Blind spot monitors - for those that are undecided

Driving along a dark bit of motorway, I went to move over into the inside lane having overtaken someone a while back and saw the blind spot indicator was on, however checking the mirrors and looking through the window I couldn't see anything or any lights so assumed the blind spot indicator was in error - a second later I glimpsed a black Mercedes obviously having sped up when I overtook it to sit perfectly in my blind spot!

Whilst it absolutely isn't a substitute for checking around you, the blind spot indicator certainly saved me a new pair of boxers, let alone an accident!

Unfortunately living in the countryside I find they detect too many overhanging bushes and give a lot of false alarms, but on ethe motorway they are a great verifier that you don't have anything in the blind spot each side, although when I have overtaken somebody I still wait until I can see them clearly in the central rear view mirror before a I pull back in, even though the near side mirror warning light has long gone out - old habits etc etc

I had a similar experience: driving merrily along on the motorway, decided to move from the inside lane to the centre lane, checked, began to move and suddenly halted the process as the lights in the mirrors turned on...a car I had seen in the outside lane had moved into the centre lane without indicating and ignored my intentions to do so...

I had previously thought the blind spot monitoring a pointless gimmick but have since changed my mind; they have their safety uses!

I had them on a loaner and living in the middle of no where, they drove me crazy as I drove down the back roads. It's the one thing I didn't get on my Evoque.

I have an issue with blind spot monitoring devices etc. They will not allways be right but the increasing reliance by drivers on them will eventually de skill drivers to the point where they just press the loud pedal and turn the steering wheel and expect the space they want to move into to be clear.
Any driver who changes lane or turns on any road without a shoulder check (left or right) is negligent.

(02-10-2012 12:14pm)speary Wrote:  I have an issue with blind spot monitoring devices etc. They will not allways be right but the increasing reliance by drivers on them will eventually de skill drivers to the point where they just press the loud pedal and turn the steering wheel and expect the space they want to move into to be clear.
Any driver who changes lane or turns on any road without a shoulder check (left or right) is negligent.

I completely agree and don't want to give the impression to anyone that they can be relied upon, but up until last night I would have said I was exactly like XFullFatTim in not pulling in until I see the car in the rear view mirror, but I honestly thought I had passed the car a good minute before hand and hence would be long gone. It's an extra layer of safety on top of the normal mirror signal maneuver procedures, and on bigger cars with larger body panels and tinted windows that do cut out a bit of vision at night - certainly useful.

(02-10-2012 12:14pm)speary Wrote:  I have an issue with blind spot monitoring devices etc. They will not allways be right but the increasing reliance by drivers on them will eventually de skill drivers to the point where they just press the loud pedal and turn the steering wheel and expect the space they want to move into to be clear.Any driver who changes lane or turns on any road without a shoulder check (left or right) is negligent.

Speary I think they are collectively known as BMW drivers already....................... they also don't know how to operate indiicators in manual mode, think they can overtake when it is dangerous and think that they can be seen in bad weather / darkness without any lights on.

(02-10-2012 12:14pm)speary Wrote:  I have an issue with blind spot monitoring devices etc. They will not allways be right but the increasing reliance by drivers on them will eventually de skill drivers to the point where they just press the loud pedal and turn the steering wheel and expect the space they want to move into to be clear.
Any driver who changes lane or turns on any road without a shoulder check (left or right) is negligent.

I do not believe it was LR's intention to provide this as tech to remove the need for actual looking but rather as an additional safety feature to support the act of looking over the shoulder and that is no bad thing in my opinion.

In my case, I did the shoulder check as I described, was indicating my intention but as I turned forward to execute the move, a car that I had noticed but was not making any apparent indication to move into the same lane I wanted suddenly decided to do so even though I was clearly wanting to do so myself. The blind spot indicators lit up to prevent one of us having to swerve to avoid a potential impact; it works as intended - a double check against unforeseen elements in heavy traffic.

I treat it is an "aid" to motoring rather than a foolproof system that enhances the car. Great idea although with the huge mirrors I don't think it is really one of those "must have " options, had I had a tight budget when speccing the car I would not really have missed not having it.

I agree that this type of technology can be a great aid and will stop some people from having accidednt. My issue is that drivers will get lazy and come to rely on them. A case in point is stability control, fantastically clever tech but bad drivers will get to the point where it activates. With modern cars the speed at which the sysem activates is very high and close to the point where the laws of physics take over. At this point 99.9% of drivers will loose control and in the case of many young male drivers on country roads, unfortunately DIE
Sorry if this seems like a rant but I strongly feel that better driver education/training will always be better that wrapping everything in cotton wool to the point where the driver will eventually be the passenger with no control of the machine they are in.