Posted at 5:00 am.
Better thought out arrangements
The design of intersections can help ensure that pedestrians end up in the blind spots of the A-pillars as little as possible. Sandrine Cabana Degani, general manager of Piétons Québec, cites sidewalk projections and driveway widenings as examples. Pedestrian. Green lights reserved for pedestrians also prevent them from getting too close to vehicles. “If she could have benefited from an exclusive phase, the risks of an impact would undoubtedly have been reduced,” notes the coroner on the death of Rosa Presta, probably related to the windshield pillars and which occurred in 2020. “The fewer conflicts you have.” “The better the communication between road users, the better,” notes Julien Dufort, an engineer and member of the traffic safety team at Polytechnique Montréal. “But pedestrians and cyclists still need to be disciplined. »
Inventive columns
IMAGE PROVIDED BY CONTINENTAL
Digital column technology from Continental
Builders have tried in a variety of ways to get around the blind spots caused by the A-pillars. Last year, for example, GM patented a technology that “impregnated” parts of the pillars with a transparent resin or composite, improving visibility. The Société de transport de Montréal wants to extend a pilot project for rear-view mirrors on its buses to reduce blind spots when turning left. In 2014, Jaguar Land Rover developed “screen” columns that transmit hidden images using a camera system. In 2017, Toyota filed a patent after developing a mirror system that made the windshield pillars virtually invisible. The following year, it was Continental’s turn to develop its digital column technology. However, these inventions did not reach the mass market, primarily for financial reasons.
Include pedestrians in the testing
PHOTO FROM THE EURO NEW CAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FACEBOOK PAGE
In North America, the New Car Assessment Program currently does not take road users outside the passenger compartment into account.
Organizations that provide safety ratings to new vehicles sold in Canada and the United States, such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), do not currently take into account road users outside the passenger compartment, as is the case in Europe and Japan case is. “It really influences builders,” notes Sandrine Cabana Degani, general manager of Piétons Québec. American manufacturers add safety features when sending their vehicles to Europe to get a better rating. » The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) presented a plan last May that would include pedestrian safety in the – optional – NCAP tests. “We have identified several deficiencies in NHTSA’s proposed approach,” IIHS spokesman Joseph Young emphasized in an email to La Presse, which advocates for strict regulations. “In the absence of regulation, we have encouraged NHTSA to make the ratings highly visible and include them in the overall 5-star rating for a vehicle, rather than making them a separate metric. » The IIHS also regrets that the authorities are working on a pass/fail score rather than a more nuanced scale that would allow consumers to be better informed.
Driving aids
IMAGE FROM TRANSPORT CANADA WEBSITE
Illustration of a blind spot warning system on the side and rear of the vehicle
“Some automakers are currently working on driving aids,” noted coroner Richard Primeau in a report published in 2018. “This assistance will undoubtedly be very useful in the future,” he continues. On the other hand, with or without these driving aids, a driver must do everything they can to figure out what’s behind a windshield pillar before turning a corner. He must necessarily go forward or backward to see what is hidden behind such a pillar. » Sébastien Bédard, an engineer at Quebec’s Ministry of Transport, also believes that the solution lies in technology – such as blind spot monitoring systems – if drivers adapt to it. “What impact will it have on behavior? he asks himself. Technical devices often have the perverse effect of distracting people due to false alarms and causing a loss of trust in the system. This is, in my opinion, something that has not been sufficiently studied. »