Stay away from big trucks! The driver really can't see you!

Audit expert: Zhu Guangsi

Member of Beijing Science Writers Association

When riding a bicycle or electric bike on the road, it is always frightening to see heavy semi-trailers and buses around. In real life, pedestrian and non-motor vehicle accidents caused by large vehicles are also common.

For example, on the morning of June 13 this year, a man riding an electric bike collided with a heavy semi-trailer and was dragged for dozens of meters. Fortunately, he only suffered injuries to his hands and legs. In the accident, Tang, the driver of the heavy semi-trailer, was turning right when the electric bike went straight into the blind spot of the truck, causing the accident. Why are such road accidents so common? Can the driver of a large truck really not see objects near his vehicle?

Today, let’s take a look at the blind spots of motor vehicles.

What is a blind spot?

Blind spots literally mean areas where our sight is difficult to see due to obstacles such as occlusion. The existence of this area often misleads our brain into thinking it is safe, causing the brain to issue wrong instructions, which eventually leads to tragedy. Fully understanding the issues related to blind spots and keeping a constant alert for traffic hazards is a key lesson for us to protect ourselves.

A local traffic police detachment once conducted an experiment in which the traffic police guided 75 kindergarten children to hide around an SUV police car, and then asked the kindergarten teacher who had been wearing a blindfold and sat in the driver's seat of the vehicle to take off the blindfold, look around and observe the vehicle's rearview mirror. Unexpectedly, no child noticed. This shows that even if the vehicle is not started, the hiding ability in the static blind spot alone is astonishing.

What is a static blind spot? Due to the inherent defects of vehicle design or the driver's lack of safety awareness, the blind spot that occurs when the vehicle is stationary is called a static blind spot. Static blind spots are mainly divided into vehicle blind spots, AB column blind spots, rearview mirror blind spots and human blind spots .

Blind spots around the vehicle and AB pillars

Source: CCTV News

The reason for the blind spot around the vehicle is that the driver's line of sight is blocked by the vehicle engine and trunk, making it difficult to observe the area. There are many factors that affect the blind spot around the vehicle. For example, the SUV police car in the above experiment is affected by the larger model, so its blind spot range is naturally larger than that of a sedan, and the blind spot of a truck is larger than that of an SUV. In addition, the seat height, the driver's body shape, whether a reversing radar is installed, etc. all affect the size of the blind spot around the vehicle.

Compared with the blind spots around the vehicle that are easy to attract attention, the AB pillar blind spots and rearview mirror blind spots are less likely to appear in accident reports, but we still need to deepen our understanding and be vigilant. The A pillar refers to the opaque part at the junction of the front windshield and the window of the vehicle, and the B pillar refers to the opaque part at the junction of the front and rear windows. The original intention of these designs is to enhance the support of the roof, but the opaque metal material also blocks the driver's line of sight, forming the AB pillar blind spots. The width of the AB pillar is the main factor affecting the AB pillar blind spot. Seeking a balance between the strength of the support function and the size of the AB pillar blind spot is a problem that car designers are constantly exploring.

Source: pixabay

Unlike the worries of designers, drivers need to think more about the blind spots of rearview mirrors , because no matter how they adjust the rearview mirrors on both sides, there will be blind spots, and if they are not careful, they will come into close contact with vehicles that "suddenly appear" next to them.

The three types of static blind spots mentioned above are all caused by natural defects in car design, while another type of blind spot is caused by careless drivers. Man-made blind spots are caused by placing oversized ornaments in the car or applying too dark a shading film on the windshield, which affects the driver's ability to observe road conditions.

Correspondingly, the dynamic blind spot is the blind spot that appears when the vehicle is driving, such as mountain road blind spot, uphill and downhill blind spot, overtaking blind spot, inner wheel difference blind spot, tunnel blind spot, etc.

