A Help or a Distraction?

[User 180565 is taking donation]

Oh please yes, I had a scary interaction with a box truck last week. I noticed his door swinging open during the middle of the road. Had I not caught glimpse of the door swinging back and forth a dolly would have hit the roof of my car because as I thought it swung open and landed in the middle of the road.

[Chani]

We have a lot of hills out here with miles of farmland stretching in between small towns. We see a lot of accidents happen because some impatient moron decided to pass a tractor going up a hill or pass a semi on a sharp curve. This screen wouldn't help in the majority of those instances. I don't think the one in a billion incidents it could prevent will outweigh the cost to implement it. I can also see how it could be distracting for some drivers. My eyes, at least, are drawn to screens naturally, and I'd have a harder time focusing on the world around me. I can definitely see someone smashing into a deer because they weren't watching the roadside or slamming into the back of a semi because they didn't notice his brake lights.

[Patrick [ASE]]

Aug 11, 2019 11:25:38 GMT -8 Retread said:

Aug 11, 2019 8:41:25 GMT -8 Patrick [ASE] said:

Totally agree that it's a distraction, you're staring at the screen, but not really taking in stuff immediately around you, there's also the false perspective, you get so engrossed in the view that you begin to think there's not even a truck in front of you, made worse when you are too close, much like the gaming chairs with the screen where you believe you are in the scene.

Also, think of the cost of installing these on all trucks, plus the maintenance

Nothing replaces good driving and experience, i've driven for over 40 years, and while it's good to see through the windows of the vehicle in front, at least you're not looking at the road from the perspective of the truck.

Hey Patrick [ASE]

While I do see a high potential for distraction, I also see a huge benefit that others seem to be overlooking.

When you're behind a truck, you can't see what's in the same lane, just ahead of the truck. There might be a huge gap between the other cars and trucks or there might be one or two cars just ahead of the truck with no room for you to merge between them if you attempt to pass the truck. You really don't know until you pull into the next lane over, what the situation is, immediately ahead of the truck.

This system would give you crucial information.

Would that benefit outweigh the distraction? Uncertain. But it shouldn't be summarily dismissed.

If you can't see ahead, you're probably too close, drop back to a sfae distance, this also gives you room to get up to overtaking speed.
A trucker should be maintaining a distance from what is in front, if you view the road from a truck cab (i have), you can't see vehicles immediately in front if you are too close, case in point the video of a car being pushed sideways by a truck and he had no idea.
A trucker would want to pull back to allow you in, he or she would not want to be in a situation with all the weight behind them, or the load coming forward through the cab.

[📚 Dianne 📚]

Aug 11, 2019 11:25:38 GMT -8 Retread said:

Aug 11, 2019 8:41:25 GMT -8 Patrick [ASE] said:

Totally agree that it's a distraction, you're staring at the screen, but not really taking in stuff immediately around you, there's also the false perspective, you get so engrossed in the view that you begin to think there's not even a truck in front of you, made worse when you are too close, much like the gaming chairs with the screen where you believe you are in the scene.

Also, think of the cost of installing these on all trucks, plus the maintenance

Nothing replaces good driving and experience, i've driven for over 40 years, and while it's good to see through the windows of the vehicle in front, at least you're not looking at the road from the perspective of the truck.

Hey Patrick [ASE]

While I do see a high potential for distraction, I also see a huge benefit that others seem to be overlooking.

When you're behind a truck, you can't see what's in the same lane, just ahead of the truck. There might be a huge gap between the other cars and trucks or there might be one or two cars just ahead of the truck with no room for you to merge between them if you attempt to pass the truck. You really don't know until you pull into the next lane over, what the situation is, immediately ahead of the truck.

This system would give you crucial information.

Would that benefit outweigh the distraction? Uncertain. But it shouldn't be summarily dismissed.

I remember my driving instructor covering this -if you need to pass a truck and you can't see what is coming down the opposite lane, you drop back until you can see. Why have a screen that gives an unreasonable perspective?  It's kind of no different from your rear view cameras. 

[📚 Dianne 📚]

Aug 11, 2019 11:36:44 GMT -8 Chris said:

A good idea in theory,  but too expensive to deploy and maintain on a large scale.  No trucking company would shell out the cash to install this on their fleet.

I suppose like the advertisement -it would be found on electronic company or Amazon trucks first.  (good publicity for Amazon! * evil grin*)

But you're right I can't see a small company doing something like this.

[📚 Dianne 📚]

Aug 11, 2019 13:37:18 GMT -8 Chani said:

We have a lot of hills out here with miles of farmland stretching in between small towns. We see a lot of accidents happen because some impatient moron decided to pass a tractor going up a hill or pass a semi on a sharp curve. This screen wouldn't help in the majority of those instances. I don't think the one in a billion incidents it could prevent will outweigh the cost to implement it. I can also see how it could be distracting for some drivers. My eyes, at least, are drawn to screens naturally, and I'd have a harder time focusing on the world around me. I can definitely see someone smashing into a deer because they weren't watching the roadside or slamming into the back of a semi because they didn't notice his brake lights.

