Do Backup Cameras Protect You?

[bronsin]

Here is the tragic story of a child run over by a car. Note the FRONT WHEEL ran him over. Which cant be seen with a REAR VIEW camera!

Many such accidents, even those which involve the child being run over by the REAR of the vehicle, involve the child RUNNING into the car. From an area NOT in the view of the camera!

It seems that rear view cameras are NOT protection against this problem.

What IS protection involves looking all around WITH YOUR EYES the entire time you are in reverse.





http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/aunt-runs-over-florida-boy-7-on-christmas-day/

[david_827]

What IS protection involves looking all around WITH YOUR EYES the entire time you are in reverse.





http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/aunt-runs-over-florida-boy-7-on-christmas-day/


Cant stress this enough. I am probably the only person at my job who drives a small car. 95% of the cars in my job's parking lot are SUVs and crossovers. I have had to swerve around several of my coworkers backing out of parking spots on multiple occassions, because instead of looking around they consistently rely solely on the back up cam.... :thumbdown:

[MadMax]

Situational awareness will save your life and the lives of others. Back-up cameras are a crutch and lead to a dependency on technology to do what the driver should be doing.

[pismo61]

In my wifes car I only use it as a tool for backing but cant soley rely on it.I dont feel comfortable just looking at that screen.

[vadr45]

What back-up cameras ARE good for is assistance when backing into a parking space - they tell you when you're going to snag the rear bumper on the concrete barrier or mash the bumper of the car behind you. Their SOLE use is in parking - parallel parking in particular. Any other use should be criminalized.

...and frankly, I'm for banning any cars bigger than a bread box. I've SEEN an SUV back over a Miata.

[bronsin]

Right small cars = less energy = less physical trauma in accidents.

Big cars are like letting crazy people loose in our schools with assualt rifles.

To say nothing of buring twice the gas our nation uses vs small cars....

[david_827]

...and frankly, I'm for banning any cars bigger than a bread box. I've SEEN an SUV back over a Miata.

:eek:

[nookandcrannycar]

Situational awareness will save your life and the lives of others. Back-up cameras are a crutch and lead to a dependency on technology to do what the driver should be doing.

^^^^^ This. My awareness, and the awareness of 2-3 drivers going the other direction made avoiding what would have been a horrendous accident earlier this year in Florida possible. The actions of those other drivers were the most amazing, because the 'not able to finish a 10 car pass before a curve so still in the southbound lane while heading north, but already over a double yellow' driver was going the same direction these other cars were. All of us (except the illegal pass guy) instinctively (it happened so fast it had to be instinct) moved to the very edge of the half at best shoulder and the wrong direction passing guy squeezed between us, still going quite fast. I may have posted about this earlier this year, but (in replaying the event in my mind) I don't think I realized how amazing the situational awareness of the 2-3 lawful northbound drivers was until very recently.

[nookandcrannycar]

Here is the tragic story of a child run over by a car. Note the FRONT WHEEL ran him over. Which cant be seen with a REAR VIEW camera!

Many such accidents, even those which involve the child being run over by the REAR of the vehicle, involve the child RUNNING into the car. From an area NOT in the view of the camera!

It seems that rear view cameras are NOT protection against this problem.

What IS protection involves looking all around WITH YOUR EYES the entire time you are in reverse.





http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/aunt-runs-over-florida-boy-7-on-christmas-day/

My little cousin who inspired my user name has two first cousins (also little cousins of mine). When the older of the two was about 22 months old (Christmas of 2008) I bought her a Big Wheel for Christmas. By coincidence, her aunt also bought her a Big Wheel. We laughed, put one of them together, and watched her ride it in the driveway and out into the cul-de-sac. This made more of an impression on me than my user name namesake little cousin riding her Big Wheel a few years earlier because she was only allowed to ride in the backyard (they don't live on a cul-de-sac and traffic has increased on their street over the years). I've always been a 'looking all around with your eyes while in reverse and backing' person, but I've been even more aware since watching my little cousin ride her new Big Wheel in the cul-de-sac on Christmas Day in 2008.

[nookandcrannycar]

Cant stress this enough. I am probably the only person at my job who drives a small car. 95% of the cars in my job's parking lot are SUVs and crossovers. I have had to swerve around several of my coworkers backing out of parking spots on multiple occassions, because instead of looking around they consistently rely solely on the back up cam.... :thumbdown:

This post, and vadr45's post, remind me of a teenager driving an Expedition who backed into my spare Integra in a parking lot (I think I wrote about that in a previous thread). TEENAGERS DRIVING LARGE SUVs = THE WORST COMBINATION .

