A Vision for Transport
06 August 2014
Have you ever come up behind a lorry which has a notice on the back saying “if you can’t see my mirrors I can’t see you”?
There is no reason to doubt that this is true but why is it true? It seems madness in our technological age that a lorry costing perhaps £100,000 should have a large blind spot behind it. Why do they not all have backwards directed cameras with a dashboard display so that the driver does not have blind spots?
Have you ever driven one of those vans that has no windows in the back, and so no central rear view mirror? I have. If you come to a junction at which roads cross at a slant the driver cannot see to the left and has to lean across the passenger seat in a desperate attempt to see if anything is coming before pulling out. A roof mounted camera that could be directed by the driver would allow him / her to see, and would remove this blind spot.
A well known blind spot is of importance on motorways - in most cars the mirror fails to detect cars that are in the process of overtaking you and it is necessary to look round before pulling out when you want to overtake. Some cars have split mirrors that attempt to overcome this problem but they are in a minority. A camera could cover the offending area.
A suitably placed camera could no doubt assist with reverse parking and knowing how close to the kerb you have parked - think of the saving in scuffed tyre walls.
We are familiar with speed cameras and average speed cameras, which have a disputed benefit to road safety. Increasingly cyclists, especially in London are using helmet cameras to prove that that they are the innocent parties in an accident. Perhaps it is surprising that cameras are not fitted to all cars for the same reason. They would greatly assist accident investigators.
Cameras can be used to supply useful auditory information to help guide blind pedestrians.
An internal, but hidden camera in a vehicle could identify a car thief when the vehicle is recovered.
In foggy weather a thermal imaging camera might be of assistance in picking out nearby moving vehicles since their engines would be hot. At night an infrared or low light sensitive camera might be able to make the road ahead more visible to the driver.
Police helicopters already use cameras for traffic surveillance and there are motorway cameras that feed data to control rooms. The police can use number plate recognition to trace stolen cars, and certain visitor attractions use the same recognition systems to ensure that you have paid for their car park.
Perhaps the next step is for real time images from motorway cameras to be supplied to travellers so that they can see the road ahead to know how long the queue is. All too often motorway signs warning of queues are simply left on and supply no useful information.
Cameras are now very cheap. They can be miniaturised and we can confidently expect more imaginative uses in transport.
Papillon