A while ago, I did a little experiment. I noticed that, as I walked through crowded city streets or tube stations, I was constantly darting around male pedestrians, nimbly side-stepping to avoid collisions. I decided, for a month, to try to counteract this learned behaviour.

I pressed forward without dodging or skirting around men. But men weren’t used to moving out of a woman’s way, and I ended up having numerous collisions – more than 2 a day – which were met with abuse or complete amazement, more often than apology.

This week I’ve been reading experimental social psychology articles which measure and quantify what it’s like to be a female pedestrian. It won’t come as any surprise to urban female walkers, but this is what the research shows.