Downside, a staff turns an invisible pedestrian into a noticeable walker.

Other things to factor in are time, weather and situation, all three were conducive for a 16 mile trek. What if you decision to trek home comes at 3pm in winter, with snow falling when the roads have iced over and traffic is gridlocked? What if a 10am earthquake pancakes your car (and BOB) in the parking garage? Either case, substantially less likely to hike home.

Its very good though to test things out, and get a sense of the real distance between your home and daytime locations.

I last walked home in the 3pm winter scenario, 9 miles through snow/ice in about 3 1/2 hours - got home before my brother who lives a few blocks away and left work at the same time. It was very unusual for anyone under the age of 9 to be out on foot alone in Seattle snow. If I was 16 miles away from home might rethink and wait out the storm/traffic or just bed down for the night at work (which may folks did).

If it was a 9.0 Seattle fault quake my objective would still be to get home, after some local work/CERT response obligations. Hereabouts lots of people live 30 or more miles from work, across floating bridges that may not be floating no more. Assuming my car or infrastructure are kaput, I'll still walk home if not injured, and expect to take a train of co-workers home with me for temporary shelter, seeing as it will take time to get back across the lake or up to the next county where they live. I hope the rest who start the long trek home have given their walk a try beforehand.