Yeah, for a lot of people, instead of it being an additional safety feature, they use it as a crutch.
I drove a rental Subaru recently which detected cars on the side which lit an orange light on the side view mirror. I thought it was pretty cool since people love to hang out in my blind spots. Then I thought well it’s also something not to rely on since the sensor could fail once and you could cause an accident. Also if they stopped working I’m cheap and probably wouldn’t fix them so really they should just be used as an extra indication. I have backup sensors on my truck that stopped working and I’ll probably never replace them.
People should 100% still use their eyes to look behind them, to the left and then right when backing out, instead of solely relying on the camera. The driver manual in the Subaru I bought last year even has it written inside.
I used to drive a sports car and had the same problem. I installed a navigation system in the car and added the backup camera option specifically because of this problem. Now I drive a truck and block other people's view
My first thought about @Moiraine story was that the other driver's only view was with the backup camera. While backing up @Moiraine suddenly appeared and he had to brake. @Moiraine might have been driving at a reasonable speed but was in that awkward spot where if she had braked she would have came to a stop directly behind the guy backing up. In that case it was better to speed up and get out of the way. When I drove the sports car I figured out that the best thing to do was to back up slowly. Anyone passing behind me would have time to either stop and let me back out or if they were in the awkward position they could continue past. I wouldn't hit anyone caught in the awkward position because I was backing out slow and would have time to stop. Despite this there were several times when I had to brake suddenly. Due to the speed of the other vehicle or how far I had backed up before needing to brake I might get pissed off at the other driver because it was clear that either
I used to drive a sports car and had the same problem. I installed a navigation system in the car and added the backup camera option specifically because of this problem. Now I drive a truck and block other people's view
a) they were driving too fast or weren't paying attention in situations where they should have stopped and yielded to me.
b) they were driving at a reasonable speed, saw me backing up but decided they were more important and tried to push through.
When I drive through a parking lot I assume that at any time someone's rear end will suddenly appear while backing out and that the other driver cannot see me. Because I'm driving slow enough and always looking for people backing up, I have time once I see them to either brake and yield or if too close I can safely pass without a close call. IPDE method.
