# Poor designs in everyday life **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358 "2019-04-10T21:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/81 "2019-04-12T14:42:09Z")
When my knee was wrecked I had to use the accessible stall at the airport lav. And discovered that there seemed to be no way to do a courtesy flush while sitting. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/82 "2019-04-12T15:12:11Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Filling-up today at the gas station, I pondered why my car has the fill on the passenger side, and why other cars have them on the driver’s side… I recall many years ago when you would occasionally see one that was filled in the middle, just above the rear bumper, maybe behind the licence plate. Seems like a good design but now no cars that I know of (that are not exotics) have the gas fill in the middle. Perhaps it was a dangerous design somehow. > [@PoppaSan](#): > > I used to love this idea. I think the tire and trunk are now in the way though. I think the reason they got rid of them was that the fuel filler neck would break and leak in a rear-end collision, which could lead to a fire. I don’t have a specific cite for this. However, there are Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that specify the maximum amount of fuel that is allowed to leak out after a rear-end collision. The answer is that not much is allowed to leak. [49 CFR § 571.301 - Standard No. 301; Fuel system integrity. | Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.301) Those standards were first adopted in 1975, which was right around the time that center fuel filler necks started disappearing. [https://s3.amazonaws.com/archives.federalregister.gov/issue\_slice/1975/8/6/33035-33047.pdf#page=2](https://s3.amazonaws.com/archives.federalregister.gov/issue_slice/1975/8/6/33035-33047.pdf#page=2) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/83 "2019-04-12T15:14:39Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > My son’s Subaru. > > It’s a great car, but they didn’t think things through very well. > > Chief complaint is the backup camera which doesn’t dim at night… 1. The backup camera in my wife’s Subaru Outback has a different problem. She has a fancy navigation/entertainment system that shares the screen with the backup camera. So anyway, you start up the car, put it in reverse to back out of the driveway or parking space (which activates the backup camera), and inevitably as you are moving backwards, **a huge alert that blocks the entire screen** comes on for about 5 seconds to tell you that your phone has connected (or failed to connect) via Bluetooth with the car. :rolleyes: There’s no way to acknowledge or shut off this alert. In the last couple of years, I’ve finally gotten used to actually using backup cameras now that they are getting more ubiquitous. This, however, defeats the purpose of this now-mandatory safety feature and is IMHO a real safety hazard. 2. Speaking of combination on/off highway ramps, we have a few here in Connecticut. Here’s [one](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5457134,-72.1090666,3a,75y,19.29h,83.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqKXB5p52KrfQhORFAxkZKQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) that has a very short deceleration/acceleration lane. What’s even more annoying is the tendency to avoid some highway connections. If you look at the aerial view [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5459432,-72.1090202,16.25z), you can see that you have to get off the highway and take local streets if you are traveling on I-395 South and want to get onto Route 2 West. An alternative to this is go around three of the cloverleafs, which I actually had a navigation system tell me to do once (i.e. I-395S to Route2-E to I-395N to Route2-W). This involves three (3) 270 degree turns instead of one (1) 90 degree turn. :rolleyes: 3. Even worse are limited access highways that are so old that they pre-date modern highway design standards – like the [Merritt Parkway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway) with stop signs on the entrance ramps (which also have no merge lanes or acceleration lanes). 4. I’ll also mention the design of I-84 and I-91 through Hartford, with its “Beatrice Fox Auerbach Memorial 84-91 interchange” and the “[snake’s nest of highway ramps surrounding the department store’s garage](https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-250-g-fox-highway-construction-20140723-story.html),” all designed to make it easy for drivers to access the long-shuttered downtown G. Fox department store. Because the owner of the store (Auerbach) had great influence over state lawmakers, that’s how the interstates through Hartford were built. It’s going to cost the state billions of dollars to fix these highways (especially I-84), which have so many twists and turns that they are virtually impassable during rush hour, which wasn’t helped by local opposition that later blocked the construction of a bypass highway. > [@snowthx](#): > > …Also, USB plugs - I know they are meant to go a specific way, but I get it wrong 90% of the time and have to flip it over. I would have thought it would be more like 50/50. Joke that’s been making the rounds: "The guy who invented the USB connector died… They lowered the coffin into his grave. Then they lifted it back out, turned it round, and lowered it back in again." 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/84 "2019-04-12T15:23:04Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Six packs of beer in 12 ounce cans, and four packs of the same beer in 16 ounce cans. Man, what the fuck is wrong with six packs of 16 ounce cans? I’m buying bigger cans because I want MORE beer. And what happened to the 8-pack??? Pure genius. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/85 "2019-04-12T15:25:18Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Combination on/off ramps on freeways. I understand that it saves space in cramped cities, but people trying to slow down while exiting being mixed with people accelerating to get on the freeway is just a bone stupid thing to do. The idea is that you put your exit ramps before your on ramps. That way, the people shifting lanes to get off don’t interfere with the people shifting lanes after they get on the freeway. Keeps traffic ON the freeway running smoothly. Either way, you end up with people crossing each other- this way, you shift it to the access road, and off the main freeway. Setting it up as a combined lane in reverse, with the on-ramp coming before the off ramp ON the freeway is just asking for congestion. