Car manufacturers try to make cars practical, reliable and safe, but in every car there are peculiar “gaps”, which drivers face daily in the process of driving.
One of these dangerous gaps is a “blind” or blind spot, which can cause an accident, costly repairs or an accident involving a pedestrian. But can you learn to see well where you can’t see anything from the driver’s seat?
What is a “blind” zone, and how to struggle with it.
A “blind zone” appears in places which are inaccessible to a driver’s sight because of elements of a vehicle body. There are at least 6 commonly known blind spots in a passenger car:
- The two rear zones enclosed by the center and rear pillars;
- Similar front zones, whose visibility is hidden behind the side pillars;
- 2-3 meters in front of the hood;
- 5-6 meters after the trunk of the car.
One of the best ways to completely get rid of “blind” zone in front of the trunk will be installation of parktronic and rear view camera. If such a security system is not provided as standard, you can install it yourself.
In order to have a good rear side view, it is enough to buy and install additional side mirrors so that the angle of their rotation differs from the main mirrors by several degrees to the right and left for each side respectively.
“Blind spots” are very insidious and deceptive. For example, they can be in the immediate vicinity of the passenger or driver’s doors.
With good visibility, with all the security systems and video surveillance, the driver risks not to notice the pipe fence half a meter high and pierce the door surface with it, and it is an expensive repair for tens of thousands of rubles. To avoid this happening, it makes sense to install a 360-degree video surveillance system on your car.
General recommendations for blind spots control
It is not always possible to completely get rid of “blind” zones with the help of electronics, and it can break down for a while or forever at any moment – for example, due to ice on the sensors of parking sensors.
That is why the driver is always better to rely on themselves, and use additional equipment only as a confirmation of the safety of the maneuver.
For this purpose, first of all, before getting into the car, which has been parked all night, it is important to go around it from all sides and make sure that nothing prevents you from leaving the yard without consequences. The environment around your car can change dramatically overnight. Especially dangerous are maneuvers when reversing when the view is completely blocked a few meters back. There may be sharp objects, animals, children, old tires, stones, snowdrifts and much more in front of the car. Elementary inspection will allow the driver to avoid the mass of troubles and problems.
Moving at a low speed, notice potentially dangerous objects, pedestrians and cars that have not yet fallen into the “blind” zone. Make maneuvers slowly at high speed, and you can decrease or increase speed to be sure that nobody is in a “blind” zone.
Rear side blind zones are the most dangerous when driving on a freeway. If you increase speed while re-balancing you may see the hidden car in a side view mirror and finish your maneuver safely. It makes sense to increase speed when shifting to the left lane and to decrease it when shifting to the right lane.
In the second case it will be possible to see the car which has got in a “blind” zone through a window of the passenger door. Make sure your maneuvers do not interfere with movement of other traffic participants.
Side blind zones are the most dangerous, because they are most often connected with high speeds and have the most serious consequences after an accident. Every driver can become a hostage of a lateral “blind” zone when driving from the adjoining road on a highway or making a maneuver on an intersection in a city or out of town.
Before you pass a dangerous place, stop and wait a couple of seconds. During this time, cars hidden in “blind spots” will have time to leave them, and you will be sure of traffic safety. It is especially important when crossing the railroad tracks and high-speed lines.
It is important to know the size of your specific car’s blind spot because it can differ considerably from one car to another. To do it, ask your helper to walk around the car and watch the areas of the all-round view where a person disappears from view.
The larger the blind spots in your car, the harder it will be to control them, and the more careful the driver will have to be when making decisions on the road.
When driving a car in a place where it is difficult to predict the car from the blind spot, move forward and backward, to the right and to the left, to have an additional view of the blind spots.
Don’t forget that the blind spot tends to increase with speed. In fact, its size does not change, it only distorts the perception of reality by the human eye, the peripheral properties of which are limited when objects move quickly.
The physical size of the blind spot can be considerably reduced by installing a wide rear-view mirror with a convex lens. It will allow to compensate the imperfection of human vision, and in case of danger – to see more than the driver in the next car.