rather than presume there is a right way for walking, Roh is proposing that everyone simply has the right to walk. But whether it's spreading out on transit or skipping lines, frustration at poor public protocol is widespread, it’s a bedrock of UK comedy. However, while holding strong opinions on proper conduct is a very British pastime, expressing anger publicly isn't the British way. “Rage only ever applies for cars – it's identical in New York,” Roh remarks. “The thing is, no one screams at anyone over poor walking, yet we all experience it.”

Pavement etiquette is “getting worse,” he says, partly because of mobile devices. He stops to indicate how many people nearby who walk while gazing at their screens. “I term these individuals neck breakers,” he says. “People stuck in a downward tilt on their phones, disconnected from the real world.”

When judging walkers, the primary factor Roh considers is pace. “If your walking is poor – so not in a straight line, or dragging something – but your pace is adequate, then you likely don't hinder my journey,” he says. Next is positioning. “If you’re zigzagging, aimlessly cutting people off, not paying attention to the environment, that’ll lose you some points automatically.” Among these, there are some subcategories that will feel both new and familiar – Lime bikes mounting pavements, screen-staring, e-scooters on walkways, chuggers, wheelie suitcases that are small enough to be carried, individuals distracted by food while moving to watch their direction. Then there are the head-on walkers who crash into you, he says, as we step aside to avoid one. “If you’re checking your maps, then simply step aside,” he grumbles 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 maintains a list of offenses that provides the framework for his system. The woman outside Caffè Nero performed a “sudden stop”, he explains, which is when individuals stop abruptly. “Whoa! Hard stop. Directly before others, without looking behind.”

A particular irritation is groups walking abreast: “double wides” or “triple blockers”, and “linked double wides”, meaning two people attached to one another somehow “making it harder to, you know, get through,” he remarks. What’s the biggest phalanx he’s seen? “Occasionally there are a linked quadruple-wide, at which point …” With a heavy sigh, he shakes his head.

Naturally, Roh isn't the pioneer to get in a flap over this issue. It’s a genre if not invented then popularized by the humorist Fran Lebowitz, whose sharp observations on public conduct have inspired of books and world tours. Roh is indifferent at her mention and plans to Google her later.

We walk round some gentlemen gathered centrally on the sidewalk. They should “leave space for people like us with destinations,” he mutters. But the issue is broader – one of Roh’s biggest frustrations is that cities seem increasingly designed cars over pedestrians. Sidewalks are slim, and often badly paved next to smooth streets. Some pavements even slip with traffic lanes, without clear marking. Strolling in urban areas equalizes, yet it's confusing and sometimes risky, turning a potentially civilised urban stroll into a hip-bumping, traffic-harried race. “These places aren’t for people, even though they are.” Really, though, it’s about getting from A to B at speed – or economic pressure. As Colson Whitehead wrote in The Colossus of New York: “All believe they have greater needs, each feels their day has been harder than everyone else’s, and they're all right.”

The Motivation Behind the Mission

Being part of Generation Z, Roh is immersed in social media”. Raised and schooled in Ohio, he got a glimpse of his future during school, when he faced “corridor frustration”. Individuals in halls, people loitering … “I’m gonna be late to my class due to others? No way, that’s gotta stop,” he says. “I've long been a fast walker, always directed.”

Relocating to NYC for its golden opportunities, he was surprised by pedestrian behavior in this tight urban space, so he joined the masses who use social media as a profitable activity, and began to film them.

Given Roh’s reservations about smartphones, the paradox of his content is filmed and parsed through a screen he acknowledges. “Society is fragmented,” he says. “We're overwhelmed by our phones and our AirPods. It's not only younger generations, but it’s everyone now. Age is not even a defining factor. But doing what I do, it’s a way of getting out,