45 Cases Of Poor Designs That Are Accidents Waiting To Happen

Humans are supposedly the smartest creatures to have walked the face of this earth, and this can be seen by taking a look around. Several things can be seen around us that all point to how our species has developed. One thing that we can attribute to the success of the human race to is the brain. It is what makes us who we are. All our reasoning and ideas originate from that gray matter, and humans just happen to have the most complex and developed brains amongst all animals. As much as we do things that are smart and beneficial to ourselves with the use of our minds, there are still some ideas that defy common logic and call for further investigation into who brought them up. In this article, we’re going to be looking at some of the most unreasonable designs that humans have come up with.

Poor guy

In a public service building, one thing you expect them to have is an emergency exit and well-functioning service elevators with backup generators. Unfortunately, that is not something that most establishments can boast of having. This can pose a major threat in emergencies.

As we can see in this picture, the fire alarm went off, and the elevator stopped working. A man in a wheelchair was stuck on the second floor with no way downstairs, and alarms were blaring all around him. This is a sad example of why well-functioning elevators and emergency exits for all people are essential.

On The Floor of the doctor’s office

Interior decoration is a great touch to add to any building, and there is nothing wrong with getting a nice paint job or putting a few designs here and there. It is even better if you can customize your decor. But ti should also be appropriate.

Even doctors can get creative. However, there will be a problem if the design is inappropriate for the building. You shouldn’t enter your doctors’ office and feel like you’re in a museum. That is why everything in this picture is wrong and just a source of future trouble.

It sure looks nice but is it right 

When designing a building, it is vital to pay attention to the interior and make it look as appealing as possible while keeping it functional. There are various designs and ideas that people come up with to beautify the interior.

However, while it is important to pay attention to aesthetics when considering decor, it is also equally important to consider the safety aspects. This is a nice idea, hiding the extinguisher in the picture of a fireman, but how many people even see it?

Accidents galore

When designing a public space, the first thing you think of is how effective it will look in real life. Unfortunately, not everybody thinks ahead; some just think up the idea and execute it without considering how effective or safe that plan is.

The first that comes to mind is the question, is it a smooth bridge or stairs? You can imagine approaching from one end and climbing over a bridge, and the moment you’re stumbling or falling down a flight of stairs you didn’t even know was there.

That would explain why my ankle hurts

Everybody knows and likes soccer, or football, as it is more popularly known. We all know what a football looks like, and we can easily recognize a football or a contraption designed to look like a football when we see one. 

It becomes a problem when you intentionally design something that looks like a toy but is not meant to be played with. This looks like it was meant for kicking. The worst part is, they put the “not for kicking” in small print.

It’s fine, nothing to worry about

The human mind is a very powerful tool, and the possibilities of what it can imagine are endless. All the crazy inventions and techs that we can see are all products of somebody’s imagination. We also have brains to help us bring our vision to reality and differentiate between good and bad ideas.

This picture is an example of when we follow through with the sillier ideas that pop into our heads. For whatever reason, the designer woke up with this in mind and felt it would be a good choice for a building design. Let’s hope they never get a hurricane.

Leaving your child in the car here

It is a blessing to have kids at home for most. But the problem with them is that they have too much energy and always want to try everything out. This curiosity makes it difficult to leave them alone to take care of themselves.

This is a good example of why you shouldn’t leave your kids alone. If you live in a house where most things are easily controlled, maybe with a remote or something easily accessible, you know better than to leave it where your kids can get to it.

Dangerous Design

We mentioned earlier that when making designs, it is super important that we pay attention to how the final product will look in reality and its practicality. Not everything that looks good in our head looks good in real life.

This ring surely looked better in the designer’s head than in reality. The ring has a nice, catchy design with the heart and the sword embedded in it. However, the point of the blade is causing harm to the person’s finger.

Time for a nice refreshing drink of…wait!

The creativity of the human mind continues to amaze us. We can think up the most random of things, and the best part is we can bring whatever we think about into the world. While this is a good thing, it also has its downsides.

The downside is that we can also bring our bad ideas to life. Somebody got the idea to package clear glue. It already looks like water, so why further confuse people by packaging it inside containers well-known for holding water?

Oh My God

Sometimes, you see things that make you stop and ask yourself what went wrong and where everybody else was when it was going wrong. Some things should not exist, and a basic level of common sense makes it clear that they should not.

