4 ms·

>> when seeing the full rear of the car, I suppose the Mini designers have never driven in fog, poor lighting, storms, or at night? (When you might not see th

>> when seeing the full rear of the car, I suppose the Mini designers have never driven in fog, poor lighting, storms, or at night? (When you might not see the full rear of the car) Imagine if you can only see the car's taillights and you see a blinking arrow move the opposite way it points. What would you think you saw? Or better yet, if one of the taillights is out, what would a driver behind the Mini think?

lostlogin 5y ago
> Imagine if you can only see the car's taillights and you see a blinking arrow move the opposite way it points. What would you think you saw? If conditions were that bad and you saw a ‘normal’ indicator flash it would be a 50/50 guess which way it was going. That’s better I suppose but hardly good.
- bruce343434 5y ago
  Now it's a 0/0 guess because you wrongly guess the arrow to point in the direction.
- sellyme 5y ago
  I'd say 90/10. The positioning of the light in relation to the road is usually going to be a very good heuristic. However if that light was a freaking arrow I'm going to think "oh, it must be one of those 10% of cases, it's a good thing that indicator was designed so well" shortly before I'm killed.
frutiger 5y ago
> I suppose the Mini designers have never driven in fog, poor lighting, storms, or at night? (When you might not see the full rear of the car) The full rear of the car is still illuminated.
- frutiger 5y ago
  The comment above is clearly controversial, I can't think of driving at night behind a car and not seeing both rear lights, and usually illuminated license plate and illumination coming from the rear window pane. Overall that gives me a full sense of the width of the car. The indicator light would be relatively to the left/right of the car, and typically would look like a single bulb due to distance and diffraction.
  - thesuperbigfrog 5y ago
    >> I can't think of driving at night behind a car and not seeing both rear lights, and usually illuminated license plate and illumination coming from the rear window pane. Have you ever driven in a snowstorm at night? (I am not being facetious, there are terrible snowstorms in the winter where I live due to lake-effect snow. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.) Visibility is terrible in a nighttime snowstorm. Reflective surfaces are covered with snow. Lights can be partially or completely covered so that only a faint glow is visible. Anything that leads to confusion, such as a backward-pointing arrow turn signal light, could cause confusion that might lead to accidents. It might not confuse some drivers, but it only takes one confused driver to cause a road accident.
    - frutiger 5y ago
      > Have you ever driven in a snowstorm at night? (I am not being facetious, there are terrible snowstorms in the winter where I live due to lake-effect snow. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.) Yes, once or twice. The general recommendation is NOT to drive during a snow storm. For those that must drive during a snow storm probably aren't driving these Minis. After all, most cars are not designed for every possible climate/severe weather scenario, I don't see why Minis should be held to a higher regard.
      - CRConrad 5y ago
        It's absolutely technically possible to drive a Mini in a snowstorm, just like any other car (apart from perhaps super- and "hyper-" sports cars with ~zero ground clearance). Whether one can follow the common-sense recommendation not to drive in a snow storm is due to all kinds of other circumstances, approximately none of which is related to what brand of car you own.
- interestica 5y ago
  > The full rear of the car is still illuminated. Only if the headlights are on. And many do not put them on in rain/storms/fog.

lostlogin 5y ago

> Imagine if you can only see the car's taillights and you see a blinking arrow move the opposite way it points. What would you think you saw? If conditions were that bad and you saw a ‘normal’ indicator flash it would be a 50/50 guess which way it was going. That’s better I suppose but hardly good.

bruce343434 5y ago
Now it's a 0/0 guess because you wrongly guess the arrow to point in the direction.
sellyme 5y ago
I'd say 90/10. The positioning of the light in relation to the road is usually going to be a very good heuristic. However if that light was a freaking arrow I'm going to think "oh, it must be one of those 10% of cases, it's a good thing that indicator was designed so well" shortly before I'm killed.

frutiger 5y ago

> I suppose the Mini designers have never driven in fog, poor lighting, storms, or at night? (When you might not see the full rear of the car) The full rear of the car is still illuminated.

frutiger 5y ago
The comment above is clearly controversial, I can't think of driving at night behind a car and not seeing both rear lights, and usually illuminated license plate and illumination coming from the rear window pane. Overall that gives me a full sense of the width of the car. The indicator light would be relatively to the left/right of the car, and typically would look like a single bulb due to distance and diffraction.
- thesuperbigfrog 5y ago
  >> I can't think of driving at night behind a car and not seeing both rear lights, and usually illuminated license plate and illumination coming from the rear window pane. Have you ever driven in a snowstorm at night? (I am not being facetious, there are terrible snowstorms in the winter where I live due to lake-effect snow. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.) Visibility is terrible in a nighttime snowstorm. Reflective surfaces are covered with snow. Lights can be partially or completely covered so that only a faint glow is visible. Anything that leads to confusion, such as a backward-pointing arrow turn signal light, could cause confusion that might lead to accidents. It might not confuse some drivers, but it only takes one confused driver to cause a road accident.
  - frutiger 5y ago
    > Have you ever driven in a snowstorm at night? (I am not being facetious, there are terrible snowstorms in the winter where I live due to lake-effect snow. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.) Yes, once or twice. The general recommendation is NOT to drive during a snow storm. For those that must drive during a snow storm probably aren't driving these Minis. After all, most cars are not designed for every possible climate/severe weather scenario, I don't see why Minis should be held to a higher regard.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      It's absolutely technically possible to drive a Mini in a snowstorm, just like any other car (apart from perhaps super- and "hyper-" sports cars with ~zero ground clearance). Whether one can follow the common-sense recommendation not to drive in a snow storm is due to all kinds of other circumstances, approximately none of which is related to what brand of car you own.
interestica 5y ago
> The full rear of the car is still illuminated. Only if the headlights are on. And many do not put them on in rain/storms/fog.