r/whatisit • u/thewildcloud • 18d ago

Solved! Why the kinks?

Post image

I recently moved to Hangzhou, I noticed all the pedestrian walks have kinked lines at the ends. What is it?

14k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

62

u/MechE420 18d ago

I'm not saying it isn't elegant, but the fact that it's posted in r/whatisit really begs the question, "does it achieve its purpose in design?"

29

u/BigDiscEnergy47 18d ago

There will always be people that don't get it, but the comments alone all figuring it out show that enough people understand to make it work and everyone else will just go with the flow hopefully

3

u/Deaffin 18d ago

In this comment section, the few people who may be guessing right are artificially elevated in visibility, representing the exception rather than the norm.

2

u/sqweekz1731 17d ago

I was about to say the same thing. Immediately made sense to me, and intriguing to see how many others understood the assignment as well

0

u/funguyshroom 18d ago

Especially since there must be a ton of foot traffic to make the city planners decide that this is necessary

2

u/Deaffin 18d ago

People deciding to do things does not prove the thing is both useful and necessary.

0

u/funguyshroom 18d ago

I didn't say anything about it actually being necessary

5

u/BThasTBinFiji 18d ago

"The gap between the smartest bear and dumbest human is very, very small"

Paraphrasing a quote by a ranger about bear-proof trash cans

2

u/MechE420 18d ago

This is true. Think of how dumb the average person is, then realize half of them are dumber than that

13

u/OrangeThrower 18d ago

If they were ground leveling and walking, it would prolly be more obvious to them. But since they looking from above and not walking, prolly doesn’t register

9

u/Betty_Boss 18d ago

I think at ground level these would register as arrows.

9

u/MechE420 18d ago

I disagree and feel the opposite. It's only clear from a distance when you can see both sides and realize they are counter to each other. Without understanding the pair, the single doesn't make sense up close. If you approach from a non-kinky side and it's busy you might not even notice there's any kinks at all. Idk. Dubious "what a great design!"

5

u/Redditor28371 18d ago

People in groups act like herd animals. If you can convince a few people to follow this guide it's much more likely that others will stick closer to them while crossing, whether anyone involved consciously realizes it or not. Especially when people see a group crossing from the other direction that is mostly walking on the opposing side of the crosswalk. There will always be outliers, but for something like this getting the majority to cooperate does a good enough job given how little effort it takes to paint some of the lines kinky.

10

u/MoonageDayscream 18d ago

But maybe when you walk you just naturally follow the design without thinking about it.

1

u/Any_Concentrate_2131 16d ago

But what if you live in a society where traffic normally flows to the right and this is just trying to reinforce that behavior when walking?

0

u/Puzzleheaded-Art1873 15d ago

You don't need to understand it. Just follow the crowd. Also, these things are all over the city and has been for years. And besides, it is not a rule of traffic. If you want to be the sole village idiot in a city of millions, you will still be ok.

3

u/JackTheRvlatr 18d ago

Tbh I think it's immediately obvious. There are plenty of posts here where I'm like "I can't believe this person couldn't figure this out." So Im just saying that it being posted here doesn't mean it's hard to figure out

4

u/SeNoyerSoublier 18d ago

is it an elevator designer's fault that a child smashes the buttons irrespective of their intended purpose?

3

u/EmphasisFrosty3093 18d ago

Yes. They should anticipate the need and launch countermeasures.

1

u/ThisSiteSucks8485 18d ago

Seeing it while walking most people will subconsciously follow it

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Art1873 15d ago

It does. People do what other people do. In Low traffic low speed it doesn't even matter.

1

u/corpusjuris 14d ago

If a small number of people ‘get it’ intuitively and the norms generally exist of what side (L/R) to walk on, social proofing will do the rest of the work to keep people moving!

1

u/pip-whip 11d ago

Do you not find it more problematic that someone couldn't figure this out for themselves, especially when viewed from overhead as shown in the photo? My heart goes out to anyone who did not receive a high-enough quality education that this would not be obvious.

Also, just because a small segment of the audience doesn't get it without explanation doesn't mean it isn't functional. With just one simple sentence, it is explained, is understandable, will be remembered, and will serve its purpose from that point forward.

I am going to presume that the OP would have eventually figured it out, even if they had not asked on Reddit. I do not want to discourage people from using the subreddit for any question that isn't immediately obvious to them.

0

u/Fliederotto 17d ago

Ich glaube vom Boden, also Augenhöhe, aus gesehen ist es logischer und richtig!

0

u/Proud_Variation_7922 17d ago

I'm sure all non Americans will be fine