I watch to much Star Trek. When I first read the blurb I thought it said "low power phaser array" and I thought "Man I gotta get me one of those."

It would really come in handy during rush hour though.

...will this low-power radar system from the 1970's really help make driving safer?"

Only if it jams cell phones in the process...

I doubt this will fix the issue of drivers with a 360 degree blind spot...

...Seeing as using headlights and turn signals are apparently optional in the State of Washington. Sorry to troll, but as an East-coast transplant here in rain city, I've been meaning to get that off my chest for a while.

Great...something ELSE to set off my radar detector with false signals.....

:-(

Simple solution, no fancy electronics.

Uh, you know where you are, right?

But if I turn my head, my cell phone will fall from beneath my chin into the cup of coffee I'm drinking while speeding.

What would make driving safer would be to require better qualifications and a different license class for 5'1" women to drive 12,000 pound, 20-foot trucks in parking lots designed for sedans and hatchbacks.

What would make driving safer would be to require better qualifications and a different license class for 5'1" women to drive trucks with 400 horsepower engines which are utilized primarily to travel the two blocks from the bank to the grocery store at 75MPH, tailgating everyone else on the road all the way.

That would be a start. Yeah, the radar might help too, but then again, perhaps there wouldn't be a ten-yard wide blind spot if a) the windows weren't five feet off the ground and b) if a more sensible vehicle size could be offered, like say, five tons instead of six.

Just a thought.

Nope, then we will spend all that money against flying cars becuase of all the additional blind spots!

With their radar emissions I'll finally be able to take out obnoxious drivers using my handy-dandy roof rack mounted HARM [navy.mil] missiles.

They do teach this in professional driving schools (at least in some.)

But it seems to give most people a warm fuzzy feeling to be able to see the back of their own vehicle in the side mirror. Dunno why, maybe they're afraid it'll just disappear one day and they might not notice without the mirror.

You're right that it's not a very helpful thing to watch when you're in traffic though.

How about... Putting the radar in the FRONT of the car, have a really annoying siren that goes off when the car is going over 50 MPH, and within 3 feet of someone else's rear bumper. The siren would be accompanied by a cell phone jamming signal, and the TV and radio would automatically go off as well. Additionally for the larger cars, a bulkhead would go up between the driver and the rear seats.

This contraption would be mandatory for all trucks, SUVs, souped-up Japanese compacts, and Volvos.

That would cause accidents to drop by about 90% in my estimation.

I read this tip in AAA magazine several years ago, and adopted the practice. It makes a huge difference. IIRC, the article indicated that this wouldn't eliminate the blind spot, but it would make it so small you couldn't hide a vehicle in it.

Lately though, the auto industry has adopted an alternate tactic - instead of making the blind spots too small to hide a vehicle in, make the vehicles too big to hide in the blind spots.

So, what if some bonehead parks a stealth bomber in the middle of the road?

...will this low-power radar system from the 1970's really help make driving safer?

Well, what is wrong with being from the 70's? A lot of good technologies are from the 70's!

Heck, I'm from the 70's :))

You're crazy, i never talk on the phone while debugging.

Minor nitpick: It's *bated* breath, as in "abated," like you were holding your breath with anticipation. "Baited" breath is what you get after eating sardines or some other kind of bait.

Next up: Lose versus loose! Stay tuned for the next episode of Captain Grammar!

New Rule!
You can only drive something you can push at least 10 feet on a smooth level surface, unless you take the type of course required to obtain a class C drivers license (or whatever it is that professional truck drivers have).