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/86 "2019-04-12T17:09:05Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve got a dishwasher that, when it’s finished washing dishes, beeps. Every fifteen minutes, until you go in and turn it off. Which means I can’t wash up, start the dishwasher, and go to bed, because the beeping is loud enough to wake me up. There’s absolutely no reason it needs to keep beeping. It is not an oven. My dishes aren’t going to get over-cleaned if I don’t turn off the washer. They are not going to catch fire. But, apparently, it is very important to the manufacturer that I get up and press a button to make the fucking thing shut up. It’ not even necessary on ovens. My previous microwave, despite being my favorite brand, was an absolute P.O.S. in this regard. A warning every few minutes is nice, but for the love of God, I don’t need to be beeped at every 30 seconds that my butter is softened. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/87 "2019-04-12T17:20:20Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The idea is that you put your exit ramps before your on ramps. That way, the people shifting lanes to get off don’t interfere with the people shifting lanes after they get on the freeway. Keeps traffic ON the freeway running smoothly. > > Either way, you end up with people crossing each other- this way, you shift it to the access road, and off the main freeway. > > Setting it up as a combined lane in reverse, with the on-ramp coming before the off ramp ON the freeway is just asking for congestion. Or a collision. You’ve got people coming on the entrance ramp trying to accelerate while changing lanes to the left mixed up with people approaching the exit ramp trying to decelerate while changing lanes to the right. What could go wrong? :rolleyes: Oh and every once in a while, just to mix things up and add some unpredictability, you’ve also got someone coming on the entrance and staying in the same lane before immediately exiting. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/88 "2019-04-12T18:14:04Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Combination on/off ramps on freeways. I understand that it saves space in cramped cities, but people trying to slow down while exiting being mixed with people accelerating to get on the freeway is just a bone stupid thing to do. Our area is getting one of these. The local news has been getting the word out about it and how to use it. They it a “zipper” lane. I pity the poor souls who will have to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/89 "2019-04-12T18:22:27Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Also, USB plugs - I know they are meant to go a specific way, but I get it wrong 90% of the time and have to flip it over. I would have thought it would be more like 50/50. Far from a perfect solution, if the socket is horizontal and the image on the plug is visible, the side of the plug with the USB symbol (the trident) should be UP. Doesn’t help much if the socket is vertical or on the top of something, and many symbols are molded into the plug so you can’t see them in dark places. > [@Miller](#): > > I’ve got a dishwasher that, when it’s finished washing dishes, beeps. Every fifteen minutes, until you go in and turn it off. Which means I can’t wash up, start the dishwasher, and go to bed, because the beeping is loud enough to wake me up. There’s absolutely no reason it needs to keep beeping. It is not an oven. My dishes aren’t going to get over-cleaned if I don’t turn off the washer. They are not going to catch fire. But, apparently, it is very important to the manufacturer that I get up and press a button to make the fucking thing shut up. See if your model has a delayed start option. Then you can tell it to start one hour (or whatever it takes) before you get up, and the beep will serve as an alarm clock. Make the bug into a feature! My newest dishwasher plays a public-domain tune at the end of the cycle. The manual describes a pushbutton sequence to permanently disable it. It doesn’t work. But every time I try to set it, I have to wait for an entire cycle to find that out. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/90 "2019-04-12T19:02:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Also, USB plugs - I know they are meant to go a specific way, but I get it wrong 90% of the time and have to flip it over. I would have thought it would be more like 50/50. If the USB plug won’t go in, flip it over and try again. If it still won’t go in, flip it over, and then it will work. > [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > They finally eliminated this problem with the new [USB-C](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C) connection. I like the connector for USB-C, but otherwise it is kind of a mess. The same connector can carry USB, Thunderbolt, Displayport, HDMI, and power (what other ones am I missing?) That doesn’t mean that everything with a USB-C shaped connector can do all of those things. It doesn’t mean a cable with a USB-C shaped connector can carry all of those things. So far, I don’t think USB-C is quite widely used enough for this to be a problem, but imagine a day when you have to sort through a pile of USB-C cables to figure out which one you can use to connect your laptop to power, to an external drive, and to your monitor. Also, does your USB-C hub pass all of those signals, or just some? > [@MeanJoe](#): > > After having my driver’s license and being the owner of many vehicles over the last 32 years of my life someone finally pointed out to me that on pretty much every car’s dashboard display there is a small triangle indicator next to the gas icon that points to the side of the vehicle where the gas cap is located. I had never noticed this before but once it was pointed out I could not believe I spent all those years looking in my side mirrors to try and visually figure out what side the gas cap was on (I drive a lot of rental cars due to business travel). Everybody always says this, but none of the gas cars I’ve owned have ever had the little arrow. The last car I rented actually had the arrow, and it was convenient. The previous rental cars have not. I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody said 80% of cars have the arrow, and I’ve just been unlucky. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/91 "2019-04-12T20:48:10Z")
