I'm sure everyone has been in the situation where they want to parallel park (reverse park) in traffic, only to find that the cars behind have moved up to block you from doing so. Frustrating to say the least.
My idea is to place a simple switch on the dash that lights up the reverse lights on the car. The driver simply switches the reverse lights on when they are nearing a spot they wish to reverse park into. The lights on the rear of the car indicate to the driver behind to keep their distance thus allowing hassle free reverse parking in tight spots in traffic.
The cost to a car manufacturer to add this feature weuld be negligable and might be a big selling point for car buyers purchasing a car for city traffic. Most road users would pretty quickly clue-in to the intention of the driver in front using the system but a TV campaign by the first car manufacturer adopting the system might help to increase awareness of this fantastically simple and useful feature. Likely to help prevent road rage incidents also.-- Obeardedone, Jul 16 2005 Use indicators.-- Detly, Jul 16 2005 If you've got a standard, the lights already do this. In reverse a portion of the brake lights show white if you are in intention of moving in reverse.-- Zimmy, Jul 16 2005 The idea is to have them manually activated before actually reversing. I don't see why this is any better then turning on your indicator.-- Detly, Jul 16 2005 In bumper to bumper slow moving traffic on say a busy shopping strip, indicating can easily be unnoticed or mistaken for an intention to turn, particularly near intersections. It seems to happen to me more often than not... (sigh)-- Obeardedone, Jul 16 2005 \\indicating can easily be unnoticed\\ How would this be any different?
\\fantastically simple and useful feature\\ Also very practical and mostly unnecessary.
Also to be pedantic, the name needs work. As it is it is far too vague.
Welcome to the Halfbakery [Obeardedone]. Sorry to do this but [-].-- hidden truths, Jul 16 2005 I thought the name was something like "oh bear, dead one".-- waugsqueke, Jul 17 2005 I think that Obeardedone has touched upon an idea that has been indicated many times in differant ways here on halfbakery
The general problem is that it is often very difficult to convey to traffic that something unusual is about to happen
such as:
driving in reverse, extreem sudden stops being "parked" in the middle of the highway ect. soulutions have ranged from this idea to intensity differances or flashing signals of some sort...
I agree that it is a huge problem
HOWEVER,
It is not a good idea for your reverse lights to come on except for when your car is in reverse.
This has happend to me several times while I have been driving down the highway... one time somone was following too close and my reverse lamps lit up and the guy was SURE that I had just put my car into reverse and freaked out slammed on his brakes and lost control momentarily fortunatly there was noone else around and he managed to regain controll. There are several other stories similar to this but after that incodent I had the problem fixed...
I would not normally give a + to an idea that wouldnt work but this is a very real problem and I agree in concept just not the ussual reverse lights... how about quick flashing reverse lights or an orange light that iluminates through the reverse light lense to illustrate caution and that the driver will be backing up soon... but this would require manual activation and thus require an alert and compentet driver and the activation may distract the driver. This switch could be activated in an area where one intends on parking but then couldnt one just activate their hazards?
Hazard light dont ussually work, I know this. Most drivers dont know how to deal with active hazards they dont know what it means or they dont understand what hazard is about to accure ... I have a lot of experience with this and have found most drivers "freeze up" and then make a mad break for it ussually resulting in a near collision. Others simply ignore them (possibly they assume that you are taping the brakes to your favorite tune).
The other point is if you are useing your hazards because you are driving slow and you want everyone to use caution as to not rear end you. This results in the drivers behind driving 25 in a 65.. they then fail to initiate their hazards thus creating the same hazard just 5 carlengths back where no one can see the lead car hazards (yes I know you should not go 25 in a 65 but it does happen especially in these parts).-- shad, Jul 17 2005 I have tried various methods to deal with this problem. The first I tried was to indicate as normal, but come to a complete stop just before the parking space, then move to a position just after. This didn't work, since the following driver simply followed me again, so I couldn't reverse. I tried winding the window down, and signalling for the following driver to go round. This just caused confusion - "Is that a fake elbow he's waving around?" The method that seems to be positive, but rather inelegant: just dive in nose first as far as possible, and leave the back end poking out a bit. Then just wait for a gap in the traffic, reverse out and park normally.-- Ling, Jul 17 2005 Zimmy, I am NOT going to admit that I used to have a double throw / momentary toggle switch with an LED indicator light located on my dash in an unused switch knock-out that allowed me to short the reverse switch on my transmission permitting me to turn on my reverse lights at any time... specifically for people that like to tailgate (you know the people that are so close that you cannot see their hood even when you look back ... and you are driving a compact...) and also for people that leave their brights on and don't lower them no matter how many times you flash your brake lights... which it actually works very well for (but that is all just a rumor)... and especially for people that just have to do both...
EDITED: To vindicate myself from appearing to have lost my mind... zimmy wanted to know if I had a toggle switch that activated my reverse lamps....he then deleted his annotation-- shad, Jul 17 2005 sorry about that. I also mentioned something about the driver behind fearing that the transmission would soon be scattered explosively under the car. I then looked that up and found that that's not supposed to happen.-- Zimmy, Jul 17 2005 true zimmy, an automatic probably wouldn't self destruct and it is difficult to get a manual into reverse but I am sure the guy behind me didnt know that.-- shad, Jul 17 2005 random, halfbakery