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How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

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Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#151
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. It puzzles me too how an A-pillar large enough to disapear a motorcycle, or group of children, is somehow accepted as safe. Our indescriminate push for safely has taken control from our hands in many contexts it seems.

Passive safety. A-pillar might be so bulky because it contains curtain airbag and provides structural stability necessary for good crash rating.

Conversely, a thick-enough A-pillar would be a great place for a forward-raving camera and driver-facing flat-panel display with face-tracking camera to always show the right perspective, thus making the A-pillar invisible.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#153
post #11

There's an even simpler, more effective way of checking blind spots: Actually turning ones head and looking over the shoulder. The "blind spot" doesn't exist when drivers exercise proper caution and responsible driving behavior. Of course, expecting this of drivers is unrealistically utopian. Nevertheless, a "blind spot" is just another excuse for unsafe drivers.

I hate this so much. Parallel focus between front and back is super confusing if not entirely dangerous.

I'm gonna cover my interior with mirrors. It should be standard.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#154
post #11

There's an even simpler, more effective way of checking blind spots: Actually turning ones head and looking over the shoulder. The "blind spot" doesn't exist when drivers exercise proper caution and responsible driving behavior. Of course, expecting this of drivers is unrealistically utopian. Nevertheless, a "blind spot" is just another excuse for unsafe drivers.

The article doesn't claim that you can adjust your mirrors such that shoulder checking is not required. Quote: With the mirrors adjusted properly, a shoulder check to change lanes becomes more of a "shoulder peek", meaning you don't have to turn your head so far. That means your peripheral vision will still provide a view in front of you - no "blind spot" in front of you either, meaning less chance of rear-ending a v…

Lean forward and "sweep" the region parallel to the back half of the car with the side view mirror.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#155
post #11

There's an even simpler, more effective way of checking blind spots: Actually turning ones head and looking over the shoulder. The "blind spot" doesn't exist when drivers exercise proper caution and responsible driving behavior. Of course, expecting this of drivers is unrealistically utopian. Nevertheless, a "blind spot" is just another excuse for unsafe drivers.

My car has blindspot detection lights on the mirror. I don't do this most of the time now.

You must not be relying on warning system as a substitute for looking.

For one thing, if one day it stopped working for some reason, how would you know?

How well does it actually work when it works as designed?

The one bearing the responsibility is you, not that warning device.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#156
post #11

There's an even simpler, more effective way of checking blind spots: Actually turning ones head and looking over the shoulder. The "blind spot" doesn't exist when drivers exercise proper caution and responsible driving behavior. Of course, expecting this of drivers is unrealistically utopian. Nevertheless, a "blind spot" is just another excuse for unsafe drivers.

My car has blindspot detection lights on the mirror. I don't do this most of the time now.

BLIS is a supplement to proper situational awareness & manual checking, not a replacement. These systems can and do fault, especially in heavy snow and sometimes rain.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#157
The problem with any adjustment is that he car can just pass from one view to another just between you refocus your eyes between them (ie. from rear to side mirror, from side mirror to side window).

The solution is panoramatic rear view mirror (you can see thru the rear plus backseat side windows) and side mirrors with curved section that pretty much eliminate the blind spot

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#158
post #108
post #25

There are smaller things (bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians) that can sneak into the gap between the side and rearview mirror views here. And colliding with one of those is much more likely to cause serious injury or death than colliding with a car. It's a much better idea to make sure your side and rear mirrors have complete coverage (i.e. no gaps) at the back, and actually turning your head to check the blind spot…

This is fantastic advice. The only thing I can really add is you should be keeping track of what’s around you, don’t look just before a lane change. Having good situational awareness is the most important thing when driving.

I used to emphasize and practice that, back when I drove a '93 Honda Civic. It was a useful skill as I would naturally adjust my speed to prevent cars from cruising in my blind spot or to give myself more room for maneuvering.

But newer cars have such poor visibility that it takes too much effort to track movement such that it becomes a diversion. In my '93 Civic any kind of movement in my peripheral--direct or in the mirror--registered immediately; and that peripheral was wide and tall and clear. It was also easier to hear the road and traffic, which also helped. Newer cars make you feel like you're entombed and deaden the senses, compounding the problem.

I know part of my degraded situational awareness is getting older, but since we keep a '98 Civic for when I have to commute by car, I have an idea about which changes are more objective than subjective. The sight lines in the '98 Civic aren't as great as the '93, but still incomparable to the post-2010 cars I've leased or rented. I drive both our family car (new lease every 2-3 years) and the '98 in roughly equal proportion and pretty much all of my unforced traffic errs have been in newer cars. (The most egregious of which are not noticing pedestrians about to cross at a four-way intersection. Modern A pillars seem deviously sized and placed to perfectly obscure the far corners of an intersection. Though I suppose these are the errs I'm most likely to notice as the pedestrians are revealed the moment you begin to enter the intersection from a stop. Most other potential collisions probably go unnoticed.)

Thankfully this year we finally leased a car with lane departure warning. It hasn't actually prevented an unforced err, yet, but I'm glad it's there. (I know it's there because it'll beep if there's an adjacent car when I initiate signaling, even if I'm not moving into the lane. If a car sneaks up after signaling it only warns when you begin the lane change.)

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#159
post #25

There are smaller things (bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians) that can sneak into the gap between the side and rearview mirror views here. And colliding with one of those is much more likely to cause serious injury or death than colliding with a car. It's a much better idea to make sure your side and rear mirrors have complete coverage (i.e. no gaps) at the back, and actually turning your head to check the blind spot…

I drive a full size pickup (with a camper shell) in Los Angeles traffic, so I appreciate the value of well aimed side mirrors. (fwiw, I'm primarily a cyclist, and only drive the truck on the weekends for shopping).

I remember reading a great (and hilarious) quip about side mirror configuration:

"There is no point in seeing your own car through the side mirrors because it's the one thing on the road that you cannot possibly collide with."

/Acey

me: safety nerd, ex-blogger/founder, urbandriver.org (RIP)

/edit: phrasing/

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#160
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Soon we will have trained an entire generation to 'drive-by-sensors' and not senses. I honestly believe that driver safety will approve more rapidly when that happens than ever before. I trust silicon more than I trust meat.

> I trust silicon more than I trust meat. I'm halfway onboard with you. The difference is in what I trust it to do. I trust meat more than silicon when meat is driving attentively and safely . There are many drivers out there with fantastic control of their vehicle, especially in bad situations. The other half is that I don't trust meat to actually drive attentively and safely. I trust silicon to actually drive safel…

I use my adaptive cruise control to prevent tailgating. Any time I find myself getting annoyed with a slow jerk blocking the left lane, I force myself to turn it on to make sure that I don't subconsciously creep up on his butt (because I know that's a thing that I sometimes do). ... I have also taken my owners manual's advice on the use of the high-beam flasher ... it calls it a 'flash to pass' ... so now I give a little blink of the brights after setting the cruise. Probably safer, but sometimes I fear that it may induce road rage.
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