I can attest. Dodge A-pillars can eclipse entire cars.
The Bad Drivers of Ontario Thread
- Thread starter Boots
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Not sure which thread is best. A drunk guy pulled a u turn and killed a young guy on a motorcycle. Court delays led to a slap on the wrist.
barrie.ctvnews.ca
Fighting for change in justice system as son's memory is honoured
Bailey Durocher's parents want to see change after the conditional sentence handed to the driver responsible for his death as their son's memory is honoured.
While the size of the A pillar is a factor, there comes a time when you're pointed directly at the object. Failure to recognize the situation, at that point, means that you are likely going too fast for conditions. And yes, those conditions might be a bright, sunny day with dry roads. The A pillar on my past Mazda 5 and current CX-30 are pretty big and I have, in fact, pulled out of my parking lot and found that a car was hidden by the pillar. I haven't hit them, because I'm not hammering the gas.
Part of the problem seems to be that some people are simply driving vehicles that are larger than they are capable of handling.
With our Hyundai the mirror also adds substantially to the no-see zone. Compare a 1961 Chev bubble top to a present day SUV and the visibility difference is massive. New cars are safer for the occupants but not pedestrians and other vehicles.
Get your licence on a Civic and buy a Ford Expedition
Priller
Well-known member
Don't misread me that I'm excusing the driver! The video shows he was going way too fast and simply assumed there would be no pedestrians. Like I said, in that F-150 I learned pretty quick that I had to crane my neck forward to see around the A-pillar when making left turns, as the blind spot was so huge.
But I do think that while vehicle design requirements have been extremely focused on protecting the occupants, pedestrian safety has largely been ignored. While the driver bears the largest portion of responsibility, the manufacturers have to take some as well. Which leads to...
Couldn't agree more. I've ranted at length previously here about how modern SUV and truck design is an absolute menace for pedestrians, and the stats back it up. I think the most shocking stat from this article is that pedestrian fatalities have increased by 57% (!) between 2013 and 2022, and a huge percentage of that is kids that are totally invisible to the drivers. That's absolutely nuts, especially considering all the auto-brake and blind spot tech that's been added. All in the interest of micro-p*nis monster grills and hoods that have gotten delusionally vertical in recent years. Cars have to be designed with sloped hoods, pedestrian-friendly crumple zones etc., but as usual, trucks and SUV's are largely exempt from any regulation.
Vehicles are also way heavier than they used to be (per the same article, 1,000 lbs more on average than 30 years ago), which is simultaneously a product of and a cause of massive A-pillars. It gets bigger to withstand the extra weight, which adds weight and thus makes it bigger. This also makes them slower to stop.
I wouldn't say todays cars are less safe for peds or cyclists etc. Most newer cars now have auto ped detection radar etc and auto braking. I can't speak on how well that works for left's though. I also see new designs purposely placing a small window between the driver's side mirror and A pillar in addition the mirrors are now attached lower on the driver's door vs window frame. All of which should help with left turn visability. But also agree the A pillars have become wider on most vehicles. I suppose the reason for this is that it provides more structural strength in case of a rollover and it provides room for the air bags.
If you watch Hollywood movies you know that every car crash results in the vehicle going airborne 20 feet, rolling over and exploding in flames with multiple eruptions.
You also know that you can stack more Volvos on top of each other than Chevies, especially when Volvo engineers hacksaw the Chevy pillars.
Somehow we have to compensate for driving licenses being printed on corn flake boxes.
Fix the driver issue.
Now that I finally have a vehicle with auto braking and blind spot monitoring, I have a much better handle on some of the things that are happening on the roads, I think.
I've had auto braking absolutely nail the brakes on me, twice. Once was when I was getting a bit close to the back of a cop car, while making a lane change. I had judged the space correctly and was clear, but the system didn't like it. The second was when I was barely moving and maybe 15-20 feet behind a pickup truck. Absolutely no reason for it.
And the blind spot monitoring system has strange glitches. I have had it completely ignore a transport truck that's right next to me. If people are relying on this tech then it's no wonder that they're side swiping trucks.
The glitches are few and far between, but they exist.
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It's not just kids.The front blind spot doesn't help with large vehicles.
How many children in this photo are visible from the drivers seat? The answer is zero.
A motorcyclist was killed at Jane / Bloor by a dump truck IIRC. Short people and people in wheelchairs are at risk.
Look at the tall orange traffic pylons and note the battle scars. There's a message.
Could that look like a brake check and / or cause a rear ender? Brake check is on the HTA 172 menu.
