Rear-View Cameras On Cars Could Become Mandatory In the US 754
According to the Los Angeles Times, "The federal government wants automakers to install back-up cameras in all new vehicles starting in late 2014. The plan, announced Friday, received a strong endorsement from insurance industry and other analysts and is likely to get some level of support from car manufacturers. ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that, on average, 292 fatalities and 18,000 injuries occur each year as a result of back-over crashes. The agency said children and the elderly were the most common victims. About 44% of the fatalities in such accidents are children and 33% are people over 70, it said. NHTSA said its proposal was designed to keep drivers from running over pedestrians who might be crossing behind their vehicles. It could also prevent parking-lot bumper thumpers. The camera systems show motorists what's behind them via a video display on the dashboard. They typically feature a bell or alarm that alerts the driver if an object is within the camera's field of view."
Re:Super (Score:5, Informative)
Will they now ban all existing cars so we have to buy shiny new ones?
No. About twenty years ago they issued a similar mandate for a brake light at or near the bottom of the back windshield (before that, almost no cars had them). The automakers said fine, give us 6-9 months to integrate it into our designs and manufacturing process, the government said OK and that was that. Probably has helped prevent a lot of rear-end collisions, especially on the highway when cars stop suddenly for an obstruction. At any rate, clearly a good bang for the buck. The older cars w/o the extra light were grandfathered and have gradually disappeared from the road.
Re:Super (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry, I know you really wanted to uncover some vast conspiracy between the government and the auto manufacturers, but this is just business as usual...
Re:The Russians used a pencil (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Super (Score:5, Informative)
Why not simply mandate minimum rear visibility standards? Style has shrunk rear and side windows in many new cars. Sit in a car from the 90's or earlier and there is a huge improvement in rear visibility.
Re:remarkable (Score:5, Informative)
To do so, start by adjusting the driver's side mirror. Lean over so that your head is just at the window sill. Adjust the driver's-side mirror so that it gives you the classic "just the edge of the car" view that most people use for their mirrors. Lean over to the passenger side so that your head is in the midline of the car, and then adjust the passenger-side mirror to show the classic view. You're done!
It will look very strange when you first start driving this way, but you'll notice that as passing cars disappear from your rearview mirror, they appear in your side mirror, and as they disappear from your side mirror, they appear in your peripheral vision. Congrats! You no longer have a blind spot in your mirrors.
Re:Cheap, good. It's called progress... (Score:5, Informative)
There are cheaper ways to save lives. $20 * 8,000,000(cars sold per year) to save 300 * 50%? lives isn't exactly the best we can do. It puts the value of a saved human life at 1 million USD. Guarantee it can be done more cheaply. If saving lives were honestly the only factor then they'd have done a study on 'how to save lives cheaply' rather than one about cars. I bet subsidizing condoms would save more lives. I bet there are a million things that could be done for 1/1000th the cost.
Re:remarkable (Score:2, Informative)
It doesn't really matter if you can see the ass-end of your vehicle as a point of reference. If there is nothing your mirrors or your view, there is nothing beside your car. If there is something in your mirror it doesn't matter where it is in reference to your car, your mirror is adjusted so that if you see it, it is next to you so don't change lanes.
Re:Insanity of Modern Decision Making (Score:3, Informative)
1. http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/news/tortoises-relocated-ivanpah-solar/ Your facts appear to be in error.
2. You think environmental impacts studies and lawsuits are what's keeping nuclear from being profitable enough to build? They're a fucking rounding error.
Typical glibertarian bullshit.
Re:The Russians used a pencil (Score:5, Informative)
Rear view camera would probably be enabled only when you back up. That is how mine works anyway. The rest of the time, the display functions as my radio controls and/or my GPS. And the GPS controls are also not usable while driving. There is an override, so a passenger can use it, but the key sequence of the override is so complicated only a passenger could possibly enter it correctly.
Re:remarkable (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a truck driver, so I'm very used to just relying upon my side mirrors only (I may be biased here). In my opinion, the rear view mirror in the car is a little bit of a crutch to help out people who don't know what the hell is behind them. The side mirrors are _the_ things you look at when reversing - the centre mirror is essentially useless.
You can't eliminate blind spots... there will always be places you can't see. Basically, my advise is double check everything. Look at your mirror, then look over your shoulder. Look twice at everything.
One thing that does piss me off is people walking directly behind my truck or van when I'm reversing somewhere. Seriously.... I know there's a person there, but I've got zero idea where the fuck they are. I'm not going to carry on reversing and hope that the person behind my truck knows to get out the way... 99.9% of the time they will understand the reversing, but there's that 0.1% where someone doesn't get it. So I have to get out and tell them...
As an aside, I hate those signs saying stuff like "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". They imply that if you can see the mirrors, then the driver can see you, which is absolutely not the case. Passenger side, turning in hard, trucks can't see anything in the mirrors. That's why cyclists should _never_ undertake trucks... I'm not talking about who is in the right or wrong, just about potential outcomes.
Weirdly, I've just got loaned a BMW 120i, and have had it for 3 months or so, which I can't park for crap. I can't even reverse straight consistently, because of the crap mirrors... yup, honestly, I find reversing a 50 foot articulated truck more intuitive than this damn car. I look like a complete driving n00b :P
Re:Insanity of Modern Decision Making (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, after lawsuits delayed Diablo Canyon by 12 years in California, PG&E scrapped all nuclear power plant development. In other words, the Greens lost the battle, but won the war.
If by winning the war, you mean "sticking with burning tons of coal every year and dumping radiation, particulate matter, and CO2 into the atmosphere by enormous amounts while killing lots of people mining it" was a victory for the Greens. Because that's what happened.
By "technology that is intrinsically hazardous" you ARE talking about coal, right? When talking about radiation hazards?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste [scientificamerican.com]
Re:remarkable (Score:5, Informative)
There's no need for any fancy mirrors. Using this method, you can adjust your mirrors so there is no blind spot. I've been using it for years.
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/mirrors/ [cartalk.com]