Mountain road blind spot

Source: People's Daily

Uphill and downhill blind spots

Source: People's Daily

Inner wheel differential blind spot

Source: People's Daily

As the name suggests, the mountain road blind spot is when the driver's vision is blocked by obstacles such as the mountain on the inside when driving the vehicle through a bend in the mountainous area; the uphill and downhill blind spot is when the vehicle drives on the slope, the angle formed between the slope and the field of vision forms a blind spot; the overtaking blind spot is when overtaking a vehicle traveling in the same direction, it is difficult to notice the oncoming vehicle due to the obstruction of the vehicle in front; the inner wheel difference blind spot is the crescent-shaped area surrounded by the body of the vehicle between the front and rear wheels when the vehicle is turning. This area is difficult to observe and forms a "death zone"; the tunnel blind spot refers to when the driver exits the tunnel after driving in a dimly lit tunnel for a period of time, the brightness in the field of vision suddenly increases, which will cause the driver to not be able to see the road conditions clearly for a short period of time... Obviously, dynamic blind spots are different blind spots formed under various road conditions. As long as you are more careful and vigilant at all times, they are easy to avoid.

How far away from the car is safe?

According to the "Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", pedestrians should walk on the sidewalk, and walk close to the roadside if there is no sidewalk.

According to the "Safety and Civilized Operation Standards for Motor Vehicle Drivers - Small Car Driving": When vehicles and pedestrians are in the opposite direction of driving, the distance between them is greater than 1m; when vehicles and pedestrians are in the same direction of driving, the distance between them is greater than 1.5m.

When seeing a vehicle turning, pedestrians should try to stay away from the vehicle and make the most reasonable judgment in accordance with legal regulations and specific road conditions. When a large vehicle turns, it can form a blind spot of about 2m inside the wheel. Whether it is a pedestrian, electric vehicle or motorcycle, you must be extremely vigilant!

How to avoid blind spot injuries and ensure traffic safety?

Traffic accidents are as fierce as tigers, and safety responsibility is heavier than a mountain. How to ensure traffic safety as much as possible is a common concern of drivers and pedestrians.

From the driver's perspective, the following points should be noted to prevent traffic hazards:

Before driving, the driver needs to adjust the seat, rearview mirror, etc. to a comfortable state according to the actual situation, and try to avoid dangerous blind spots due to excessive blind spots; you can also install reversing radar, wide-view auxiliary mirrors and other equipment on the car to reduce the blind spots. Do not buy too cheap sunshade film, and do not place too large decorations in the car to create artificial blind spots; countless bitter lessons have proved that drivers must check around the car before starting it to prevent the vehicle from running over children who may be squatting around the car to play or pedestrians who are picking up objects when the vehicle is started.

Source: pixabay

When driving, you should keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you so that you can quickly read the vehicle ahead and make a safety prediction. Do not blindly overtake or change lanes. When driving on a slope or curve, you should pay special attention to maintaining a safe speed, do not change lanes or cross lanes at will, and pay attention to the content of the roadside signs. When turning, you must turn on the turn signal, always pay attention to the situation outside the car, and make sure there are no pedestrians or other obstacles in the blind spot before turning.

After driving, you must carefully check the vehicle, especially the tires, steering, brakes, lights, seat belts, etc., and promptly carry out inspection and maintenance of the vehicle.

Traffic safety requires the joint efforts of drivers and pedestrians. Drivers alone are not enough. Pedestrians also need to pay attention to the following points:

First of all, the most important thing is to obey traffic rules. If you ignore safety hazards and traffic regulations, you will definitely put yourself in danger! When crossing the road, you must use zebra crossings, do not climb over green belts or cross the road, obey traffic lights, stop when the light is red, go when the light is green, and do not cut in.

Source: pixabay

Secondly, in addition to complying with basic traffic rules, we must also enhance our awareness of prevention . We must keep to our own lanes, pedestrians must stay on the sidewalks to avoid mixed traffic and accidents; when crossing the road, avoid sudden turns, acceleration, and retreating to avoid accidents caused by drivers not being able to avoid them; cars should give way to pedestrians, pedestrians should walk faster, and when crossing the road, we should concentrate and cross decisively and quickly; we should carefully observe the road conditions, try to avoid the driver's blind spots, and stay away from vehicle blind spots and large vehicles; when walking at night, if the road lighting conditions are poor, try to turn on the flashlight on your mobile phone to remind the driver behind to pay attention to pedestrians, etc.

In short, traffic safety requires both pedestrians and drivers to comply with and cooperate with traffic regulations. They must not act blindly and put themselves in danger by thinking that "there is no problem".