Blind Spot Monitoring
Posted by M. Patel 13 December, 2011
Have you ever tried switching lanes on the highway, and you realized at the last minute that there was a vehicle in your blind spot? Hopefully, you noticed in time to steer clear of a collision. If not, you were most likely involved in a critical, or at the extremely least, scary, crash. Blind spots are locations where the driver is not in a position to see, and therefore may miss vehicles or other possible obstacles that are trying to pass by.
Thankfully, automobile producers have come up with a method to help avoid this all too typical danger. It is named blind spot monitoring. The automobile will “monitor” the locations where the driver’s vision is impaired and respond with either an audible or visible alarm. The aim is to notify the driver of the obstacle prior to a collision takes spot. The alarms will usually go off when the turn signal is used or when the driver appears to be altering lanes or “lane drifting.”
As time passes, much more and much more vehicles will have blind spot monitoring as a normal solution.
Method Analytics estimates that by 2012, over four million vehicles will have the monitoring devices. This number could grow greater as consumers seek safer cars, and manufacturers seek to create safer cars.
It should also be noted that although blind spot monitoring technologies is a fantastic new safety function, it does not replace careful driving habits. Drivers will still need to have to use their mirrors, appear more than their shoulders, and preserve up with the targeted traffic around them. The responsibility can not rest solely on the backs of automobile manufacturers. There might be legal ramifications if a monitoring method malfunctions and a crash occurs.
However, the responsibility is ultimately with the driver. The system is meant to help with the true blind spots, but ultimately it is in the drivers hands on how to respond. Blind spot monitoring is a safety function that is innovative and practical. Although it does not replace defensive driving, the function is probably to ward off a lot of crashes and potentially save several lives.
