Walk like you mean it

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's been sideswiped by ravaging packs of commuters wearing white earbuds that citydwellers are walking faster these days -- 10% faster, to be exact.

That's the result of an exhaustive international survey by psychologist Richard Wiseman, which builds on a similar 1997 study by Professor Robert Levine. Both were based on observations gathered from a random 60 foot stretch of sidewalk in major cities around the world.

The big surprise, however, is that we in the US are dawdling laggards compared to our Asian and European brethren. New Yorkers like to think they move faster than anyone, a conclusion reinforced by any out-of-towner trying to take a gentle stroll down a Manhattan street. But New York is only number eight on Wiseman's list. Singapore's number one -- and amazingly, streetwalkers in Copenhagen, Madrid, Berlin and Dublin all beat their counterparts in Gotham.

It will be very interesting to see how long this trend holds. Can we really keep walking 10% faster every decade? What kind of herd mentality is at work here? Will we all be achieving Olympic record times for the 200m dash to the subway by 2020?