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Parking sensors are handy if you're looking to the side or back when reversing, since you can hear them without looking at the screen in front. I honestly don't

Parking sensors are handy if you're looking to the side or back when reversing, since you can hear them without looking at the screen in front. I honestly don't know where I'm supposed to look when backing up sometimes — it feels irresponsible to just look forward at a camera display, but in most cases that shows more than looking all around would. Parking sensors are nice because you can hear them chirp no matter where you look.

pohatoo 4y ago
A friend of mine was backing in to an unfamiliar parking garage and was watching the screen and all of a sudden we hear a scrape. There was an air duct over hanging the car and we hit it. The camera didn't think to show the roof. Luckily for us we hit the duct before hitting the sprinkler. That would have been a disaster.
officeplant 4y ago
>honestly don't know where I'm supposed to look when backing up sometimes Even with the addition of backup cameras I still look all around and check blind spots as if I didn't have a camera. No backup camera I've used shows enough information to be confident enough otherwise. Unless ya'll have some truly high end cars I don't see how anyone can confidently back up with just a camera and not fear hitting objects/children etc. I never even thought about my habit until a friend who is very terrified of riding in cars told me they were made comfortable by how much I look around me while driving. Which just convinces me further that most people shouldn't be on the road.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  > Unless ya'll have some truly high end cars I don't see how anyone can confidently back up with just a camera and not fear hitting objects/children etc. If I look backward I wouldn't see a small child right behind my vehicle. The parking sensors and backup camera would, though. That's why I feel like it's weird to look backward instead of looking at the video feed from the wide-angle camera.
  - officeplant 4y ago
    I don't mean that I look backwards the whole time. I mainly look at the camera, but at the same time I'm glancing around checking mirrors and looking out of the windows for hazards. I've watched some people just stare down into a camera and then be surprised when they nearly hit a truck that was coming down the parking lot not yet visible in the camera.
    - janoc 4y ago
      That's why many cars include also a radar that detects and alerts you of approaching traffic from the sides before it comes into view - both camera and the driver (the blind spots when reversing are large). E.g. Mazda 3 has that - if it detects a vehicle or even a pedestrian approaching from the side while reversing, it starts beeping and showing orange chevrons on the camera screen to alert me. Obviously, this doesn't remove the need to look around and not rely only the sensors and cameras. The tech may fail and the ultimate responsibility is with the driver.
  - giantrobot 4y ago
    Which is where the utility of backup cameras comes from. It's nearly impossible, at least impractical, to design a car that holds human beings with a rear view that could provide the same field of view as a camera. Even if the back of the car was a giant pane of glass just having a trunk or back seat will occult the driver's rear view such they could miss a curb, pet, or small child. Even a shitty camera will give a better view than most cars' actual rear view from the driver's seat. They're even more useful when you consider they better enable shorter or taller drivers that don't have the ideal view out the back of the car. I check blind spots I know my camera has but then use the camera to actually back up because it's got a far better view from the back of my car than I do from the front seat.
  - misnome 4y ago
    No, but you might see a child walking or running in from the side
    - 4y ago
jwestbury 4y ago
I nearly backed into a tree that managed to slip into the blind spot between stitched-together camera feeds on a rented BMW with 360-degree camera. I was only saved by the curb stopping me inches before impact with the tree. tl;dr, look around in real life, too. I'm not sure why the parking sensors didn't notice the tree or the curb, to be honest.

pohatoo 4y ago

A friend of mine was backing in to an unfamiliar parking garage and was watching the screen and all of a sudden we hear a scrape. There was an air duct over hanging the car and we hit it. The camera didn't think to show the roof. Luckily for us we hit the duct before hitting the sprinkler. That would have been a disaster.

officeplant 4y ago

>honestly don't know where I'm supposed to look when backing up sometimes Even with the addition of backup cameras I still look all around and check blind spots as if I didn't have a camera. No backup camera I've used shows enough information to be confident enough otherwise. Unless ya'll have some truly high end cars I don't see how anyone can confidently back up with just a camera and not fear hitting objects/children etc. I never even thought about my habit until a friend who is very terrified of riding in cars told me they were made comfortable by how much I look around me while driving. Which just convinces me further that most people shouldn't be on the road.

gnicholas 4y ago
> Unless ya'll have some truly high end cars I don't see how anyone can confidently back up with just a camera and not fear hitting objects/children etc. If I look backward I wouldn't see a small child right behind my vehicle. The parking sensors and backup camera would, though. That's why I feel like it's weird to look backward instead of looking at the video feed from the wide-angle camera.
- officeplant 4y ago
  I don't mean that I look backwards the whole time. I mainly look at the camera, but at the same time I'm glancing around checking mirrors and looking out of the windows for hazards. I've watched some people just stare down into a camera and then be surprised when they nearly hit a truck that was coming down the parking lot not yet visible in the camera.
  - janoc 4y ago
    That's why many cars include also a radar that detects and alerts you of approaching traffic from the sides before it comes into view - both camera and the driver (the blind spots when reversing are large). E.g. Mazda 3 has that - if it detects a vehicle or even a pedestrian approaching from the side while reversing, it starts beeping and showing orange chevrons on the camera screen to alert me. Obviously, this doesn't remove the need to look around and not rely only the sensors and cameras. The tech may fail and the ultimate responsibility is with the driver.
- giantrobot 4y ago
  Which is where the utility of backup cameras comes from. It's nearly impossible, at least impractical, to design a car that holds human beings with a rear view that could provide the same field of view as a camera. Even if the back of the car was a giant pane of glass just having a trunk or back seat will occult the driver's rear view such they could miss a curb, pet, or small child. Even a shitty camera will give a better view than most cars' actual rear view from the driver's seat. They're even more useful when you consider they better enable shorter or taller drivers that don't have the ideal view out the back of the car. I check blind spots I know my camera has but then use the camera to actually back up because it's got a far better view from the back of my car than I do from the front seat.
- misnome 4y ago
  No, but you might see a child walking or running in from the side
  - 4y ago

jwestbury 4y ago

I nearly backed into a tree that managed to slip into the blind spot between stitched-together camera feeds on a rented BMW with 360-degree camera. I was only saved by the curb stopping me inches before impact with the tree. tl;dr, look around in real life, too. I'm not sure why the parking sensors didn't notice the tree or the curb, to be honest.