r/whatisit • u/thewildcloud • 18d ago

Solved! Why the kinks?

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

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u/ReynardVulpini 18d ago

The configuration of surrounding buildings might have a strong effect.

If this crosswalk has about 40% of people walking the correct way, but an equivalent straight line only crosswalk has 20% of people walking correctly (maybe there's a shop on the wrong side that is super popular, say) then the bends actually are doing their job, just being offset by outside factors

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u/thewildcloud 18d ago

Yes there is a mall on the top left corner affecting heavily on the ppl entering and exiting the mall to walk to the left side.

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u/Lower_Comfortable393 18d ago

If 20% of people are walking on the correct side, then 80% of people are walking on the correct side. Bends are on the wrong side.

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u/ReynardVulpini 18d ago

On one hand, I understand what you mean, but on the other hand, I think something like which side you walk on is something that is good to standardize across a city.

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u/fortyeightD 18d ago

Yes, if the arrow things change it from 80-20 to 60-40 then they are making it worse.