

To be a better UI/UX designer, go to a foreign country, rent a car, and drive. - timchilcottjr
http://jumper.io/to-be-a-better-uiux-designer-go-to-a-foreign-country-rent-a-car-and-drive/

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ChiperSoft
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
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.

~~~
w1ntermute
> Many regions of Michigan, for example, do not have left turn lanes. You're
> expected to make a right and then a U-turn.

More about the Michigan Left:
<http://www.michiganhighways.org/indepth/michigan_left.html>

~~~
maxerickson
Better to say many roads though, even areas where they are prevalent will also
have stop lights with left turn lanes.

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baq
Relevant information:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Traff...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Traffic)

List of participating countries:
[http://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?&src=TR...](http://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?&src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XI~B~19&chapter=11&Temp=mtdsg3&lang=en)

Notable missing countries: China, USA

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bullfightonmars
> The street signs are in weird spots, or are non existent. Often times they
> were located after an intersection. Traffic lights were conflicting, there
> would be a red light on top and a green arrow pointing forward on bottom. We
> didn’t understand any of the icons. We were always a little nervous pulling
> up to an intersection and we were out of our comfort zone. There were cues
> on what to do, but they were never clear and obvious until it was much too
> late. We missed turns, exits and ran a few lights along the way but we made
> it through.

Sounds like Texas.

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

~~~
enraged_camel
This is really all you could contribute to this discussion?

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podperson
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.

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relaia
> 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.

~~~
kokey
I've driven in over 11 different countries, and I find the signage in the UK
to still be the strangest but at least I'm used to it. In the denser urban
areas the biggest main streets seem to have the least signs naming the street.
The alley ways off it will all have signs, but the big street you are just
supposed to 'know'. Also what gets me is that when there is an intersection
going through a roundabout, there is a sign well before the turn, but not
always actually at the turn. Most other places have a sign before and at the
turn. It's something to get used to in the UK, otherwise you see some turns
and wonder what the sign before the turn said because you didn't read every
single big board with multiple turns on it to check if one of them is what you
are after.

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oakesm9
Be glad you didn't try and figure this amazing piece of road out...

Streetview: <http://goo.gl/maps/Nni7P> About:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)>

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chewit
Whilst I know the point of this article isn't to say Ireland has terrible road
systems compared to the US, I found it amusing that coming from Ireland to the
US for a brief trip, I felt the systems there were absolutely crazy.

Now, clearly neither country is perfect, nor are they flawless but the
interesting takehome is when put in a pressured situation, how important it is
to reduce the cognitive load so you can focus on what's really important e.g.
I need to stop or, do I turn here?

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tjansen
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.

~~~
bullfightonmars
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 see the signals. BAM instant conformance to proper road use.

2) Following on that, sitting 10 feet back from the intersection you can see
everything in the intersection. You can see pedestrians crossing in front of
you and to the right of you. You can see cyclists entering into the
intersection and passing you far before you enter the intersection. As a ped
or cyclist this makes intersections much, much safer.

3) As you approach an intersection, and the light switches to yellow and then
red, there can be no doubt about the state of the light as you enter the
intersection. You can't enter or pass through the intersection on a red light
as you might in the US, because it will be red before you even get to the
intersection. This seriously reduces running lights or flying through the
intersection, making intersections much, much safter for motorists.

~~~
tjansen
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.

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

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___1___
Having just returned from the USA, I must admit, whilst I strongly dislike
like the "car culture" the street were incredibly well sign posted. A pet hate
of mine here in the UK are missing signs.

~~~
podperson
There's a new philosophy of road safety in Europe based around reducing the
usability of roads for drivers and increasing it for pedestrians. (You might
say that it follows as a lemma from the observation that Volvo drivers have
more accidents.)

E.g. if you make the boundary between "road" and "not road" less clear and
remove lane markings, drivers will drive more carefully. (Amazing!) I visited
some towns in Switzerland a few years ago that have taken this approach to
extremes -- there are no hard boundaries between road and sidewalk, seven-way
intersections (with trams) and no traffic lights -- and it works well
(especially for pedestrians).

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zwieback
I think Ireland is a particularly hard switch from the US. They seem to take
pride in the lack of signage. Still a great place to visit, though.

~~~
timchilcottjr
While we were there, one Irish guy asked me if I knew why the roads were so
crooked. When I asked why he told me "Because the guys that built them were
all drunk". It was good for a laugh.

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raider
I would have loved to see some of the examples he was talking about.

~~~
timchilcottjr
Keep an eye out and I'll put some in another article I'm working on.

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seivan
Learn to code.

~~~
timchilcottjr
While I agree with you, that article has been written to death.

~~~
seivan
And yet we have still have "Mobile UX experts" who can't code their "UX"

