Your blind spot can severely impair your ability to drive safely. While many car manufacturers are adding special gadgets to their vehicles to reduce this liability, there may be a low-tech method that can work just as well:
Passive blind spot warning systems involve -- surprise! -- a mirror. Talk about low tech! Many car manufacturers will offer you the alternative to put a special convex mirror in the corner of your current external rearview mirror that can see into areas where normal rearview mirrors cannot. And if you don't have one of these on your current car, you can probably walk into your local auto parts store, buy one, and install it yourself (though be warned that experts advise against self installation because the precise positioning of these mirrors is crucial). Amazingly, tests have shown these special mirrors, which are the cheapest form of blind-spot monitoring system imaginable, are every bit as effective as sophisticated (and expensive) radar-based systems. And surveys show that consumers who have used both actually prefer the mirror to the radar -- if only because the mirror doesn't blink annoying warning lights at you or make beeping noises. So it's possible that the best state-of-the-art blind spot monitoring system may be one that's been state-of-the-art since the ancient past.
Read the whole article over at How Stuff Works here: http://bit.ly/UKCukS
0 comments:
Post a Comment