h a l f b a k e r yBirth of a Notion.
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So you've gone and bought one of those old-style 'cars'. You get out into rush hour traffic, and lo! a Supermog (mother of the Ford Excursion) takes up position ahead of you.
Traffic is all around, but unfortunately, you can't see through the windows of the vehicle ahead, so you have no clue what the
car 2 cars ahead is doing (braking, accelerating, etc).... And if you should hover your foot over your brake or gas
In the old days, you'd just roll down your window and pop your noggin out to see what's ahead (don't you just love catching those bugs in your teeth). Sometimes you would just edge your left tires on the lane markings so you could get a better perspective.
Now comes the AMAZING see-around camera. The camera is a low light sensitive camera mounted inside the drivers rear-view mirror. The camera peers out a hole facing forward. Video is piped into a small display in the dashboard (or extending from the roof-post). You now have two perspectives simultaneously visible: 1) behind the wheel; 2) 3 feet (1 meter) adjacent.
Now you can at least see one tail-light of the second ahead car -- thus recouping the advantages given 15 years ago by the mandatory third tail light.
Related ideas (that were good attempts at the time):
Mirrors that face forward
http://www.halfbake...t_20Face_20Forwards
[pathetic, Oct 04 2004]
Sideways viewing cameras
http://www.halfbake.../idea/Nose_20Camera
[pathetic, Oct 04 2004]
DogCam
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/DogCam
By the mighty zippyanna [thumbwax, Oct 04 2004]
Huge Mirrors on Trucks
http://www.halfbake...rrors_20on_20Trucks
Letting _them_ solve the problem. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]
Anti-SUV Periscope
http://www.halfbake...nti-SUV_20Periscope
Up-and-over. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]
Car periscope
http://www.halfbake...dea/Car_20periscope
And again (with a different intent). [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]
what's in front of me?
http://www.halfbake...0front_20of_20me_3f
With a display on the SUV. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]
CHMSL
http://www.straight...columns/021129.html
Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp [pathetic, Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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I still can't see a damn thing. Why? Because the hoodline of the S*tU*pid V*iew blocker is taller than the roofline of my car, and the SUV is hugging - natch - *over* the divider line. pathetic, isn't it? |
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I am looking out the winnder. going past too bloody quick |
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How about just leaving enough room between you and the car directly ahead of you and not worrying about what is ahead of him? LIke the bumper sticker that says "Watch my butt, not hers." |
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[James], your point is well taken.
This is about more than merely leaving enough room. This is more about applying less wear and tear to your car by anticipating brake/gas by anticipating what the behemoth ahead is seeing. Still, there has been a documented reduction in effectiveness of the third brake light (i.e. rear-end accidents) since its introduction... which largely can be accounted for by the proliferation of high profile vehicles. Its agreed that people _should_ leave more room... but people, being people, haven't.
See my link "Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp". |
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I skipped down to the list of links without looking at the idea poster's name, and thought at first the poster was making value judgements on competitive ideas. |
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If every car could broadcast what it could see to the vehicle behind that would overcome Thumbwax's problem (well, this one, anyway). Maybe with the capability to select the broadcast from several vehicles in front in case you get stuck behind a couple of trucks too. |
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[egbert] At first blush, your idea sounds good. However, there is a slight addressing problem: How to get the transmitter's MAC address that happens to be directly in front of you (and not in opposing lanes, going opposite direction)? There are a number of ad hoc router schemes (See IETF) that might be brought to bear on the problem, but for now, it doesn't seem to be solved.
Anyway, by getting a 'same-distance, different-perspective' view, a driver should be able to make a better distance judgment, given that at least two bumpers will be visible in the 'dog's eye view': the vehicle immediately ahead (distance known), and a portion of the vehicle beyond that (assuming it is not a motorcycle). Thus a sense of wether imminent braking will occur can be developed.
Here's what it might look a little like (for right-hand side of road drivers): |
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Wherein the 'c' represents second car ahead;
'[' is the SUV. |
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Geez, Might as well start to work from home/neighborhood, given commuting time savings and the inexerable future skyrocketing of fuel prices because of far-too-late anticipation of excelerating demand overtaking limited supply, not to mention road rage. |
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