**Echoreply** Sometimes it’s a little picture of a gas pump and the hose will be on the same side as your filler. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/92 "2019-04-12T21:20:13Z")
> [@Hopeful\_Crow](#): > > Our area is getting one of these. The local news has been getting the word out about it and how to use it. > They it a “zipper” lane. > > I pity the poor souls who will have to use it. I’ve heard of a “zipper merge” but that’s simply when two lanes merge into one (and the so-called [zipper merge](https://auto.howstuffworks.com/traffic-lane-zipper-merge.htm) is when vehicles wait until the last minute for the merge, which is actually more efficient). I’ve never heard of a zipper lane. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/93 "2019-04-12T21:31:24Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > . . . A traffic engineer explained it once to me that while people think that having the traffic lights synced is more efficient, it’s not necessarily the case. They try to maximize overall traffic flow and having lights in sync doesn’t always do it. I bet part of that is that if you have, say, a north/south street with the streetlights synced, it’s almost impossible to also sync the east/west streets crossing it. As an aside, when a municipality plans improvements that will improve traffic flow it may be possible to get grant money to pay for at least part of it, especially if they are in a non-attainment air quality area. Improved traffic flow means fewer stops. Fewer stops means fewer vehicle-hours spent idling. Fewer idling hours means less air pollution. In the application, first they estimate the cost of installing that ITS system or that roundabout. Then they estimate the pounds of various air pollutants that will not be emitted due to the improvement (there are standards for doing that - you don’t get to make your own assumptions). Then the grant program ranks projects by Benefit/Cost ratio and funds the ones with the best B/C. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/94 "2019-04-12T22:20:11Z")
My beef is with vaporizer/humidifier designs. The plastic tank you fill with water inevitably has a lip surrounding the inside of the intake hole. This makes it impossible to remove all the water from the tank between uses and when cleaning it. My late former MIL got a specific type of pneumonia that was traced to her humidifier. Why can’t they be made so there’s no lip on the inside? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/95 "2019-04-12T23:43:17Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > As an aside, when a municipality plans improvements that will improve traffic flow it may be possible to get grant money to pay for at least part of it, especially if they are in a non-attainment air quality area. Improved traffic flow means fewer stops. Fewer stops means fewer vehicle-hours spent idling. Fewer idling hours means less air pollution. Followed by more traffic in the newly improved road because traffic is flowing better, resulting in the same or worse air quality. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/96 "2019-04-13T01:05:20Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Parking lots where the spaces are at right angles to the lanes rather than obtuse angles. Other than having room for maybe one extra spot at the end of the line, I don’t see what the advantage is to the right angle spaces. In most parking lots (though not garages), you can travel either way down a lane so an obtuse angle space would only be correct for cars coming from one direction. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/97 "2019-04-13T13:22:58Z")
Speaking of cars, retractable seat belts that don’t retract. They way they are designed in our car, they flip over when we take them off, and the flip keeps the belt from retracting. The belt hangs out the door, the buckle gets caught in the door, causing a terrible crunching sound, or most bothersome, the belt managed to mangle the door gasket. We had to get outdoor, double-sided tape to tape the gasket to the car so that it wouldn’t fall down so we’d get tangled in it getting out of the car. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/98 "2019-04-13T13:43:54Z")
Suicide Lanes we call them in PX. The center lane (usually for turning left only) is opened for 3 hours in the morning for going into city center, and 3 hrs. at rush hour leaving the city. And during those times, left turns are not allowed at intersections. I used to live on one of the 2 main rds. that use this silly method, and watched accidents and road rage daily. [http://http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/the-dangers-of-phoenix-s-reversible-suicide-lanes-](http://http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/the-dangers-of-phoenix-s-reversible-suicide-lanes-) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/99 "2019-04-13T14:11:08Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > My beef is with vaporizer/humidifier designs. The plastic tank you fill with water inevitably has a lip surrounding the inside of the intake hole. This makes it impossible to remove all the water from the tank between uses and when cleaning it. My late former MIL got a specific type of pneumonia that was traced to her humidifier. Why can’t they be made so there’s no lip on the inside? Do the humidifiers specify using distilled water? In my experience with C-PAP machines it’s vital to use only distilled water because the lack of dissolved minerals minimizes mold and bacterial growth. Poor design: so many things, especially electronics, are cased in black plastic. And then vital labels are embossed on the surface. For anyone with poor vision reading black on black lettering requires a flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/100 "2019-04-13T14:57:27Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > When I’m on the treadmill I turn on closed captioning as I often can’t hear the TV. Even though I have a wide screen TV, some of the movies are still letter-boxed. Why in the worlds can’t the captions appear in the nice black area below the picture. Instead they write it over the picture where it’s often difficult to read against the changing background. Because the design of subtitles references the picture, not the screen. The Spanish subtitling norm (UNE 153010) calls for the use of different colors by character as much as possible, and to use edged letters again when possible. By giving the letters their own contrasting edge, they’re a lot more visible. I really wish that norm got more widespread. The BBC has used the “one color per person” bit for several years in at least part of their programs; it’s really handy when you’ve got someone speaking off camera, or several people speaking at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358.md?page=6)