Litter, scooters and phones: a map of urban irritation

The street has stopped being a place you pass through and become an obstacle course. There is no single enemy and no complaint capable of uniting everyone; there is a very long list, and everyone puts their own at the top. But three hotspots keep coming up: what you step on, vehicles invading pedestrian space, and the feeling that the pavement belongs to everyone except the person walking. Asking what irritates people most when walking down the street yields a scattered, unflattering and quite telling inventory of how public space is used.

The ground: excrement, spit and chewing gum

The first point of friction is literally the ground. Not the scenery: the ground. Slipping on something someone else dropped, falling flat and getting hurt is the scenario that opens the topic, and from there the list never stops: uncollected dog mess, urine, chewing gum, litter, spit and snot. The most frequently cited anecdote is that of a woman who slipped on dog mess, fell and stained her clothes, and was helped by whoever witnessed the scene. Some have moved from complaining to a technical solution: asking a cobbler to fit non-slip soles to walk more safely in the rain. And a back-of-the-envelope calculation circulates: in a city like Gijón, some 38,000 dogs would take to the streets to relieve themselves twice a day.

Scooters, bikes and narrow footbridges

The second hotspot is the wheeled invasion of the pavement. Electric scooters and cyclists who ride across pedestrian bridges without dismounting top the complaints, especially where the path is narrow and there is no room for two bodies. The complaint is not aesthetic: it is about safety. A pedestrian who steps aside too late, a sudden braking or an abrupt manoeuvre is enough to turn a stroll into a scare. The reproach is not aimed at any particular group but at a habit: riding where the street design was never meant for it. This is a conflict over the allocation of space, not of sympathy.

Shoulder-to-shoulder groups, phones and the right not to move aside

Another current of discontent targets those who take up the entire pavement shoulder to shoulder, forcing oncoming pedestrians to step into the road. The most graphic description refers to groups advancing in parallel and, when someone stands their ground and refuses to move, to reproachful looks. To that add the pedestrian who walks while reading their phone, with the speaker on or holding the device in front of their face. A personal tally sums up the atmosphere: in a chokepoint, of fifteen people who could give way, one does. A rule many people apparently do not know also resurfaces —keep right on the pavement— and those who mention it do so with the tone of someone preaching in the wilderness.

Reggaeton, speakers and car horns: noise as aggression

If the ground and physical space are the first front, sound is the second. Music at full volume from a mobile phone or portable speakers appears in almost every list, with reggaeton as the default soundtrack. It is not a generational complaint: the old man's transistor radio playing football hardly bothered anyone, whereas a speaker at full power on a narrow pavement turns the walk into a forced listening session. The list also includes the car horn as a greeting —some admit to less-than-edifying impulses when they hear it— and the whistling or humming of someone walking past in silence who decides, right then, to start singing.

Smoke, extendable leads and dogs in jumpers

Tobacco still scores high: walking behind someone who smokes means swallowing the smoke, and worse if it's a cigar. The same complaint mixes dogs on extendable leads crossing the pavement from side to side while their owner stares at their phone, and the annoyance caused by people who treat animals like children, with pushchairs, clothes and bows. Living with pets draws two different criticisms: the mess they leave and the space they take up. Hygiene and respect for oncoming pedestrians are once again the core issue.

From specific complaints to classifying one's neighbours

A recurring summary reduces everything above to a trio: a lack of manners, empathy and respect — and if one must be chosen, the first. That is where opinions split. Some stay with the specific reproach; others drift into generalisations against certain groups, with no data whatsoever to back those claims. Those who analyse the phenomenon more coolly point to urban density, the allocation of space and ambient noise, not to a particular type of neighbour.

If city councils tighten scooter regulation and street cleaning, the most visible conflict will likely ease. With reservations: the irritation described by dirty pavements or shoulder-to-shoulder walking is not fixed by an ordinance. And yet that is what comes up most often.