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Most drivers are taught to assess the junction before they arrive and decide if they need to come to a stop or not. The thought process in the heads of drivers

Most drivers are taught to assess the junction before they arrive and decide if they need to come to a stop or not. The thought process in the heads of drivers approaching the junction is "I have good visibility in both directions and there are no other vehicles. I will go through." This works for most situations but fails tragically here. Yes, the drivers should stop for the stop sign but they clearly don't. It's a UX problem. The junction should be fixed not the user.

Dylan16807 6y ago
If the the training encourages you to ignore signs and signals, that's much more than a UX problem.
- gnfargbl 6y ago
  The training doesn’t teach you to “ignore signs and signals.” The point is that the overwhelming majority of junctions of this type are marked Give Way, and the trained behaviour on a Give Way junction is to slow and take careful note of other vehicles, but not necessarily to stop. Full Stop signs are very much more rare in the UK than in the US and where they are used it is typically at completely blind junctions. Because of that, many drivers’ brains will subconsciously recognise this as a Give Way and act accordingly. Which is careless, but ultimately a UX issue.
  - Dylan16807 6y ago
    If the thought process is "that's a give way sign, I'll do the give way thing", then that's a UX issue with the sign. If the thought process is just "I'll do the give way thing" then that's also a major training issue.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - kd5bjo 6y ago
      It can be fixed with better training, infrastructure changes, or both. The cost of fixing the training regime would be extremely high, however: New drivers presumably already know what to do and have been tested on it during their practical exam. The problem is that encounters with stop signs are sufficiently rare they fail to naturally reinforce that training through repetition. To fix that, you either need to increase the frequency of natural stop-sign encounters by installing more of them or to introduce artificial encounters by requiring practical exams for license renewals.

Dylan16807 6y ago

If the the training encourages you to ignore signs and signals, that's much more than a UX problem.

gnfargbl 6y ago
The training doesn’t teach you to “ignore signs and signals.” The point is that the overwhelming majority of junctions of this type are marked Give Way, and the trained behaviour on a Give Way junction is to slow and take careful note of other vehicles, but not necessarily to stop. Full Stop signs are very much more rare in the UK than in the US and where they are used it is typically at completely blind junctions. Because of that, many drivers’ brains will subconsciously recognise this as a Give Way and act accordingly. Which is careless, but ultimately a UX issue.
- Dylan16807 6y ago
  If the thought process is "that's a give way sign, I'll do the give way thing", then that's a UX issue with the sign. If the thought process is just "I'll do the give way thing" then that's also a major training issue.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - kd5bjo 6y ago
    It can be fixed with better training, infrastructure changes, or both. The cost of fixing the training regime would be extremely high, however: New drivers presumably already know what to do and have been tested on it during their practical exam. The problem is that encounters with stop signs are sufficiently rare they fail to naturally reinforce that training through repetition. To fix that, you either need to increase the frequency of natural stop-sign encounters by installing more of them or to introduce artificial encounters by requiring practical exams for license renewals.