People who do this dont want other people to hear their pee hitting the water and/or back of urinal. At least a large percentage of them do.
Cecil discussed urinals, splash-back (and avoiding same), and little fly-targets painted at the optimal spot, May 9, 2003, here. (Worth a look, just for Slug’s illustration.)
I’ve often seen urinals with a little sea shell for the target.
I’ve also been seeing “waterless” urinals more and more lately.
ETA: And as for hands-free operation, I’ve been seeing more and more of auto-flushing toilets and urinals, auto-sensing faucets at the sink, and auto-sensing paper towel dispensers. I think one primary motive may be for hygiene paranoia, to make everything as no-touch-em as possible. Goes right along with those wet hand wipes you see everywhere (especially at supermarket entrances) these days.
Now this is something that I really really have never been able to understand…
Are enough people really that germophobic to make a difference?
And FWIW, I have never seen a urinal that permanently has water in it…so when people are talking about that, I’m having some form of cognitive dissonance trying to work it out…are you saying they’re like toilets with a bowl of water at the bottom?
3 things as I see it:
- The handle is positively filthy. The seat is way cleaner.
- Whether using a towel prevents disease, I cannot say.
- Of course enough people aren’t doing it, that’s the point. It’s not an effort to create herd immunity, it’s to avoid those (possible) germs yourself. Enough people don’t even wash.
Where do you live? The majority have water in the bottom that I see. Not nearly as much as the toilet. Maybe fist size in volume or smaller. By area it is smaller than that in the horizontal plane. Most say how many liters per flush or whatever.
Why do you need water in the bottom of a urinal for? What is the design benefit?
As to where I live - the places I am talking about are
New Zealand
Australia
Singapore
Thailand
Malaysia
Indonesia
Like this.
Why? Probably cheaper to buy. And that’s the way it’s been done. And old pipes, maybe. And possibly less odor. They’re just the same concept as toilets but no solid waste. Waterless are not uncommon in the US, just not the norm. Some have water in a less visible reservoir, although those aren’t the same thing as waterless.
I am not really all that germophobic, but this is a habit I got into after seeing too many people walk out after doing their business without washing. If I grab the door handle after them without barrier, I may as well be grabbing their business directly.
As to water in the bottom of the urinal, my guess would be to eliminate the chance of sewer air coming out. I thought that was the main reason for water in the bottom of toilets, too.
We’re hurting for water in California and have had waterless urinals for years. They’ve got an oil layer beneath the drain so the pee drops below it so it doesn’t stink.
Me, I always use the hand dryer rather than paper towels given the choice, and only use one paper towel, no matter how small. My hands don’t dry completely, but a minute or two later, they seem completely dry.
Sewer air exchange is prevented mainly by the U-curve in the pipes further down. Sinks are a perfect illustration of how it’s not necessary to have the whole fixture full of water - just enough to fill the U-curve will stop any air from getting by.
With the implication that, somehow, ‘actually washing your hands’ gets them wetter than just running them under water for 4 seconds? Did you watch the video? 
You don’t need 3 paper towels.
Obligatory Pulp Fiction reference.
Usually, the last dude didn’t flush (:smack:), and the next guy doesn’t want to get the first dude’s pee splashed on him.
Flushing halfway through, I imaging the next guy doesn’t want his own pee splashed back…
No, you don’t. We tried this out, with a disused urinal, a squirtgun and some blue coloring.
The stuff in the urinal doesn’t splash back on you. What happens is that you’re peeing on your own legs.
There is no risk at all of foreign urine splash, no need to pre-flush.
- Leave a space - when possible - between your urinal and mine.
- If there is no space then keep eyes strictly forward (forward and up, forward and down I don’t care so long as it’s forward or away from me.
- Don’t fucking talk to me. I don’t like small talk with strangers at the best of times and these are not they.
- If you’ve gotta take a shit then do so but don’t revel in it. I have no desire to listen to the sounds of the Herculean struggle involved in fecal liberation. If it really is as strenuous as all of that I’d recommend this fibre thing I keep hearing about or talking to a Doctor.
- Don’t tell me about your adventures after you return from the washroom. I could not care less. I don’t care that much about mine and yours are even further from a priority to me*
Zeke
*Unless it involves copious blood loss and / any visible life form. Even then, perhaps a dude in a whitecoat is a better choice to discuss it with than a guy at the bar watching the fights.
OK I have to ask, how do you know women do this too? Flush an empty toilet before using it. Unlike in the Men’s room, you can’t see what they are doing in the stalls, so why would you think they are flushing clean water instead of that the previous occupant left the bowl full of piss and/or shit?
I’d think the percentage of men who who flush because they’re afraid of other men hearing their pee hit the water or urinal would be pretty small.
Is anyone here worried about that?
Well at least much smaller group than among women. With paruresis, men might often want to create the sound of peeing, or failing that, flushing to give yourself some breathing room or pretend like you’re actually going.
Holy Fuck! Hold your breath or breathe through your mouth if the smell is nasty (or go pee in the toilets), aim at the back of the urinal not at the bottom of the pool of urine so it won’t splash on you, and flush at the end after you’re done peeing. This isn’t hard, men. I believe in you, I know you can do it.
As far as restroom behaviour goes, personally I draw the line somewhere before this.
Flushing is optional, depending on water usage in your area. It is a huge waste of water, and even power.
And like I said, it doesn’t splash on you. You splash on you.