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Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

jalopnik.com

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Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#391

Post by bagels »

Reason077 wrote: post #347
bagels wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's dark, I would assume it is likely that the taillights are also on.

Usually yes. But in urban areas (where there are lots of street lights, and lots of cyclists), people often forget to turn their lights on. I guess it's becoming less of a problem now that most cars have auto lights, but I still see cars driving around without lights pretty regularly.

Right, but that's a bigger problem than confusing turn signals. Doesn't matter what shape they are in that case.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#392

Post by [deleted] »

dwighttk wrote: post #373
Reason077 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually yes. But in urban areas (where there are lots of street lights, and lots of cyclists), people often forget to turn their lights on. I guess it's becoming less of a problem now that most cars have auto lights, but I still see cars driving around without lights pretty regularly.

Yeah I’m astonished at how often people drive with headlights off. Why is it even an option for lights to be off when in drive? I can understand wanting to turn them off sometimes, but not while moving.

[deleted]

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#393

Post by SilverRed »

userbinator wrote: post #293
jdavis703 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America has the highest per capita traffic deaths among OECD countries. Our traffic / vehicle regulations aren’t that strong and are rarely enforced on after-market modifications. This is getting downvotes, but it’s literally legal to drive a jacked up, high center of gravity pickup trucks in the US. Meanwhile in Europe such a modification would be illegal because it reduces front-facing visibility.

It's "very American" to value personal freedom above all else. The EU culture is more collectivist.

American's views of freedoms are a little wonky. In most of the world you can go about life with many transport options. You could drive, you could walk, you could ride a bike. While in the US the only realistic option is to drive.

In a personal freedoms sense, I would think that Europeans have more personal freedom since they have more realistic options to pick from.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#394

Post by 2143 »

I'm from Asia, but I have visited USA and Europe.

In Asia and Europe, turn signals are orange blinkers at the rear. They are distinct from the red brake lights which are a whole different element.

In USA, it's the brake lights that blink when you turn on the turn signal! And it blinks in red! There's no orange.

Who decided that was a great idea?!

The first time I was in USA, this red element started blinking in the car in front of me, and for a moment I was confused.

- I didn't even realise turning was his intention.

- When I did realise turning is his intention, I thought the owner of that particular car modified his tail lights, because he thought it was cool. Eventually I realized the brake lights blink for all newish cars.

Also, for new European cars (like, BMWs and Audis in particular), the orange blinkers that we get in Asia/Europe actually look pretty cool, with some sweeping orange LEDs designs in some cases. Too bad America misses out on that.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#395

Post by sellyme »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #220
MerelyMortal wrote: post #6

> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it and it may not throw them off-guard like others who aren't familiar with it.

>> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators >I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. >If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it The second sentence indicates that they would not inform Mini of any concerns because they are not aware there should be any concerns. The third sentence indicates that they wou…

> The third sentence indicates that they would know if there were any possible concerns because they own a Mini.

It indicates that they're used to that because they own a Mini, and by the first time that it actually matters they're accustomed enough to not recognise the concern.

The human brain is really good about not having to ever consciously think about something if it's had enough exposure in advance.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#396

Post by sellyme »

lostlogin wrote: post #167
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> when seeing the full rear of the car, I suppose the Mini designers have never driven in fog, poor lighting, storms, or at night? (When you might not see the full rear of the car) Imagine if you can only see the car's taillights and you see a blinking arrow move the opposite way it points. What would you think you saw? Or better yet, if one of the taillights is out, what would a driver behind the Mini think?

> Imagine if you can only see the car's taillights and you see a blinking arrow move the opposite way it points. What would you think you saw? If conditions were that bad and you saw a ‘normal’ indicator flash it would be a 50/50 guess which way it was going. That’s better I suppose but hardly good.

I'd say 90/10. The positioning of the light in relation to the road is usually going to be a very good heuristic.

However if that light was a freaking arrow I'm going to think "oh, it must be one of those 10% of cases, it's a good thing that indicator was designed so well" shortly before I'm killed.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#397

Post by fishywang »

mthoms wrote: post #181

Mini’s statement only highlights the absurdity (emphasis mine): >With regard to the turn indicator light pattern, there should be no trouble at all for a driver to understand, when seeing the full rear of the car , which direction is being indicated So what about when you can only see half of the car? Like when it’s changing lanes or pulling out of a parking spot? You know, like those times when a signal is MOST usef…

As a cyclist I'm always annoyed at the scenario that a car parked to the right of the bike lane having their left turn signal on, and their right turn signal is blocked by the car behind them, so I don't know if they are actually trying to pull out or just having their blinkers on.

Designs like this could actually be a solution to that, if they have the whole on both sides, so when it's blinker they blink -> , depending on which side. That would totally resolve cyclist's problem.

But no. Mini completely ruined that. I have so many questions to the designer on how, in any scenario, this is a good idea.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#399

Post by zarzavat »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #376
hexa22 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I have seen of American cars, this one is completely compliant. The horrible part about this car is that the signals are red and that they are the same light as the rear/brake lights. Which is apparently extremely common in the US.

How is it "horrible"? It's not confusing at all

If a car is braking and signalling at the same time, isn't that confusing?
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