Take this plane. You can tell that something is wrong with these pictures without anybody saying anything. Why would a plane have any reason to fly so close to buildings? Let’s hope none of the aircraft ever have engine trouble.

Not sure if its dangerous but I think it is

Humans have found more ways to increase their overall safety with the advancement of technology. We now have gadgets and devices installed in our homes and schools that warn us of impending dangers of all kinds. But sometimes, we have to wonder…

We all know that we have to use our eyes when driving, and we can’t afford to be distracted. But what happens when it is the security device that is meant to keep you safe doing the distracting? Well, we guess we’d just ignore it.

Does This Count

It was every child’s desire back in the day to run off to the playground and get together on the swings with friends, play football out on the field, and play other games. The design of the playground was set to be safe and kids-friendly.

But we don’t think whoever designed this swing liked kids. For those of you wondering what’s wrong with the picture, imagine what happened when the kids decided to swing in opposite directions. It was like clicker balls, only with yelling involved. 

Not a fan of that projector

One mystery that everybody thinks about and can never get a definite answer to is the question, “what comes first, the chicken or the egg.” The answer to that question can never be correct, and we will just keep going in circles.

In this picture, well, nothing will be going in circles, and it makes you wonder who got there first, the fan or the projector. Whichever one was installed first, it’s clear somebody didn’t put much thought into what they were doing.

This bike track in Zagreb, Croatia

One thing we love is a progressive town. We have car lanes, truck lanes, walkways, and even crosswalks for pedestrians. However, there was no track designated for cyclists, and this felt kind of unfair. So somebody decided to put one in for bikes.

The track was well designed and beautifully painted red to let everybody know that bikes now had their own lane. There was just one little problem. The person that painted the track didn’t remember that the cyclists would be on wheels and not their legs and couldn’t easily climb curbs.

You can’t quite see but right above it there is a wall

There is a need to provide our kids with something to do outside that they will enjoy. Even if you can’t put something on your property, usually you can take them to a local park, and they can have a grand time running around and climbing stuff.

The only problem is, whoever set up the merry-go-round considered the height of the users. They are kids; how tall can they be? We don’t know what was going through their minds at this point, but it sure didn’t turn out right.

This train track

A lot of people love trains; they are one of the earlier forms of transportation, and their production has evolved over the years. Newer and more effective designs have been developed, and the era of trains has started seeing new light.

Unfortunately, it seems some are going backward instead of making progress in their train development. You don’t need to look too far to see what is wrong with this picture. Why is the track in steps? This is a moving train, not somebody with legs.

Cursed airbag

Humans have found more ways to prolong their lives and make things safer. One of these ways is the integration of the airbag into the car. The whole point of the airbag is to serve as a buffer in case of a crash.

We don’t even need to say anything to know the problem with this picture. This person thought it would be a good idea to decorate the space for the airbag with colorful stones in the name of getting more peaceful vibes.

Was looking for a budget mattress and saw this

When making products, manufacturers try to incorporate labels and such outside the product, warning about the different dangers that improper use of the product can pose. They do this, so they have deniability in case of a lawsuit coming their way.

However, there was nothing on the label indicating any problems in this case, and you can see from the review that there was a considerable risk when removing the mattress cover. The makers of the mattress didn’t even put a clear warning.

Similar design, one can kill and one tastes good

When it comes to advertising, one of the major methods of getting customers to buy a product is the packaging. The design of a product can go a long way into how the customers will react and influence their buying decisions.

One of the effects of the packaging is that it breeds this familiarity with the product, and after some time, you stop checking the label and just use the product. You can see why there is a problem with the two products in the picture. 

Guess it’s back to good ol’ drunk driving

One service that almost not everybody has used for one reason or another is Uber. Uber is a transport system that takes you wherever you want at a stipulated price. Most time, we use Uber because we can’t drive ourselves.

One of the primary reasons people use ride services is that they are indisposed and don’t want to drive after a night out. If Uber decides to stop carrying drunk passengers, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of their existence.

Pure insanity 

There are so many ideas out there that should never even have been allowed to see the light of the day. Some things look good at first when we think about them, but turn out to be unreasonable when we think again.

This picture is a good example of how unreasonable ideas can be. What we have here is an alarm system that locks the hand of whoever rings the alarm until an officer gets there. This gadget curtailed false alarms, but did it decrease casualties?

Wowww 

The home is a safe space that is made for building a family. It is expected that the home should be well designed and conducive for living as well. There are different designs and types of houses, and we don’t expect them all to look the same.

