blind spot

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The driver of the blue car can see the green car through his mirrors, but not the red one without looking over the shoulder . It's in the blind spot .

The term blind spot generally describes a room that, despite technical aids ( mirrors or video cameras ), cannot be seen by people who want to observe this room. Such rooms are especially found in public places or in shopping centers with video surveillance . The blind spot has a special meaning in traffic .

In the military, the area that can not be covered with a weapon is called a blind spot .

The blind spot in traffic

Truck driver's point of view ( Volvo FH )

In road traffic, the blind spot is the area to the side of the vehicle or in front of and behind the vehicle that cannot be seen by vehicle drivers inside closed vehicles despite rear-view mirrors . This area varies in size depending on the number of windows and rearview mirrors. Since 2007 , a total of six mirrors have been prescribed for newly registered trucks and buses since 2009 and for trucks and buses registered since 2001 , which reduce the blind spot to the area directly behind the vehicle.

Blind spots and dangers

The blind spot prevents or reduces the driver's view of what is happening. This is particularly clear when trucks turn right, as there are two-wheelers to the right of the vehicle (especially cyclists) who want to drive straight ahead (and therefore have priority) in the truck's blind spot. In the event of an accident, drivers often state that they did not see the cyclist because of the blind spot. It is also impossible to react to mistakes made by others in the blind spot, which also results in accidents. The particular danger for two-wheelers (but also pedestrians) is that they are not caught from the front of the car, but from the side, and that the danger comes from the rear wheels of the truck, i.e. unexpectedly from behind, because the rear axle describes a different curve lane (namely further to the right) than the steered front axle. Every year (until 2003) around 140 cyclists and pedestrians died in accidents with trucks turning right in Germany. According to an extrapolation based on the figures for Berlin, there can also be 200 fatalities annually, whereby the majority of the population are cyclists.

Measures to reduce the risk

DOBLI mirror on a truck (bottom right)
Truck front camera

In Germany, the ADFC and many other groups have long been calling for better legal regulations to reduce the dangers of blind spots. On January 1, 1992, the StVZO was changed, so that a second large-angle rearview mirror and side protection devices for larger trucks over 3.5 t were introduced.

In 2007, the EU stipulated that newly registered trucks should be fitted with mirrors for complete all-round visibility. Since March 2009, existing trucks must also be retrofitted with the mirrors. Since then, in addition to the main exterior mirrors, all trucks have had a front mirror, a ramp mirror and two wide-angle mirrors.

Although the blind spot no longer exists to the front and to the side, at least in trucks, if the mirrors are correctly adjusted, accidents when turning right continue to occur because truck drivers do not check all mirrors when turning. In this context, it is often wrongly said that road users were in the blind spot if it was an area that could not be seen directly but only through a mirror. Due to the continued high number of accidents, additional technical measures are being discussed, such as bike flash systems, to reduce these accidents.

The lane change assistant is a driver assistance system to warn the driver of impending collisions when changing lanes. The system is activated when the indicator is activated and, if necessary, warns the driver of a collision with vehicles in the neighboring lane.

Systems for lane change support make automatic steering movements to reach the target lane and check beforehand whether a vehicle is in the blind spot. If necessary, the driver is warned by a light signal.

In the truck sector, ultrasonic detection with a warning signal in the vehicle has been ready for series production since 2005. Alternatively, in the dark, two glare-free work lights that are mounted on the two exterior mirrors illuminate the blind spot .

A radar-based blind spot detector has been available from Daimler for 2500 euros since 2016 . A solution used at Edeka is based on cameras and costs 500 euros.

Europe-wide measures

Directive 2007/38 / EC was introduced on March 31, 2009 to ensure an extended field of vision. The guideline contains a conversion obligation for all vehicles of the classes N2 and N3 with a first registration after January 1st, 2000 in the whole EU. Together with Directive 2003/97 / EC [2], which already applied to all motor vehicles of classes M (vehicles for passenger transport) and N (motor vehicles for freight transport), the following obligations apply:

  • Mandatory enlargement of the minimum field of vision for certain vehicles;
  • Equipping certain vehicles with additional mirrors (e.g. trucks with front mirrors, wide-angle mirrors and ramp mirrors);
  • Adaptation to technical progress (e.g. radius of curvature of the surface of rear-view mirrors);
  • Replacement of certain mirrors by other systems for indirect vision (e.g. camera-monitor systems).

The blind spot in the military

The blind spot (also known as dead space ) is an area that cannot be reached from a shooter's position . Objects in this area are safe from attack, even if not by other objects covered are. The blind spot is of particular importance when defending fortified positions, because attackers can use it as a shooting position. A blind spot usually arises due to specific features of the weapon or a required angle of fire.

When building castles in the Middle Ages , blind spots were avoided by using special loopholes . With the advent of artillery it became more and more important to avoid blind spots, which is why fortresses were secured by arrow-shaped bastions and later by traditors .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Accident analysis Berlin
  2. ↑ ADFC: There is no such thing as a “blind spot” on heavy trucks.
  3. ↑ Sabine Franz: This technology can protect cyclists. In: Spiegel Online. May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018 .
  4. ↑ MEKRA: EU mirror conversion according to 2007/38 / EG ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ MEKRA: EU directives and field of view classes ( Memento from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ MEKRA: field of vision ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )