Automotive Blind Spot SafetyBlind spots are the areas around the vehicle that cannot be perceived from the driver's position. They may be caused by poorly designed stylish interiors, or by inadequate mirror design and angular placement. In the future, we can avoid buying cars with restricted exterior visibility, but chances are visibility from the current ride could be improved. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation tells us more than 413,000 accidents are related to blind spot mis-perceptions annually. There are two major areas of concern. There are the traditional lateral blind zones which result from using three overlapping mirrors. The second blind area is backing. We cannot see what is right behind our rear window. The Blind Backing Epidemic
As the SUV fad has matured, vehicles have gotten higher, windows have shrunk, and beltlines have risen. The resulting pillbox makes drivers feel secure in today's increasingly hostile higher density traffic, but leads to problems of visibility which are actually detrimental to safety. There is currently an epidemic of child and infant back-overs. Last year over 100 children were killed, and 2,400 seriously injured, in back-over accidents. People have run over their babies in station wagons, vans, and pickups since cars were invented, but the rate has skyrocketed in the years since the high-riding SUV was invented. Today's pickups have a forward rake which raises the tailgate in the drivers field of view, extending the obscured area. Victims are mostly toddlers 12 to 23 months old. In 70% of the cases they are hit by a family member who didn't think of safety in the driveway. Sixty percent of these blind reversing tragedies involve a pick-up, van, or SUV. Compromised rearward visibility, caused by the vertical design profile, is the main culprit on the mechanical side. Proper driver training could have prevented many of these family's saddest days. Consumer Reports measured the blind zones behind a large selection of vehicles. Using a 28-inch traffic cone placed in the least visible spots, they measured the distance both short and taller drivers could spot the cone's tip. Driver height made a significant contribution, with short drivers having the largest range of unseen spots. The results are telling:
The 2006 Jeep Commander Limited, disliked here for boxiness and heft, not surprisingly produced the biggest blind spot. The Commander's visibility gap, 69 feet with a short driver, is commensurate with the blind area behind a 53 foot semi-trailer. There are fresnel lenses, rear end mirrors, and other old tech remedies for reverse gear blindness. Sensors and cameras are on the way. The best way to prevent back-over accidents is to do a vehicle walk around immediately before backing up, and secure toddlers with baby gates and other restraints. Lateral Blind Zones in Traffic
The second blind spot runs along both sides at the rear quarter of the car. This is the big contributor to DOT's 400K blinded accidents. Cars on multi-lane freeways changing lanes blindly, even impulsively, are the culprit. At one freight company I pulled for, they instituted a safety rule called "take 10." Drivers were required to count to ten, making the lane change in no less than ten seconds. Turn signals were to flash 3 times, and spot mirrors checked, before crossing the dotted line. The whole lane change takes place slowly. This strategy was very effective for the company. Plane (flat) mirrors produce an area on each side of a car where the driver is blinded, especially when changing lanes. We are taught to do head checks before lane changes or turns, but neck mobility is often restricted. Wide c-pillars increase the size of the blind spots. Convex spot mirrors for big trucks have been around for decades. So why are there so few convex spot mirrors on cars? Objects in Mirror are Closer than they AppearSemi-convex wide-angle right side mirrors first appeared on safety conscious Volvos in 1979. Inventors came up with numerous purported improvements, but the auto industry is slow to adjust. Only if an aftermarket item enjoys significant success will it be incorporated into new car models. There are plane mirror systems that swivel the glass on door mirrors to survey the adjacent lane when the turn signal is activated. Numerous center rearview mirror add-ons have been offered in the aftermarket over the years. These provide several versions of wide angle viewing from the center mirror. Mirror PositioningBlind spots can be reduced simply by changing the alignment of side mirrors. The mirror adjustment we are accustomed to has redundant overlapping side and rear-view mirrors, and wide angle blindness. We look in our side mirrors to see what is coming behind us. Many high performance driving schools, including BMW Performance Center in South Carolina, are recommending wider angle placement of side mirrors. Most drivers position the side mirrors so they are partially filled by the side of the car. This helps retain our bearings as vehicles come up from behind, but leaves the wider view unseen. With an increasing portion of driving taking place on multi-lane freeways, this side-blinded method has drawn criticism. These pros recommend carefully setting the center rearview mirror for a full view of the rear, then angling side mirrors out to widen the view. Automobile Spot Mirrors
Modern cars often have stylish tapered side mirrors which effectively limit lateral visibility. My Mustang hatchback has huge c-pillars which block the rear quarter vision. The Ranger pickup has plenty of glass, but I prefer a pair of convex stick on spot mirrors for best visibility. Rectangular and round convex spot mirrors have been available and inexpensive for years. I think more people would learn to use them if they knew the advantages. Small stick-on and larger add-on spot mirrors require experience to use correctly. The distortions produced by convex mirroring plays tricks on our brains. Depth perception with these devices is best achieved by using the rectangular type. Round convex spots mirror a wider angle view, but require focusing on very small areas in the center for approaching objects. There are also plane interior mirrors that attach inside, to the windshield or a-pillar, and show an undistorted view of the rear quarter blind spot. A recent development is "aspheric" mirrors which cover the entire side mirror. These are designed for a specific vehicle, with changing curvature across the reflective surface. Installing Wide Angle Convex MirrorsNumerous motorists have tried the stick on blind spot mirrors, only to be dismayed when they fall off during normal use. Car washes can also dislodge these. While the little mirrors are widely available and inexpensive, this frustration leads to abandoning the concept. The key to a good installation is having the glass squeaky clean and dry before pressing the adhesive against it. Isopropyl alcohol or Windex-type glass cleaner will cut the thin film of oil which coats the glass. Ambient air temperature should be above 60 degrees. Anybody who hasn't used these little spot mirrors should try them at least once. At about $3 a pair they could prevent a costly blind-side crash. End Automobile Blind Spot Safety: Wide Angle Mirrors, goto Sitemap
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After living in trucks for so many miles, I cannot drive comfortably with the blind spots in most cars. 