However, there is a time to choose common sense over architectural experiments. The front porch of this house also moves to reveal a garage, but what happens when there is somebody on the porch? It’s a funny image, isn’t it?

Children’s playground in 1912

Ah, 1912, the good old times, before the invention of the television and mobile devices. Kids had to make do with what they had. No internet, social media, console games, or any of the other things that kids nowadays enjoy.

However, we don’t think any of us would want any of our kids to do have anything to do with the playground in this picture. Some on the Reddit thread were wondering if this is a playground or a military training camp. You can literally see a kid falling.

Seems legit

Nothing makes your kid happier than telling them you’re going out to the amusement park with a Ferris wheel. It is every child’s dream to have a good time on the big spinning wheel with their friends and see as afar as they can see.

The only problem with this wheel, in particular, is, if your child gets a ride in it, they might not get to tell their friends about it. The platform of the wheel is being supported by bricks stacked on each other, with the smallest on top.

Staircase beautified with loose boulders and a broken pelvis

The interior decoration of a house requires a lot of attention. How beautiful your home will be is determined by how efficient and talented the interior decorator is. One good thing about decoration is that the limit is your imagination.

However, when faced with a design such as this, you have to wonder where it went wrong. This design might look attractive to the eyes, but it is impractical for so many reasons, one of which is that the stairway shouts broken bones.

We’ll see

There is no limit to what the human mind can think of. We can imagine the ways to have fun and also ways to hurt each other. It is not every time that an idea is conceived as a bad idea, but the application then makes it a bad idea.

This picture is painful to see. This is a mixture of both gumballs and bouncing balls. We all know gumballs are sweet and nice to the tongue. Bouncing balls, on the other hand, are inedible choking hazards, so why mix them together?!

Well, the potential is there

We have another case of weird packaging here. We mentioned earlier that one of the ways that people get customers to buy their product is with the aid of the packages and the way they design it. There is a whole method to it.

However, it becomes a problem when the packages are misleading. When you first look at this image, you see two of the same bottle, but on closer inspection, you will see that they are indeed the same design but for different uses.

Warning label

We’ve seen previous examples of where humans have found ways to improve their overall safety and ensure the survival of our species. Some of these safety measures are in the form of technological devices, electronic gadgets, and many others. 

The problem with this image is that it comes from one of the safety devices that humans have designed to keep themselves – you guessed it – safe. It is hilarious that the helmet designed to protect you in case of an accident tells you it was not intended for your safety. 

The cannonball loop waterslide

There are different activities that we have thought up to remove the scourge called boredom. There are several spots and attractions and pretty sites that make life more enjoyable. However, some of these things are more harmful than fun.

For every reason, this contraption is not meant to be used. The thing in the picture is meant to be a slide, except the exit might be the entrance to the other side. The curve at the end is more than enough to cause serious injury.

What a great idea for a chair

We all know that as time passes we get older and start losing the vigor and strength that we had as youths. Most of these seniors have a hard time doing things by themselves and without the assistance of others.

It is sad to know that this picture is from an elderly home. We are very aware this is less of a design fail, and more of a placement fail, but it definitely fits into this list. Let’s go ahead and rearrange the porch for these people, okay?

Step out of a bathtub down a flight of stairs

When designing the interior of a house, it is common to have to work with a space already built. You might have to knock down a wall or two, take off a door, or make space for an extra window. The whole point is to make it a nice space to live in.

However, in a bid to make space, there is the potential to make some unreasonable decisions that do more harm than good. Take this image, for example, there is no sense in the location of this bathtub, and it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Wait, I think I see heaven

It is not easy to do what architects do. They come up with exciting designs, and they have to work with the engineers and others to ensure that the finished product comes out exactly the way it was meant to.

That is why this image brings up a big question of who’s idea this building was and where was the engineer when the building was designed. Looking at it at certain times of the day can lead you to heaven’s gate when driving.

This will probably work out just fine for bicycles

We have another case where bike riders were taken into consideration. At first glance, we can immediately tell that something is wrong. However, it seems like most people don’t realize how wrong some ideas are until they are explicitly told.

Considering this image, it is a great idea to section off a part of the road for bikes, probably for safety and all, but they missed some things. There is a drainage entrance on the road that can cause bike accidents, yet there is still a bike lane.

In the 1930s you could buy artificial snow made out of 100% asbestos 

Back in the day, there were so many things that were approved and were later discovered to be dangerous and unhealthy. They were accepted as the norm, and then explanations could not be given for different sicknesses that came about as a result. 