Priller
Well-known member
Couldn't agree more, but easier said than done. You can legislate vehicle design, but legislating attentive and competent drivers seems to be as impossible a dream as an insurance industry in Ontario that actually works for customers.
For all the crumple zones, airbags, auto-braking, lane keep assist, reverse monitoring, blind spot assist, cross traffic assist, ABS, radar cruise, auto highbeams, etc., traffic fatality rates have stayed remarkably flat. What this says to me is that we're biologically wired to accept a fixed level of risk, so as we get increasingly cosseted in our vehicles, we get increasingly distracted and/or aggressive on the roads.
As motorcyclists, we're regularly unprotected (and often threatened) by these advances, so I'd say the folks here are largely more attuned to safety on the road.
Agreed, though the improvements have been impressive. The first Civic we had (2015) with the auto-brake etc. was similar to what you describe. It hated oncoming traffic on an undivided highway with sharp s-curves, as it couldn't differentiate the curve and the oncoming traffic as being in a different lane. This section of road in Maple Ridge that I drove regularly in BC was a nightmare every time there was an oncoming vehicle:
It was also terrible when following somebody turning right into a driveway, as it couldn't see that they were departing the roadway. In both cases, the lights would go off and alarms would ring, and every so often it would slam on the brakes. The lane keep assist also struggled with things like shadows from jersey barriers, sometimes trying to shunt you into another lane if the road markings were faded.
But when we got the next-gen model (2022), those problems were largely sorted. Every so often it would squawk when it got confused by things like asphalt seams crossing the roadway in construction zones, but it would never yank the wheel or do anything off-putting. The improvement was absolutely massive.
Our newer Hyundai is even better (worse?), with the full driver assist mode on the highway being creepily good. You can set the adaptive cruise and lane keep, and it'll basically drive itself until your lane ends. The worrying part is it doesn't nag you about keeping your hands on the wheel for absolutely ages. Honda gives you about 15 seconds or so of no input before escalating flashing lights, sounding alarms and vibrating wheels. I've tested the Hyundai for minutes at a time with my hands completely off the wheel and it doesn't say a peep.
Seeing my friend's Tesla S auto drive was impressive but they've killed a few. Of course a lot of people without Tesla technology have killed a few as well. On a death per mile basis how far off base is auto drive? Is there enough data to be relevant?
Priller
Well-known member
I should add that as much as I kvetch about the nanny systems making people stupid, the Hyundai did totally save my *ss recently. On the QEW eastbound, traffic is moving but dense, and I'm in the left lane being impatient and frustrated, following too close because, as usual, I'm tired of people skipping around me into my 2-second gap. I'm following a white Nissan van that has just cut me off, so can't see ahead at all. Suddenly the dash goes mental and I get on the brakes hard. Turns out the POS van's brake lights aren't working, and I'm so obsessed with being mad about bad drivers that I'm being one and am distracted and don't notice him braking quickly enough. Without that alarm, I'm almost certain I drive into the back of him. Or I have to brake hard enough that someone drives into the back of me.
There is no good public data. Manufacturers suppress and/or manipulate data so auto drive comes out on top. For instance, in many instances, tesla disengaged autopilot before a crash. Then they write it up as a crash when driven by a human. Make no mistake, it was an autopilot crash in all but semantics and technicalities.
It seems that, in my case at least, the blind spot monitoring and lane keep assist aren't connected. I get a blind spot warning every day when I turn onto the ramp from Lakeshore to The Gardiner, at York.
That's exactly the sort of thing that I'm worried about. It's only done it once in three months, so far, but it still has me on edge.
And based on all documentation and precedent I have seen, driver is in control and gets ticket. Htf is that reasonable if the car is making decisions and doesn't allow me to override them? Flash lights if it wants but stay the hell away from the brakes.
Some actual consequences for a dip $hit driver…
www.cp24.com
Lamborghini driver who crashed into parked cars while trying to pass streetcar sentenced to prison
A mortgage broker who totalled his Lamborghini and left a passenger with life-altering injuries after trying to pass a Toronto streetcar at nearly three times the speed limit has been handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
www.cp24.com
Not enough but then it never really seems to be, when a life is forever changed because of someone's selfishness.Some actual consequences for a dip $hit driver…
Lamborghini driver who crashed into parked cars while trying to pass streetcar sentenced to prison
A mortgage broker who totalled his Lamborghini and left a passenger with life-altering injuries after trying to pass a Toronto streetcar at nearly three times the speed limit has been handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
