[chaitanyakrish]

Introduction :

We have seen many crashes involving SUVs and small children and these incidents are heart wrenching for anyone. In most cases, its the responsibility of the parents to take care of the child but we have seen occasions where parent or someone who's so close to the child had driven over the child as they couldn't see the child.

So, its essential for car drivers to know the risk and develop a strategy to minimize the risk.

We cannot react to a hazard, if we can't see them.

Why can't drivers see them? Blind Zones around the car cover a large area, which most drivers are unaware. The larger the car, the larger the hidden area.

Let's see the issue in detail and develop strategies to minimize risk.
Though we cannot fully address the problem, I wanted to develop and share a structured approach that helps everyone to avoid or minimize such crashes. Once we know the risk, we take better care.


Based on my analysis of all blind spot crashes with small children,below are the key observations :
1. All the crashes occur in residential areas,narrow streets, parking lots
2. The speed of the car is less than 10 kmph in all cases
3. The car is either in a stopped state or moving slowly before it crashed into the child
4. Majority of the crashes occur on the front as the car is moving forward
5. The Child is either alone or with a busy parent
6. The height of the child is less than 2-2.5 feet

The below clip is a consolidated list of many such crashes that happened in India.

The Clips will be difficult to watch as it involves kids but use it as a learning exercise to know about the risks.

https://vimeo.com/1013981919

Details :

In any vehicle there are 3 important areas which every driver needs to be aware of.

1. Direct Vision - The area that is directly visible to the drivers
2. Indirect Vision - The area that is visible through mirrors
3. Blind Zones/Spots - The area that is neither visible in mirrors nor can be seen directly



What are Blindspots ?

Blind spots are the areas around the vehicle that we can’t see using our mirrors or by looking directly ahead. These invisible zones can be dangerous because they hide other vehicles, pedestrians, or obstacles from your view.

Several factors contribute to the creation of blind spots. The vehicle’s shape, window pillars, and head restraints can all obscure the view.

In this article, we are focusing only on the front blind zones as the knowledge of it is very critical to avoid crashes with small children,pets in residential areas.





Front of a vehicle is a huge blindspot and not many drivers are aware of it. There are many tests done in the US but unfortunately not in India.



To understand and demonstrate, how big is a front blindspot, I had tested it in my apartment with few of my friends and results are surprising.

I had tested with 4 vehicles and I will share the testing procedure so that you can do it yourself for your vehicle.

Test Vehicles :

1. Skoda Slavia
2. Ford Ecosport
3. Kia Seltos
4. Tata Safari

Measurement approach :

To perform this test, we took drivers of average height ( 5.5 feet ).
A traffic cone ( 1 feet length ) is kept at ground level and drivers are asked to sit in their normal driving position and drive backwards until they see the spot where the cone meets the ground. They should stop the car the moment the base aligns with the windshield wipers.

Below are the results.


1. Skoda Slavia - 477.4 cm or 15.6 feet



2. Kia Seltos - 515 cm or 16.89 ~ 17 feet



3. Ford Ecosport - 361.9 cm or 11.8 feet



4. Tata Safari - 705.1 cm or 23.1 feet



As seen above, the front blindspot ranges from 12 feet to 24 feet, which is a huge area and easily a kid or a pet can be hidden inside them.

Now, we have seen incidents where drivers are turning left or right and then ran over a kid, who's playing on the road.

In our given road and city design, unfortunately its very difficult to separate play areas and vehicle pathways.

So, how to minimize risk as we turn left or right?

Now we know how big is the blindspot area, we should effectively scan the area before we turn. Once we turn without looking, we cannot always say that, we haven't seen the child.

As seen below, before we make a turn, we should scan the area ( green triangle ). If the intersection is having visibility issues, stop, look and proceed.





To conclude, below are some safety tips we can follow to reduce front blind spot accidents.

