To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
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Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#2My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#3My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
this positioning makes the rules clear: you must _always_ stop before a red light. no exceptions.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#4My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
* Some of the traffic lights in some European countries.
This is not the case in most of England, also in France there is often another set of lights lower down on the pole positioned for the driver in the car in the front of the queue.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#5My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
this positioning makes the rules clear: you must _always_ stop before a red light. no exceptions.
I know, but then you should do the same for pedastrians.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#6My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
* Some of the traffic lights in some European countries. This is not the case in most of England, also in France there is often another set of lights lower down on the pole positioned for the driver in the car in the front of the queue.
Here in Germany as well, but then it gets really confusing. My favorite example is this intersection:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=K%C3%BChlwetterstra%C3%9Fe,+D...
It has three lights, only two of them positioned at the stop line.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#7My pet peeve in Europe is the positioning of traffic lights. It drives me crazy that they not on the opposite side of the intersection, like in the US, but at the stop line. If you are in the first car at the stop line, then they are right above you and you have to crawl under the windshield to see them. Worst usability ever.
Here in Germany they are at least overhead and to the right on the pole, the latter easily visible from the first car. Additionally some intersections have them on the left side on a pole as well.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#8If you're in the US you probably don't have to go to Europe to experience this. Just go to another state. Despite federal standards there's a lot if variation in traffic signage, road markings, lane widths, and allowances.
Many regions of Michigan, for example, do not have left turn lanes. You're expected to make a right and then a U-turn.
I work in San Diego, but my employer is in Buffalo, NY. After spending a few weeks driving in Buffalo I've quickly come to appreciate how much thought has gone into SoCal's roads. The smart lights alone make me never want to leave the region.
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#9To become a better [noun] leave your [comfort zone].
Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.
#10> The street signs are in weird spots, or are non existent.
(Disclaimer: I haven't been to Ireland, but I do live closeby in the UK).
I find this interesting, because I found exactly the same thing true when I first went to San Francisco! It took me months to understand where to look for street signs (and I'm still fairly sure many junctions are missing them). I'm not sure if there's some pattern, but they often seemed arbitrarily placed... looking back, I also wonder if they're positioned more for drivers, whereas street signs here could be seen as more for pedestrians (whether this is true, or which is correct, is a topic for discussion).
In any case, I feel the author could expand their article by trying to think like a foreigner driving in their own country, and how that may also seem wrong! I personally think that this is perhaps a case of 'everyone has the wrong design', held together only by learnt habits.