Ever wanted to make a U Turn, but you were not sure you could make it in the space you have? The turning Circle Indicator can help. Attached to the front of your car, hidden behind the grill, it projects a laser circle to indicate the turning radius of the vehicle. A sensor attaches to the steering rod to determine the degree of lock. This information is used to inform the size of the laser circle. You know immediately, what turning circle the current lock will allow you to make.
-- senatorjam, Sep 20 2006

Short of a "U-Turn" button on the dashboard, sounds like a good idea!
-- DrCurry, Sep 20 2006


If you can't adequately judge distance and room required for your vehicle to make a simple, low speed manouvre such as this, you should not be driving.
-- webfishrune, Sep 21 2006


We just need to make sure no 'car tuner' folks see this post. First it was neon lights and loud stereos, next it'll be an impromptu laser-light and fireworks show.
-- craigts, Sep 21 2006


Would be excellent for truckers. And the laser could show where the back wheels will intersect with the men's garden club plantings in the median.
-- ldischler, Sep 21 2006


Is the laser supposed to project a full "U" shape onto the road/ground where the vehicle would go? If the laser is behind the grill, then it won't be able to project the full trajectory, since the headlights and body panels, etc. would be in the way of the laser.

I'd rather just have a vehicle equipped with all wheel steering to eliminate the whole problem all together, but that's just me...
-- BJS, Sep 23 2006


/ If you can't adequately judge distance and room required for your vehicle to make a simple, low speed manouvre such as this, you should not be driving. /

I used to feel this way when it came to airbags, anti-lock brakes, GPS, and the oil change indicator lights but the other day I was on the road and some moron was trying to make a U-Turn in the most impossible of places. It ended up taking him 8 forward-backward manuvers to get around the median while causing the traffic to be backed up. If he had the system, he probably would have had enough sense to keep on going forward.
-- Jscotty, Sep 23 2006


Feel pretty strongly about that, don't you?
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Sep 24 2006


//I used to feel this way when it came to airbags, anti-lock brakes, GPS, and the oil change indicator lights but the other day I was on the road and some moron was trying to make a U-Turn in the most impossible of places. It ended up taking him 8 forward-backward manuvers to get around the median while causing the traffic to be backed up. If he had the system, he probably would have had enough sense to keep on going forward.//

Someone like that would never figure out how to turn on the laser. RFID tags in their brain, and a police state to lock them away is the only solution... but that would be a WIBNI, and it has RFID, so there's really no point in trying to post it here.
-- ye_river_xiv, Sep 24 2006


Oh, no! I am fully in favor of planting RFID tags in the brains of morons. Preferably from a distance of ten meters with a hand held 9mm installation device.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Sep 24 2006


Yay! Someone's going properly 'vigilante' about driving standards...
-- Azazello, Sep 25 2006


I believe Dallas Semiconductor makes those tags suitable for ballistic installation. It is a 64-bit silicon number packaged in a steel battery type container.
-- neelandan, Sep 25 2006


you could steal it off the bicycle indicator laser they were showing on Discovery(or some place like that) the other day.
-- kamathln, May 08 2009


Perhaps the laser should be of sufficient power to create the space required for the vehicle to perform the U turn, scything through the central reservation, steel barriers, bridge supports, passing vehicles and any other troublesome distractions.

Or maybe just don't get lost then you won't need to make the U turn.

Siding with WebFishrune, I think all new drivers should be restricted to a Model T Ford, Austin Seven or similar for the first 2 years. That will either teach them to drive or obviate the issue.
-- Twizz, May 11 2009


//I think all new drivers should be restricted to a Model T Ford//

Come now, Twizz, they'll only learn the same way we did: By aggravating the shit out of everyone else and surviving only on the foresight, good graces and accident avoidance abilities of those more experienced.
-- MikeD, May 11 2009



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