1. Recognize that blind spots exists.
2. Identify the front blind zone area for your vehicle using the above procedure.
3. Walk around the vehicle before making a move
4. If there are any kids, ensure that they're under someone's supervision and make sure you see them clearly and they're away from our blind zones.
5. Keep kids seated in the car safely and then move

Tips to teach our kids :

1. Teach your kids to observe vehicles in parking lots but never rely on them to keep themselves safe.
2. It takes just a few seconds to call it a disaster, so take no chances.
3. Just because the kid can see the driver, it doesn't mean the driver had seen the kid as well.
4. Parked vehicles can move any time. Ask kids to check for the presence of driver, engine sound, vehicle lights, smoke etc and ask to stay away from those vehicles.
5. Assume that the driver had not seen the kid.
6. Never walk on front or behind a vehicle.
7. Never play in parking lots without adult supervision.
8. Green number plates are EV and they don't make any sound and always check for driver presence.
9. Finally, just because the driver knows how to drive a car, it doesn't mean he knows, how to see and where to see to reduce risk.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[SS-Traveller]

Thank you, Chaitanya, for a very well-researched, well-written and highly educative article about blind spots. That composite video of children getting run over by cars turning corners at slow speed is extremely heartbreaking, and I couldn't watch through all of it.

Most drivers learn to drive by sitting like a mannequin at the wheel, staring straight ahead, and continue to do so even when taking a turn. The majority of the drivers in your video collection do exactly that.

I usually advise drivers to follow a technique to reduce one's forward blind spots, which I call Pan-Tilt, and this is as follows:

Pan - Rotate your head from the neck regularly while driving, to scan the forward area upto and a little beyond the A-pillars on both sides, and include a quick glance at the ORVMs and IRVM, as well as at the meter console. It doesn't have to be a slow movement - with practice, repeated quick shakes/sways of the head, Baduanjin style, will let your eyes pick up vital information about obstructions that you cannot see when looking straight ahead.

Tilt - At the same time as panning ahead with head shakes, shift your torso to the left/ right from the waist. This allows your eyes to sight past the A-pillars (and even the mirrors & a badly mounted dashcam or sticker on your windscreen) from a different angle, reducing the blind spots that they produce.

Apart from reducing blind spots, the habitual pan & tilt movements also keep your circulation going, reduce drowsiness and keep you more alert while driving long distances, and prevent the onset of highway hypnosis.

I do hope drivers reading this would adopt the Pan-Tilt technique while driving, and reduce the risk of being involved in such blind spot crashes.

[Capricorn]

I have 2018 Nexon D AMT. During purchase, I was offerred front parking sensors as TaMo genuine optional paid accessory. I did not loose a second before asking to get it installed from showroom. During car usage, there were instances I could not see living creatures ahead of me because of blind spots as OP mentioned. But the alarm did trigger and I braked well in time. The creatures were not human, but the electronic driver aid has kept me guilt free until now and hope it continues that way.

[MaanSingh]

You have covered this so well, thanks.

I am a big advocate for a hatchback or sedan as first vehicle for a new learner driver, due to these reasons.

I asked a similar question while shortlisting a car for someone -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...ie-driver.html (Automatic car with the best visibility for a newbie driver)

I was using the term "visibility" but I think "front and side blind spots" describe this better as you explained in this very informative post.

Also, it's a lot easier to see let's say a scooter driver's head and torso (from a sedan) and apply breaks or maneuver car accordingly
as compared to just helmet showing up (from a CSUV or higher bonnet\seating car).

[Mystic]

I just could not watch the video for more than a few seconds. I wish 360 degree camera is installed as mandatory on all cars. Now a days the technology has improved such that 360 degree gets activated automatically during turn signals in the big screen on the dashboard. Now we donot have an excuse of blind spots which are all the more important during turnings. I wish next level ADAS can identify what a human cannot identify and stop on all types of cars as a law.

I am 60 years now and past 50, I am going every 5 years to get my DL renewed with proper medical check up and not the one done by brokers without seeing the Doctor. The minimum we need to make sure that eye sight is correct and our reflexes are good to be road worthy. If we personally feel that we are not medically fit, we better not drive at all.