[nookandcrannycar]

Right small cars = less energy = less physical trauma in accidents.

Big cars are like letting crazy people loose in our schools with assualt rifles.

To say nothing of buring twice the gas our nation uses vs small cars....

As much as I hate big cars/SUVs, I think the government butting in and banning them = worse than the current situation.

[MadMax]

Actually, the last vehicle I drove with a back-up camera, I tore the driver's side mirror off using it! I was backing out from an underground garage and one of the pillars ripped the damn thing off! :eek:

Luckily it was a work rental and had full insurance, but that only solidified my belief that they are useless. :biggrin:

That said, I do find the back-up sensors that beep when you get close to an object to be helpful as they area audio warning and don't distract you from looking where you should!

Cheers! M2

[nookandcrannycar]

Actually, the last vehicle I drove with a back-up camera, I tore the driver's side mirror off using it! I was backing out from an underground garage and one of the pillars ripped the damn thing off! :eek:

Luckily it was a work rental and had full insurance, but that only solidified my belief that they are useless. :biggrin:

That said, I do find the back-up sensors that beep when you get close to an object to be helpful as they area audio warning and don't distract you from looking where you should!

Cheers! M2

IMO, the only valid use for one in a Yaris would be to use video captured to prove you were not at fault in a chain reaction pile-up where every car except the last one/guilty party is already stopped at a red signal or in traffic on the freeway. The odds of that happening are slim enough that, I agree, the useless moniker would pretty much fit. I agree that having one might create a technological dependence, and in addition this is one case (rare ?) where the 'tech' answer isn't as effective as the properly executed human one (at least re any camera I've ever seen). If a car had one standard or as part of a package where I wanted everything else, I wouldn't take the camera out or disable it. If I had an extra smartphone that I wasn't doing anything else with, and a cheap app was available that would work facing rearward (many definitely do facing forward) I would try that out. That one use is unlikely enough that I wouldn't spend more than $10.00 (for an app) to have a rear facing camera feature. I agree that audio back-up sensors are valuable for the same reason you stated.

[wufai]

I had one installed on my 07 sedan for $25. never feel the need to use it for backing out. Reason for installing was just for cool factor. However now I do find it useful for backing in close to the garage wall and parallel parking.

[DebbyM46227]

I've driven and survived many years without back-up cameras. Just another way for the NANNY Govt. to act like they have to protect us. I also survived riding in the car without a car seat, riding my bikes and roller skating without ugly helmuts and all that padding.

[fnkngrv]

The only use that I could see for a back up cam is to align a hitch ball/receiver on a truck.

[matti]

I'm probably too cynical, but I just see it as some other gadget that is apt to break.

[nookandcrannycar]

I'm probably too cynical, but I just see it as some other gadget that is apt to break.

......which is how I look at the existence of power windows :biggrin:.

[fnkngrv]

......which is how I look at the existence of power windows :biggrin:.

Power windows are critical....just imagine if you had crank windows in the space shuttle!

[nookandcrannycar]

Power windows are critical....just imagine if you had crank windows in the space shuttle!

:laugh: - a good one. But, to each his own. I'm in the minority, but other members ALSO prefer hand crank windows to power windows:biggrin:.

[DebbyM46227]

I prefer hand-crank windows too!

[nookandcrannycar]

I prefer hand-crank windows too!

:thumbsup: And I know we are not alone! If I remember correctly, there was a past thread that veered (:biggrin:) into a hand crank vs. power window discussion, with a fair number of us preferring hand crank windows (for various reasons).

[nookandcrannycar]

:thumbsup: And I know we are not alone! If I remember correctly, there was a past thread that veered (:biggrin:) into a hand crank vs. power window discussion, with a fair number of us preferring hand crank windows (for various reasons).

I don't know if Tooter has seen this thread, but he just posted on a keyless entry thread that he really likes (among other things) his hand crank windows :thumbsup:.

[TPA5]

I've driven and survived many years without back-up cameras. Just another way for the NANNY Govt. to act like they have to protect us. I also survived riding in the car without a car seat, riding my bikes and roller skating without ugly helmuts and all that padding.

Isn't it the car manufacturers who put them in? As far as I know, it's a feature, not a law.

I'm going to have to say that car-seats and helmets = a good idea. I've had friends who've nearly had scrambled brains from not using a helmet, and if the child is small they need a car seat. I see people riding without kids in car seats here and that goes beyond irresponsible.