The use of asbestos as artificial snow was a widely accepted practice and it seemed like the perfect idea because asbestos isn’t flammable. It was later discovered that asbestos is a very dangerous material to inhale, and was responsible for several respiratory conditions.

Get a bone broken every time you slide down

Sometimes, you get tired of having your kids running the house, disturbing the peace with their excess energy, and just want to take them out to the park or playground to have fun and expend all that energy on the swings or jungle gym.

However, it becomes a problem when the playthings pose a potential danger to the kids. This slide should have a restriction banning anybody less than 6 feet from using it because the mouth is way too far from the ground.

Oh, what a great idea for a tent 

Some of us get tired of staying indoors or just want to go camping with our friends or family. The summertime is a great time to be outdoors, enjoying the change in the weather and kicking it in the sun.

It might be a little costly now to get a good tent, but why bother when you can do a makeshift tent with a large stretch of nylon and your friend’s truck? But if you turn on the engines at any point, you will have a nice tent full of carbon monoxide.

Almost did it, too

One of the main ways of informing your customers about things is with the use of labels on the package. If there is a particular instruction or warning that the users should know concerning a product, it is usually written in bold type.

We can see in this picture, for example, it has given an explicit instruction that users should microwave the package before use. Oh wait, it says not to microwave it; we can see the obvious flaw in the packaging and how misleading it is.

Can’t drive, live somewhere else

This is another case where we have to question the degree or educational background of whoever came up with this idea. Either the architect that came up with the design or the engineer that developed it had a very strange vision.

The owner of this house really takes driving seriously. If you don’t know how to drive as they do in Fast and Furious, then this house is not meant for you. Even making the slightest mistake is enough to cause an accident.

This Hair Bleach

You want your product to sell faster, then get a well-designed package that your customers can relate to. Your brand design should be creative and easy to understand, and it should contain all the helpful information that they need to know.

This is a supposedly great cereal for your kids, or wait… is it? This package has to be one of the most misleading that we have come across, and it leaves you wondering what this is supposed to be. What will you find inside?

Couldn’t get a good seat? Watch the game like your life depends on it

One of the beautiful things in this life is sports. There are several sports that we now watch to keep ourselves entertained and also out of love for the game. One of these games is football, or soccer has some call it.

As a football fan, there is nothing as interesting as watching a match live in the stadium. The thrill and excitement are more than enough to make fans happy, but how far are you willing to go to enjoy that thrill.

What a shocking sight

One of the perks of being human is the ability to think and make decisions. We as humans can imagine anything, and we have developed features to bring those ideas to life. We also have the ability to spot danger and avoid it.

Images like this make us question if we humans are the kings of mammals with superior intelligence. You don’t need anybody to tell you how dangerous this is, but someone should inform the person who installed the sprinkler system here.

Sorry, wheelchair users

Over the years, human reasoning has evolved, and more inventions have come to light to make life easier for all of us. One such amazing invention is the wheelchair. And with that came the ramps for wheelchair users in place of staircases.

However, this picture is one that really saddens us because it just seems like a cruel joke. It’s a long way down. Is someone supposed to hang on to a rope, and their friends would help them slowly roll down this steep incline?

Come in, splash…

A lot of people try to beautify their houses by making their front yards or gardens into something really unique. While some of these designs do look very nice, that doesn’t make them functional or guest-friendly. Imagine delivering food to this place!

This image shows a lovely walkway; it has a nice homey design. It is a slab of stone over a small pond. However, what happens when it is dark, or you have a visitor who doesn’t know there is a pond?

Life hacks?

Some things just should not be done. Sometimes we do things that seem like a good idea, or it feels like we have made the best out of a situation, and in reality, we have just put ourselves in harm’s way.

This person must have felt that they had come up with a great idea and found a way to make use of a faulty charger, but what happens when they touch it by mistake? Apart from the potential shock hazard that it poses, it can also cause a fire.

These obstacles are almost invisible on the bike lane

It is usually preached that motorists should always pay attention while driving; this does not apply strictly to motorists, but also bicyclist and even pedestrians. Most times, accidents are a result of carelessness or lack of attention to the road.

The city planning department found a way to keep cyclists on their toes and ensure that they pay full attention to the road. They have carefully disguised stones shaped like balls on the cyclist’s paths, and cyclists will need to pay extra attention to stay alive.