Very pertinent thread wrt to India. In India our purchasing power increased many fold in the last couple of decades and now we have giant SUVs but India being a country of unity in diversity, we see cycle rickshaws, baby bicycles, bullock carts, 3 wheeler autos and pedestrians walking all over except on the zebra crossings. Sorry to say, many of our drivers get driving licenses without going to RTO ( don't have civic sense, driving sense and common sense). They just point their car in the direction they are going and move.

Let me tell my personal experiences of driving 3 types of cars in Indian environment and how I managed blind spots.

1. Innova Crysta Z, a long car. Parking and reversing is a challenge. Fortunately the car has front parking sensors as OEM. I requested the dealer to install 360 degree camera immediately at show room itself. He promised that the concerned technician was on leave and would come to my home to install it after 2 days. I never drove the car in those 2 days. I never wanted to take a risk especially with kids playing in our small Villa community on the drive way.

2. Jimny: The visibility all around is great as it is a small car but it still has a height of a large SUV and turning radius more than Fortuner. These aspects keep me very alert and not to be in a false image that we are driving a small sized car like alto.

3. Scorpio VLX. This is a big SUV and a tall one as well. When I bought it in 2009, I was pleasantly surprised that OEM has given an IRVM with built in LED indicating if there is any hinderance behind and how many feet distance it is with alarm beep increasing as it becomes closer. That was good enough in those days as I am not sure of 360 degree cameras were even available in those days. I managed with this SUV for 12 years with my wife as manual 360 degree camera. She is with me most of the time. She is very angry with me when I am still asking her to help me in spite of 360 degree camera.

[buzzy_boy]

This post triggered me deeply! I accidentally ran over my dog kid, when he was a pup, in my Scorpio! I still can't overcome the feeling of guilt!

Excellent post! I would like to contribute one key concept that wasn't covered in the OP. I got introduced to this while watching driving instruction videos for the UK. All drivers should be aware of the concept of outdated observations and the risk that they pose.

While we all understand the importance of observations, many of us don't realise that observations could get outdated, sometimes within seconds.

Outdated observations pose a huge risk, at maneuvering speeds, especially in the context of blind spots. What we often forget is that blind spots shift with the position of the vehicle. So, we might be lulled into thinking that we've covered all the blind spots, but they could change as the vehicle starts moving.

We can see the concept of outdated observations in action when the Ertiga runs over the kid in the parking lot. The vehicle had just reversed, and is about to move forward again. The kid enters the bearing of the vehicle completely hidden from view. The driver of the Ertiga presumably was complacent, thinking that his bearing is clear as he had just reversed down that path just seconds ago. However, his observations are outdated and disaster struck!

Key learnings:

1. Refuse to move the vehicle in the presence of unsecured kids.
2. In areas where your likely to find kids, such as parking lots of schools, apartments, and malls, always assume that there's a kid in your blindspot, and maneuver gently by modulating the clutch, with one foot on the brake pedal.

[MaanSingh]

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

and maneuver gently by modulating the clutch, with one foot on the break pedal.

Thats' what I miss in our newer automatic cars, that "feel" of the car as an extension to our own body.

With good old manual cars we could modulate clutch to such an extent and reduce power so that the car does not "hit" anything like an invisible Kerb but barely "touches" it and we could stop without causing any damage.

[ashkamath]

An amazing thread. Thanks for bringing this up.

I have had my share of almost running over my niece while reversing my uncle's car many decades ago.
The car was Ambassador Mark II and it was a regular / daily routine reversing the car from the shed to the front porch of the house. And my 3 year old niece ran across the car, her head hit the rear bumper and she fell and I was oblivious to it and reversing the car and her head was almost near the reverse tyre when my grandfather who was tending to the garden nearby immediately noticed and cried out my name. Sensing something wrong I slammed the brakes and my niece head was touching the rear tyre. She had some minor bruise to her head, but nothing serious.

It's many decades since then, and now she has grown up and married and have her family.. I get shivers even just reminiscing those moments that are very fresh and clear in my mind even now, after many decades.

Life could have changed drastically for me if that tragedy had occurred, and the Angels were watching over my niece and me that fateful day.

