Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

pages.cs.wisc.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 321 posts

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#301

Post by brianpgordon »

Havoc wrote: post #12

I can deal with blindspots. What boggles my mind is that some modern cars still have abnormally large ones. Cars with bad crash ratings get shat on but apparently designs with massive blindspots are totally OK.

When I was living in Northern Virginia I had blindspots on the windshield with two big registration stickers at the bottom center, an EZPass transponder at the top for the Dulles toll road, and a dashcam hanging off the rearview mirror. Those stickers are a ridiculous safety hazard. There's no conceivable reason they should have to be on the windshield instead of on one of the back passenger windows or something.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#302

Post by analog31 »

Casseres wrote: post #289
analog31 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an avid urban cyclist. My preference is for you to behave the same way as if I'm driving a car. Pass me if you can. If you're alongside me, a gentle tap on my brake will get rid of you quickly enough. ;-) I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. So I'm probably more courteous than the bare minimum required by the traffic…

> I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. Me too, except the other way around. I will make sure there is a ton of room before merging in front of a bicyclist, and I will give them the full lane on a two lane road when passing them even if they're hugging the curb. When riding on the streets, they are given the same legal pro…

Oh, we know. :) Just like car drivers know about the speed limit and texting.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#303

Post by wcarron »

brianpgordon wrote: post #299
wcarron wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, this is also part of the driving exam. However, it is not an automatic failure on its own. I myself failed to do it once, on the test for turning right after crossing through a bicycle lane on my right. Every other maneuver, I checked over my shoulder. Felt bad because I used to commute via bicycle and it was...well, a little ironic that I messed up there of all places. Agreed, though. The US driving test…

There's no such thing as a "US driving test." There's a separate driving test with separate standards for each one of the states and territories and DC.

Do you not think I know this? Sometimes less precision for the sake of flowing conversation is worth it. HN can be absurdly pedantic some days.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#304

Post by brianpgordon »

wcarron wrote: post #303
brianpgordon wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no such thing as a "US driving test." There's a separate driving test with separate standards for each one of the states and territories and DC.

Do you not think I know this? Sometimes less precision for the sake of flowing conversation is worth it. HN can be absurdly pedantic some days.

So why are you making a sweeping claim about all US drivers tests, given that you only took one of them? The one you took was clearly bad. The process I went through in Maryland is apparently one of the tougher ones. 30 classroom hours, 6 hours one-on-one with an instructor, 50 hours daytime driving with an older licensed driver, 10 hours nighttime driving, and then you can take the written and driving tests (which require you to parallel park). After that you can drive on your own but still can't have any non-adult passengers and can't drive past midnight or your license is suspended for a year. After 18 months of driving with no moving violations and no other criminal convictions, you finally get a real driver's license. The whole process takes a couple of years.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#305

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

brianpgordon wrote: post #300
nradov wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your hypothesis is correct then we would expect to see auto insurers offering lower rates for manual transmission vehicles due to a lower risk of crashes. Do you have any evidence for that?

To be fair, that would be hopelessly skewed by the propensity of illegal racers (and other people who think it's fun to drive powerful cars really fast on public roads) to prefer manuals.

I'd argue that those people are bad drivers.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#306

Post by learc83 »

grecy wrote: post #265
seszett wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Statistics though show that western-style driving is definitely safer than the free for all that is common in developing countries (I speak for Jordan and Vietnam in particular, comparing them to Western Europe).

I'd bet those statistics are averaging across whole countries, so they're adding in highway driving - which, yeah, is very dangerous in developing countries. I'd be willing to be there are less crashes driving in big cities in developing countries than driving in big cities in developed countries.

Considering that the big cities make up such a large percentage of the population, an even larger percentage of the cars in developing countries, and the accident rates are so much higher, that is an unlikely explanation of the statistics.

That's not even taking into account that the numbers we have for developing countries are likely under reported.

The numbers aren't even close, developing countries are absurdly dangerous to drive in comparatively.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#307

Post by brianpgordon »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #305
brianpgordon wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, that would be hopelessly skewed by the propensity of illegal racers (and other people who think it's fun to drive powerful cars really fast on public roads) to prefer manuals.

I'd argue that those people are bad drivers.

That's the point.

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#308

Post by CamperBob2 »

lmilcin wrote: post #287
CamperBob2 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is, the "correct" way to set up your side mirrors involves adjusting them so that you can't see the side of your own car without craning your neck. This, in turn, means that your mirrors might not be where you left them. If someone bumps your mirror in a parking lot, you may not notice that you now have a sizable blind spot close to your car. So I usually compromise by keeping a small sliver of the car vi…

You are partly correct. Every time I sit in my car I check the mirrors by moving my head to the left and to the right. It takes barely a second but it is the only way to assure mirrors are set correctly. Let me share a story. I am blind to my left eye which means I have to turn my entire head way, way to the left to be able to look into "blind spot". Once I almost crashed the car when looking into "blind spot" when j…

Again, how do you know your mirrors are where you left them?

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#309

Post by radlad »

Casseres wrote: post #288
mauvehaus wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federal law prohibits them on the driver's side in the US[0]. [0] https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/in-defense-of-co...

Clarification: federal law permits them on the drivers side in the US as long as the mirrors also have the required flat mirror [0]. [0] same link, and the fact that my vehicle came from the US manufacturer with both.

I have a 2017 Ford Fusion with a "blind spot mirror" (i.e. a small convex mirror in the corner of the flat mirror) and I have no idea why all cars don't have them. With the left and right mirrors adjusted to just barely see the edge of the car, I have no blind spots (assuming you are careful to check the small mirror separately from the main mirror.)

Re: How to Eliminate the Dreaded “Blind Spot”

#310

Post by brewdad »

Marsymars wrote: post #67
kpsychwave wrote: post #45

Blind spot mirrors solve this issue, and they are very cheap. I am surprised they are not mandated by manufacturers.

It's especially weird that many cars opt for LEDs in the corner of the mirror that light up when blind-spot sensors detect a vehicle in the blind spot. Seems both less effective, more failure-prone, and more expensive than a simple blind spot mirror.

For me, the mirrors on my Golf make no sense. There is an amber blind spot warning light on the mirror. That I can live with. However, about 1 inch away is another amber light that blinks when I activate my turn signal. More than once, I have freaked myself out thinking the blind spot detection was alerting rather than my turn signal.

Horrible design.

Post reply on HN