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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.

#41

Post by iso8859-1 »

tjansen wrote: post #6
GotAnyMegadeth wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* 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.

@iooi: The blurred building is there because someone requested it blurred: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View_privacy_conc...

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#43

Post by tjansen »

bullfightonmars wrote: post #19
tjansen wrote: post #2

My 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.

No. A million times no. As you said traffic lights in Europe are on the leading edge of an intersection. This may in fact be the simplest and most foundational bit of usability and user experience innovation the US could learn from Europe in intersection design. 1) Placing the signals on the leading edge means that the stop line is ~10 feet back from the intersection. If you decide to ignore the stop line, you can't…

I don't understand the correlation between the position of the lights and the position of the stop line. You can have a stop line 10 feet away from the intersection and still have traffic lights on the other side. Actually, in my experience, not being able to see the lights once you crossed the stop line can also be quite dangerous, and it has happened to me more than once in traffic jams.

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#44

Post by tjansen »

iso8859-1 wrote: post #40
tjansen wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What is the problem here? You expected more at the stop line? Why?

It's confusing to have three lights for a single stop line, especially the light on the left is odd. You don't know which of the traffic lights apply to you and it makes you look for another stop line.

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#45

Post by dmiladinov »

ChiperSoft wrote: post #8

If 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 w…

When I first moved to Pennsylvania I was completely dumbfounded the first time I came to a stop at a stop sign and the driver behind laid on his horn - I didn't read the "fine print" below the sign: except for right turn[1]

[1]: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter212/s212.107.ht...

Edit: Here's a source with a photo: http://www.another-mile.com/2009/12/stop-means-stop-except-r...

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#46

Post by podperson »

enraged_camel wrote: post #42
podperson wrote: post #9

To become a better [noun] leave your [comfort zone].

This is really all you could contribute to this discussion?

I did, in fact, post another comment, so the literal answer to your question is "no". Answering your question in, I think, the spirit it was intended (assuming you weren't simply being facetious) I feel that pithily observing that there is a general principle at work of which the article being discussed is merely a minor example is in fact a pretty decent contribution.

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#47

Post by baq »

tjansen wrote: post #43
bullfightonmars wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. A million times no. As you said traffic lights in Europe are on the leading edge of an intersection. This may in fact be the simplest and most foundational bit of usability and user experience innovation the US could learn from Europe in intersection design. 1) Placing the signals on the leading edge means that the stop line is ~10 feet back from the intersection. If you decide to ignore the stop line, you can't…

I don't understand the correlation between the position of the lights and the position of the stop line. You can have a stop line 10 feet away from the intersection and still have traffic lights on the other side. Actually, in my experience, not being able to see the lights once you crossed the stop line can also be quite dangerous, and it has happened to me more than once in traffic jams.

what if there's snow on the road and the stop line isn't visible? what if there's no stop line?

Re: To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive.

#48

Post by baq »

rmk2 wrote: post #34
zwieback wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The street lights were the most confusing thing moving from Germany to the US. The first year or so my heart often jumped when I felt like I was running a red light after turning right on a green. Now when I go back after driving in the US for 20 years there are a lot of things that seem weird in Germany. Not having right-on-red (and even left on red into one-ways) is a huge plus here. I also think there's too much y…

> I also think there's too much yielding to the car coming from much smaller streets on the right. That's a feature though, since it is usually used in residential areas to slow down traffic and force people to stop more frequently, instead of just rolling through at 30...who are we kidding, 40+ Km/h.

40? make it 70 if there aren't any speed bumps.
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