Incidences such as these makes one extra careful, extra sensitive and take more precautions while driving. I have blind spot mirrors fixed on ORVMs of all my vehicles and I gift them to my friends when they come over to my home.

Every time I take a vehicle out, I circle it once, bend and check if anything is beneath (dogs, cats) and am extremely careful, sensitive and aware of the movements around my vehicle.

[Meph1st0]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Introduction :

We have seen many crashes involving SUVs and small children and these incidents are heart wrenching for anyone.

Thanks for informative and well researched article.

The drivers should be educated about blind spots when they learn driving. Most people are not aware of this or to what extent they are blinded.

Rear view camera and front sensors have to be made mandatory. The front sensors stop working after certain speed but still will be helpful in several scenarios.

Similarly buses and trucks have massive blind spots . People forget this when they cross the road in hurry directly in front of the bus.

[sumeethaldankar]

Will having a 360 degree camera in the car reduce this risk? One can enable the camera in tight spaces, parking lots etc.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Will having a 360 degree camera in the car reduce this risk? One can enable the camera in tight spaces, parking lots etc.

360 degree camera and front sensors are very helpful and also can be distracting sometimes. Experts can comment.

In my Car, there is switch to disable sensors irritating noise because it beeps when 2 wheelers or autos come too close to the car when driving at high speeds. There is a switch that one can disable it if required. I never switched it off. When one turns an indicator during overtaking at high speeds, the 360 degree camera gets activated automatically in the screen before the Google maps which we are using for directions comes back again. We may miss an exit in those few seconds sometimes.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Introduction :
So, its essential for car drivers to know the risk and develop a strategy to minimize the risk.

We cannot react to a hazard, if we can't see them.

Why can't drivers see them? Blind Zones around the car cover a large area, which most drivers are unaware. The larger the car, the larger the hidden area.

Very gruesome video, but it really drives home the point. Its a very informative post, explained in a rational and structured manner. Thank you so much for putting in so much time and effort to explain the importance of blindspots and increasing our awareness. Even for seasoned tenured drivers, this is a real and present danger. Posts such as yours really add immense value to making us better drivers. Thank you !

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Based on my analysis of all blind spot crashes with small children

I will never risk it with kids (especially unattended and ones with preoccupied parents). No evasive action nothing. Just stop and let them through. Rear ending be damned.

In my own parking lot, am not taking the car in or out, unless I have the kids and adults clear my space.

I've had 2 close incidents in 7 years:

• A kid darting across the road from one parent on one end of the road to other. It was 730 in the morning and this was in Ahmednagar cantonment area where my speed was around 30-40 kph. I stopped about 5 meters or so.
• A kids on a bicycle enters from a side street into the main street, whom I saw on my right peripheral vision and stopped. This was at 2nd gear speed and she passed me at a feet or so to spare.

I will give you another tricky customer: stray dogs. More often than not, they will get up and get off your way. Problem is you don't spot them anywhere, and you can't be sure they are out of danger or not.

In an apartment or office complex the strategy I follow is to slot the car into 2nd gear and let it creep. On ramp, I give a gentle acceleration enough to not stall the car.

Yet you run into geniuses like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm09DbATGF4

I would say your front blind spot is much easier to strategize on the move. If you drive a manual, just release the clutch half a second late and you'll know who is making a move which way.

The biggest blind spot is your A-pillar. You'll have to crane your neck forward and back in situations where you expect movement from the right side. The tricky part is how do you define the situations. Its easier to say traffic signals and U-turn intersections on highways. But I've seen some bizarre moves once you leave urban limits where 2-wheelers jump out of dividers like Jesse Mach.
--
Talking about frontal visibility from driver seat. May I request you to evaluate the MG Windsor for it. It has quite the opposite problem. You don't know where the edges are. And the damned car has an exposed headlight enclosure.

[Gaur]

I drive a Scorpio-N and always fear for such a scenario, for the same reasons got a fender mirror installed few months back.





Though the the fender mirror majorly provides passenger side visibility but i adjusted it such that it covers almost the entire front end as well.

The build quality though is very poor considering the cost (~4.5k) but according to me its an absolutely need on any large vehicle.