Merging Into Highway Traffic Proves Difficult for Most Drivers

Drivaware reports lane changing on busy highways can be difficult for even the most experienced drivers. The secret is to plan ahead by knowing what other vehicles are doing around you.

In Drivaware's interactive demo on safe lane changes and merges, the car in the right lane is traveling faster than your car. Many impatient drivers will (wrongly) tailgate slower vehicles traveling in the fast lane. Be proactive! Avoid this situation by staying right as much as is practical. In this example, it would be best to move your vehicle over to the right lane as soon as it is safe.

Remember you have blind spots, and that the blind spot on the right is larger than on the left. Before you change lanes, turn your head carefully to check the appropriate blind spot.

Once you've successfully negotiated the lane change, make sure your turn signal is off. This is important. If other drivers see that your turn signal is always on, they may not trust you on the highway! They will never know when you want to turn and when you don't.

Basic Skills for Safer Commutes

Driving has changed a lot since most of us first got behind the wheel. This section will help you to keep a constant watch on your surroundings, the vehicles and people around you at all times.

An important factor to take into consideration when driving is to check your mirrors frequently, and also check the blind spots, by looking over your shoulders before switching lanes or making turns. As we age, most of us become less flexible, so check out the information on this site about exercises that will keep you limber and help you drive safely.

Knowing the needs of other traffic like trucks, buses, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians is very important. For example, trucks should be provided with extra space, as they need wider turning lanes, watch out for buses, as they need to enter traffic from stopping lanes, and give pedestrians plenty of time to cross the road.

Everyone has one or two problematic areas of driving. Click the links on your right, to the areas that give you trouble. We can all improve our driving.

How to Choose a Blind Spot & Backup Warning System

Know how the device mounts on your vehicle.

Camera and sensor systems that are mounted on the vehicle’s bumper or bodywork may necessitate drilling. They may not be the best choice if you lease your vehicle.

If you have a hitch, you can consider a model that mounts in the trailer-hitch receiver. But you would have to remove the system to use your hitch.

Other camera and sensor models mount on the license-plate frame. But some states prohibit frames because they can obscure the plate.

Within types, features vary. This is especially true with the sensor models we tested. The ultrasonic systems were generally the most sensitive, but their performance was adversely affected by rain, snow, or other inclement weather.

The microwave-based sensor systems we tested were not affected by weather but are less sensitive as a group. They also don’t warn the driver unless the vehicle or object behind it is moving.

The display quality of the camera-based models is very good, although it doesn’t match that of the larger screens on some carmakers’ systems. Most of the system displays turn on when the vehicle shifts into reverse, but one, the Audiovox, must be turned off and on manually.

Why Turn Your Head Away From Traffic? Turn Your Side Mirror Instead!

The Automotive Blind Spot Problem Shouldn't Even Be A Problem

Motor vehicles rely on two mirrors mounted on each side of the vehicle to uncover objects (including other vehicles such as passing or trailing traffic) next to them and behind them.
These vehicle power side mirrors are based on a design that is incapable of displaying, or “detecting”, a vehicle occupying a directly adjacent lane and approaching the reference vehicle from the rear (such as the situation of a faster vehicle passing a slower vehicle).
The overall phenomenon of a vehicle in an adjacent lane becoming invisible in a driver’s side mirror is known as the “Blind Spot”, or “Blind Zone.”
The location of a traditional Blind Spot is denoted in Figure 1 in red. The size and position of the area constituting a Blind Spot Zone in a given vehicle is based on the following factors:

• The distance of the position of the side mirror to the driver’s eyes,
• The width of the mirror surface,
• The width of the object behind the reference vehicle (in an adjacent lane),
• The driver-specified position of the blind side mirror,
• The inflection of the mirror’s reflective surface (concave / convex mirror).

The Blind Spot phenomenon is pervasive among virtually all passenger cars, light and medium trucks and vans, and all sport utility vehicles. Some medium and heavy duty vehicles, resort to mounting multiple side view mirrors to alleviate this problem.

LaneFX proven better solution to the blind spot problem than stick-on convex blind spot mirrors

Compare Backup Sensors & Cameras to ParkFX

Get the Latest Information on the Most Reliable Backup Warning Technologies

Not all reversing aids are equal. The sensing technology and the indicating method are critical to your driving safety.

How a park assist system alerts you

One option is video, which at first seems like a great choice. But one major flaw with having a video camera affixed to the back of your car with a monitor on your dashboard is that it also forces you to look forward while backing up. That can disturb your perception, your reaction time, and feel very unnatural. They are also extremely expensive, and you'll pay thousands of dollars to have a video system attached to your car, whether from the dealer or an aftermarket supplier.

Compare that to other bargain basement devices which actually have LED displays (little red lights) on your dashboard. These are cumbersome -- almost useless -- for much the same reason as video: when you drive in reverse, you naturally look behind you, and you'll never see the little red lights. They are also hard to read in bright sunlight.

Some other bargain technologies use a tone which beeps more rapidly as you get closer to an obstacle. You can at least hear the relative distance just by listening to the beeps, but you have to practice a bit to really understand how far you are from danger.

That's why an audible voice sensor is best. It tells you in a spoken voice exactly how far away you are. Not only do you not have to awkwardly look forward at your dashboard, you'll know without guessing how much further you can safely back up.

How a reversing aid detects objects

If you've never seen or used a reversing aid, you might be surprised at how technically advanced they actually can be.

Reversing aids use a variety of technologies to sense an object behind the car. Some units use Doppler radar, and others use infrared sensors, but by far the most accurate method of detection is the one the U.S. Navy uses on its submarines: sonar.

Sonar can operate in any weather, including direct sunlight or rain. And it doesn't require that the car be moving in order to sense an obstruction.

ParkFX is the 360-Degree Backup Solution That's Less Costly Than Backup Sensors, Park Assist and Rearview Cameras

Deaths increase. Ninety-one children were killed in 2003 by drivers who didn’t see them while backing up, according to Kids and Cars ( www.kidsandcars.org ), a nonprofit organization working to improve child safety around vehicles. Those deaths represented a 57 percent increase from 2002. During the first six months of 2004, more than 40 deaths have been attributed to backover accidents, many involving vehicles with large blind spots.

Kids and Cars compiles these statistics; the federal government does not track such incidents. Janette Fennell, president of the organization, believes that backover accidents are underreported and that the actual number of children killed or injured is much higher.

Blind spots grow with vehicle size. A likely reason for the increase in injuries is that minivans, pickups, and SUVs account for more than half of all vehicles sold. Many have large rear-view blind spots.

Last year, Consumer Reports began measuring the blind spot of each vehicle we test, checking the distance for short drivers (5 feet 1 inch tall) and for those of average height (5 feet 8 inches tall). The biggest blind spot: 51 feet for a short driver in a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup. But even small sedans can have blind spots of more than 40 feet. We regularly update vehicle blind-spot information, which is available on this site free of charge in The problem of blind spots.

Systems other than ParkFX combine a camera with sensors, so we tested each system independently; it is listed with camera systems in the Ratings.

All the systems we tested are potentially useful. They’re a good complement to looking around the vehicle before entering, and checking the rear window and rear-view mirror just before and while moving in reverse.