Driver Visibility
A blind spot in a vehicle is an area around the vehicle that cannot be directly observed by the driver while at the controls, under existing circumstances. Blind spots exist in a wide range of vehicles: cars, trucks, motorboats and aircraft. Other types of transport have no blind spots at all, such as bicycles, motorcycles and horses.
In transport, driver visibility is the maximum distance at which the driver of a vehicle can see and identify prominent objects around the vehicle. Visibility is primarily determined by weather conditions (see visibility) and by a vehicle's design. The parts of a vehicle that influence visibility include the windshield, the dashboard and the pillars. Good driver visibility is essential to safe road traffic.
Blind spots may occur in the front of the driver when the A-pillar (also called the windshield pillar), side-view mirror, and interior rear-view mirror block a driver's view of the road. Behind the driver, there are additional pillars, headrests, passengers, and cargo, that may reduce visibility.
Read more about Driver Visibility: Motor Vehicles, Blind Spot Information System, Boats
Famous quotes containing the words driver and/or visibility:
“God help the horse, and the driver too!
And the people and beasts who have never a friend!
For the driver easily might have been you,
And the horse be me by a different end!
And nobody knows how their days will cease!
And the poor, when they’re old, have little of peace!”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)
“My children have taught me things. Things I thought I knew. The most profound wisdom they have given me is a respect for human vulnerability. I have known that people are resilient, but I didn’t appreciate how fragile they are. Until children learn to hide their feelings, you read them in their faces, gestures, and postures. The sheer visibility of shyness, pain, and rejection let me recognize and remember them.”
—Shirley Nelson Garner (20th century)