Air ducts under windows have always felt counterintuitive to me.
Why blow hot air out the window?
So, I asked a plumber. It’s because it creates an air pocket.
Behavioural design works the same way.
Sometimes, changes to the environment that don’t make rational sense have the biggest impact.
For example, back in 2013 West Japan Railway Company was grappling with a serious problem.
Occasionally, intoxicated people would stumble onto the tracks and die.
Hoping to understand how it was happening, the company reviewed footage.
And something surprising was revealed.
Most people didn’t fall while walking alongside the tracks.
They fell after standing up from platform benches.
In their disoriented state, they’d lurch forward, straight into danger.
The solution?
They rotated the benches 90 degrees. Now, if someone stands and steps forward, they stay safely on the platform.
This simple, counterintuitive tweak has saved hundreds of lives.
Like air ducts under windows, sometimes the smartest interventions don’t look like they any make sense, when they actually make the most.
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