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Or jump out of the way quickly before a car does hit you. And on a bike it's different. I'd never ride a bike on the left side. My friend does and insists it's safer and intuitively . . .
OT, but since you brought it up - riding a bicycle against traffic (on the left in the US) IS more dangerous than riding with traffic. Accident statistics proved this decades ago.
Personally, I prefer walking the same way - in the same direction as traffic. Even though I am moving much more slowly than a bicycle, I still find that moving in the same direction gives me more time to react when someone is coming up behind me. I rely on my hearing to assist - you can hear when someone is moving out in the lane to pass. Most people don't realize this, and have never even attempted to focus on what they can hear.
Although, quite frequently I will change the side of the road I am on, when a car is coming, so that I am on the side opposite the oncoming traffic. When walking, that is often the easiest tactic.
As for my dogs, and leash training. I stick with the traditional "heel" - the dog walks on my left side. Generally, people who meet my dogs compliment me on how well they are trained, and how well they behave.* But training my dogs to walk on my left OR my right is asking too much. A good heel is hard enough already! Getting my dogs to heel properly is probably THE hardest behavior I attempt to get from them. Adding in walking on the right side just seems to make things worse for the dogs understanding, in my experience.
I walk my dogs on rural streets, but in a rather densely populated rural area - New England rural. The speed differential between walking and the cars is kept to a minimum. I would not and do not walk my dogs on heavily traveled streets, or streets where there is a larger speed differential between walking and the auto traffic. If I had to do that - walk on a busy street where speed differential (speed limits) was >35, I would either find alternative routes, or I would probably figure out some way to manage the dog and myself to minimize exposure to traffic.
*Haha! Little do THEY know! I know every time my dogs are misbehaving! Aaarrrgh! But they behave well enough to fool most people!
OT, but since you brought it up - riding a bicycle against traffic (on the left in the US) IS more dangerous than riding with traffic. Accident statistics proved this decades ago.
Personally, I prefer walking the same way - in the same direction as traffic. Even though I am moving much more slowly than a bicycle, I still find that moving in the same direction gives me more time to react when someone is coming up behind me. I rely on my hearing to assist - you can hear when someone is moving out in the lane to pass. Most people don't realize this, and have never even attempted to focus on what they can hear.
Although, quite frequently I will change the side of the road I am on, when a car is coming, so that I am on the side opposite the oncoming traffic. When walking, that is often the easiest tactic.
As for my dogs, and leash training. I stick with the traditional "heel" - the dog walks on my left side. Generally, people who meet my dogs compliment me on how well they are trained, and how well they behave.* But training my dogs to walk on my left OR my right is asking too much. A good heel is hard enough already! Getting my dogs to heel properly is probably THE hardest behavior I attempt to get from them. Adding in walking on the right side just seems to make things worse for the dogs understanding, in my experience.
I walk my dogs on rural streets, but in a rather densely populated rural area - New England rural. The speed differential between walking and the cars is kept to a minimum. I would not and do not walk my dogs on heavily traveled streets, or streets where there is a larger speed differential between walking and the auto traffic. If I had to do that - walk on a busy street where speed differential (speed limits) was >35, I would either find alternative routes, or I would probably figure out some way to manage the dog and myself to minimize exposure to traffic.
*Haha! Little do THEY know! I know every time my dogs are misbehaving! Aaarrrgh! But they behave well enough to fool most people!
You can HEAR that an approaching driver is driving while texting, swerving wildly?
Personally, I prefer walking the same way - in the same direction as traffic. Even though I am moving much more slowly than a bicycle, I still find that moving in the same direction gives me more time to react when someone is coming up behind me. I rely on my hearing to assist - you can hear when someone is moving out in the lane to pass. Most people don't realize this, and have never even attempted to focus on what they can hear.
You can HEAR that an approaching driver is driving while texting, swerving wildly?
You can hear the direction of travel. If they are moving out into the lane to pass you - you can hear that. If they are continuing on a line right up your *** you can hear that. Moving in the same direction gives you more time, and space, to move off the roadway. When you are moving in the opposite direction to traffic, the action you take moves you closer to the approaching vehicle.
If a driver was texting and then had to swerve towards you violently at the last second, say to avoid a car coming from the opposite direction, I don't think it would much matter which way you are heading - you probably aren't going to have enough time to respond either way.
Electric cars are quiet, but they aren't silent after about 5 mph. What scares me with them is when their speed is real low - like in a parking lot. I've never noticed one "sneak up" on me on the road - I hear them there.
But, like I said, on our roads around here, I just as often cross the road when I hear oncoming cars. I avoid the closeness altogether.
When I have the dogs with, I typically stop and have the dogs sit, so that I can see the driver, the driver sees me and the dogs, and the dogs are a predictable quantity to the driver. That is partly because we often go off-leash on certain sections of very low volume traffic. So I like the dogs to sit when cars are coming, and that way I know they aren't doing something stupid, like walking in front of a moving car. So I've made a habit of it.
If I was walking, with my dogs or without, on city streets, I wouldn't do the same things. For one thing - I would not walk on the roadway at all. If there was no sidewalk, I would be walking on the verge, not on the road. When the speed differences are too great, the odds are just not in your favor as a walker. Ditto if the street has a high volume of traffic - like in a city or town. Even if there is room, there are too many distractions for the drivers.
I always walk on the road against traffic.
My dogs always walk on the left of me held by my left hand since I have been taught for over thirty years, to keep my right hand free (long story not for here).
And my dogs prefer to walk on the left so there are more things to sniff such as mailbox posts, small bushes, curbs, and with more things to sniff, my male has more places to go.
Had a couple one day stop their car, and come back and tell me to stop walking against traffic cause it was illegal. This lasted about a minute till they decided it might be safer to get back into their car and leave.
As for riding a bike, every state I have lived in has laws that require bike riders to ride with traffic, but very seldom is it enforced.
Totally. And i see people walk on the wrong side of the road and with their dog on the outside. Both are stupid. As is my friend who rides his bike against traffic and walks along with it. Duh. But guess what? He was a scout. Made it all the way to Eagle? That was back in the 60's though and he "broke bad".
My dogs are trained in heel(left) and side(right). I am disabled and right handed. I feel more comfortable with my dog on my right. On streets with very little traffic or a large shoulder I would keep my dog on the right.
My parents have a terrier that is not trained. She wants to chase motorcycles. I never walk her without a sidewalk but she always walks closer to traffic. When walking a dog that wants to lunge into traffic it is best not to stand between them and their goal. Having your knees taken out is never fun but falling into traffic adds an extra element of terror. If you can't be bothered to train your dog it is a whole lot easier and safer to hold a dog back with a leash from behind.
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But guess what? He was a scout. Made it all the way to Eagle? That was back in the 60's though and he "broke bad". 