[DebbyM46227]

Well, it's the law here now that kids have to be in car seats, but it wasn't when I was a kid.

[screenprintr]

What's this have to do with Backup Cameras?

[detroiter]

No, they are just for people who are too damn lazy to look over their shoulder...

[TPA5]

Well, it's the law here now that kids have to be in car seats, but it wasn't when I was a kid.

Off topic, but I gotta say the whole car-seats thing should be law. Nobody wants to see their kid catapulting out the front window in a car accident, and seats in cars these days aren't designed for passengers that are as small and light as a child.

[bronsin]

How could we be so DUMB not to put kids in car seats until ~ 1980? :confused:

I wonder what the death/injury rate for children in car accidents was before that? :iono:

I wonder what it is now? :iono:

Were we really dumb then or just safety paranoid now? :confused:

[nookandcrannycar]

How could we be so DUMB not to put kids in car seats until ~ 1980? :confused:

I wonder what the death/injury rate for children in car accidents was before that? :iono:

I wonder what it is now? :iono:

Were we really dumb then or just safety paranoid now? :confused:

In retrospect, it seems dumb. However, I think it is more being unenlightened -- not having the knowledge yet as a society or it just not having made it's way even marginally into the mainstream. Recommendations might change over a fairly short period of time. I remember when my little cousin first wanted to use the rings in the play area when I'd take her to the park. Her mom would have me hold her torso (so she wouldn't be hanging or stretching by all her weight -- and she's never been overweight) as she'd move along the rings (until she was a certain age) because doctors told her one risks some sort of damage to the area where your upper arm connects to your shoulder if you use the rings before a certain age without support diminishing the pull. The doctor said this was true in general, as my little cousin was (and is) healthy. My little cousin was born in 2002. I don't remember this being the case with my godson nor either of his siblings (the eldest a girl), born in 1997, 1999, and 2000, to an equally protective, 'dialed in', and well educated mother in the same 'medical community' (San Francisco).

[why?]

the more information people have, the more they think people need to be sheltered and protected from the world.

The things we used to do as kids on bikes would have the local nanny police today running and screaming to ban bicycles. Seriously, i did a 360 in mid air and then unfortunately landed square on one of my legs. I got up and walked away. Nowadays some lunatic overprotective dolt would force me to sit not moving while they called for an ambulance.

People are not cynical enough about new so called 'safety' features. Even today, the average person doesn't believe an airbag can murder a human being, even though it has happened countless times.

The more tech in a car, the more can go wrong. My mothers Murano has developed a flaw whereby the driver side window refuses to go all the way up. It was replaced once, and then a year later started happening again.

my hand crank windows have never refused to stay fully closed.

[bronsin]

my hand crank windows have never refused to stay fully closed.

And in an accident or if you go underwater will always go down....

[nookandcrannycar]

And in an accident or if you go underwater will always go down....

:thumbsup: .....I just remember hearing a couple of horror stories from the period after the little lock/unlock 'stalks' moved from the top corner of door sills to the middle of the door and no longer had 'heads' to grab onto. The couple of horror stories I heard involved people getting vapor locks and then freaking out because they'd grab the 'headless stalk' and it would slip through their fingers (and the windows were all the way up). They 'rectified' the situation by managing to break a window. These people may have been overreacting, but it still gives me pause (even though I know I have the strength to easily break a window).

The situation Why?'s mother has encountered is not 'unheard of', and certainly not limited to Nissans.

Also, type 'power window stopped working' into almost any search engine :biggrin:.

[bronsin]

Even if you break the window you get to have your back and tummy scratched by broken glass! :mad:

[nookandcrannycar]

People are not cynical enough

......in the U.S. about many things they should be more cynical about. If people were appropriately cynical, those in positions of power over large entities whose motives are less than altruistic, wouldn't be able to complete their agendas as easily.

[nookandcrannycar]

No, they are just for people who are too damn lazy to look over their shoulder...

I was at my local Toyota dealership earlier this evening, and I saw two items that would help re safety looking to the rear and beyond. Both are mirrors, same general style, one is just larger than the other. All of the 'text' on each box is in Japanese. However, each box has one international mounting diagram on the outside of the box. It appears (with each) that there is a slot in the back of the casing of each mirror that allows the whole enclosure to slide over and in front of the stock mirror. I may look into this further and get one or something similar. The smaller one was $14.99, and the larger one a bit more When I had my GTI, I took the visors off and put in a wink mirror that stretched all the way across, above the windshield. I really liked the extra visibility that mirror afforded me.