^ This ^1000% this!!!

Yes I think people and not just a few, will be more focused on the screen  than actually driving.

[• Ambrose •]

Distractions for various reasons. I would rather pay more attention to the surroundings in case an animal or person is roadside. As a photographer, I would enjoy the scenery more anyhow. Only time I rush is when I have to work... Other than that, I take my time driving.

[wildmaven]

Aug 13, 2019 7:24:09 GMT -8 • Ambrose • said:

Distractions for various reasons. I would rather pay more attention to the surroundings in case an animal or person is roadside. As a photographer, I would enjoy the scenery more anyhow. Only time I rush is when I have to work... Other than that, I take my time driving.

Exactly!!! When my husband is driving, he knows my "ooo, stop" means that I've seen something I want to photograph. He has the fastest right foot in the west. When I'm driving alone, I'm perfectly content to enjoy the drive. It's too stressful to get all anxious trying to zip in and out of traffic.

[HoudiniDerek]

I can see it going both ways. It's nice that the view is wider than just the road so that you could potentially see animals or pedestrians a little further down the road. It's nice that it's not overly bright at night too so that it would be a blinding distraction.

I agree that it could distract drivers from the truck in front, especially at night, but I think overall, it could be good. Especially on heavily traveled roads that have a lot of curves, etc.

There are a lot of distractions already in the car and we haven't stopped producing more, so I'm not sure this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Besides, how widespread are they likely to be?

[wildmaven]

Aug 13, 2019 11:53:23 GMT -8 HoudiniDerek said:

There are a lot of distractions already in the car and we haven't stopped producing more, so I'm not sure this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Besides, how widespread are they likely to be?

But aren't cars driving themselves nowadays? We should be able to just sit and look around, right?

[Derek‽]

It’s a clever concept, but it’s just a publicity stunt from a company that makes cameras and displays. You can already see video ads on the side of some trucks, so all Samsung did was hook a camera feed to it and move the display to the rear—oooh, amazing. I don’t think anyone should expect to see one of these on the road. It could appear in South Korea or Japan, where technological novelty finds the most receptive audience, but it’s already too late to the game to catch on in the US (I can’t speak for Europe).

One main draw of autonomous vehicles is the ability for them to communicate with each other and transmit collective data to the local swarm. Some of this data could just as easily be shared between non-autonomous vehicles as well.

One vehicle with a fore camera could transmit a “do not pass” signal when it detects an oncoming vehicle, a vehicle in the same lane less than thirty feet away, or when approaching a hill of a certain grade. Or an approaching vehicle could broadcast its presence and the Doppler effect could be used to calculate how far away it is and if you could safely pass before it gets too close. The driver would only be alerted to this condition via dash icon when they hit the turn signal, which is already necessary to disengage the lane departure warning system that automatically pushes a car back into the boundaries of its original lane.

Certain cars can already apply the brakes for a driver to avoid a collision, but this could happen sooner if the vehicle in front were to broadcast an emergency stop signal or its intent when the brakes are applied beyond a certain percentage of total force. I’ve often thought there should be an indicator for how hard a vehicle is braking. Standard brake lights tell you when the brakes are applied, but they don’t tell you how hard the vehicle is attempting to stop, and that bit of information would be immensely helpful in preparing to react. Beyond any broadcast signals cars may adopt, I would propose three brake lights per side to indicate four levels of braking corresponding to the number of lights illuminated (kind of like a Mustang and its animated rear turn signal). The fourth level, an attempted full stop at speeds above X MPH, would also illuminate the backup lights. This could also clue you into how effective the vehicle’s brakes are or even adverse road conditions ahead if the driver in front seems to be applying their brakes harder than seems necessary.

(You’re welcome, world! Now give me my patent.)

[HoudiniDerek]

Aug 13, 2019 12:07:23 GMT -8 wildmaven said:

Aug 13, 2019 11:53:23 GMT -8 HoudiniDerek said:

There are a lot of distractions already in the car and we haven't stopped producing more, so I'm not sure this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Besides, how widespread are they likely to be?

But aren't cars driving themselves nowadays? We should be able to just sit and look around, right?

From the conferences I attend, that might be the case in less traveled areas, but apparently the cars are having issues with pedestrians and bicycles, especially when in a crowd crossing a street.  I am not sure I will be alive in the days of fully autonomous and infallible vehicles.

[Rick Ace]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be primarily a European problem. Why are cars overtaking other cars on a lane where traffic goes the opposite direction?

[javaclub]

Yeah im not feeling it. Too many people will be distracted and get in wrecks.

[Beckea]

A distraction.