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Looks just like a regular rear window, until reverse gear is engaged.
It then
turns totally black, preventing the driver from looking round to
reverse
and forcing them to learn to reverse properly using the side mirrors
only.
That's it.
[link]
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The advertising campaign for this would be
challenging. It falls into the "buy this product
because it will make you do something you don't
want to but which I think you ought to" category. |
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This is a long-standing argument between T.G.F.J. and I;
she insists that using only the mirrors is the correct and
proper way to reverse. I was taught to use my mirrors but
to always look over my shoulder as well, even when
changing lanes. Mirrors provide a very limited arc of vision;
to me it seems silly and needlessly risky to rely solely upon
the sliver of the world reflected in the mirrors when a
split-second glance can not only confirm what they show
but also fill in the considerable blind spots that they do not
cover. |
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For the record, I can reverse with mirrors only quite
capably; one picks these things up quickly when one
owns a big truck with no rear window. Just the same, I
sometimes lean out the window and look back, because I'm
all for taking in every bit of visual information I can get
rather than accidentally backing over somebody's
reasonably priced car with my 46" Michelins. |
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Re link - Pah! Those instructions were aimed at
Connecticut drivers. On the other hand, England's
finest Highway Code says: |
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"Look carefully before you start reversing. You
should:
use all your mirrors
check the ‘blind spot’ behind you (the part of the
road you cannot see
easily in the mirrors)
check there are no pedestrians (particularly
children), cyclists, other road
users or obstructions in the road behind
you.
Reverse slowly while checking all around
looking mainly through the rear window
being aware that the front of your vehicle will
swing out as you turn." |
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The inevitable result of this inappropriate, foolish and downright
dangerous advice is that it produces a crop of drivers who, when
placed in a vehicle such as a van with no rear windows or
central rear-view mirror are completely unable to execute any
manouver involving reversing. |
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A significant proportion of entirely standard vehicles lack
anything other than door/wing mirrors. |
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A significant part of the world lacks adequate
sanitary facilities, but I seldom pee in my garden. |
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Borg, come stand behind my deuce and we'll count how
many of you I 'didn't see' because I was reversing using only
my mirrors. |
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[Alt], that one falls into the same category as "Do not attempt to
eat a live Bengal tiger" or trying to find a flammable gas leak in
a basement by means of a Zippo lighter. |
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Careless, inattentive or unwary individuals crushed by large
vehicles are no loss to your species' gene pool. Thing of it as a
selection pressure, albeit one mediated by forty tonnes of slow-
moving metal. |
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Railway trains move along highly predictable paths, called
"tracks" from which they very rarely deviate. Yet individuals,
both on foot and in vehicles, continue to interpose themselves
into that critical four-foot-eight-and-a-half region, to their
ultimate detriment. It takes a significant volitional action to be
struck by a train … |
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Reversing vehicles display steady and sometimes flashing lights,
and often beeping noises too. There is also a detectable parallax
shift as the distance between the object and observer decreases.
Your species is equipped by evolution with binocular vision for
exactly this purpose. You are not obliged to use it, of course. You
can just stand there and get crushed. You have choices, but not
alternatives. |
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This is a really, really terrible idea. If you're not
looking out the back window while backing up, you're
doing it wrong. The mirrors are there primarily for
use when changing lanes. Even with a backup camera
installed, you should still be looking out the back
window, and just using the camera to check for
anything you can't see directly. |
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