Backover Accidents – is video the answer

The Associated Press

Wow, this is sad….

I did a bit of googling, and it appears the contemporary solution is video. Yet, to depend on video for safety assumes the entire field of view is covered, the optics are not dirty, and there is no oppurtunity for a child to run in from the side, being the camera’s field of view covers that as well. In order to do so, the only reasonable solution is a matrix of cameras, and ideally one from overhead, such that everything is covered.

Now, on the one hand, such accidents are pretty rare, 2500 injuries, and 100 fatalities per year. Thus an overhead wide angle solution would seem to be overkill. Yet, imagine the parent, who ran over their kid, and yet had gone to the lengths to have a video system installed.

Thus, I thought about this a tad more. An extremely simple solution has been around for over 50 years. The curb feeler, although back then, they just made noise, todays provide an alarm and indicator on the dash. Simple, inexpensive, and they don’t depend that you are looking at the video at just the right time to see a child run in front of, in back of, or to slide in front of a wheel of your car.<%image(20070623-feeler.jpg|575|431|Curb Feeler on 77 Cadilac)%>

Granted, curb feelers won’t prevent a sideways crush injury, or being hit by the undersides or other appendeges of your car. But they will alert you to stop before running over a child or even a pet with your wheel.

I guess the ultimate solution is a overhead, an undercarriage, and a rear fish eye camera, plus feelers as well as image analysis. On the other hand, a single simple camera, or feelers is better than no protection.

No matter what, if this happens, it is a very sad, and a very preventable accident, even with the technology we have today.