A

lmost got into a high speed collision yesterday on exiting my apartment complex. It happened like this. I wait for the gate to open ... then move up a little ... then look down the road to the right (nothing there) ... then look down the road to the left (nothing there) ... then move into the two lane road and ... RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME IS A CAR GOING 35 MPH !!! ... almost got whacked. Why?? I did everything right, didn't I?

The problem is two-fold

I have a Honda which has very poor visibility front and rear. It's so bad that Honda (in its advertising brochure) proclaims it to be "excellent". Like back when Ford made those box kites back in the 70s and got Jackie Stewart to wedge his hand in the commercial to show how aerodynamic the Ford "Box" was. It was a real hoot then and still tickles me after all these years just to think of it. So, in advertising, you always take your worst point and try to pawn it off on the "Gullibillies" as the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway, the window to roof posts are very wide ... maybe a full inch or maybe two wider than the Hyundai I had before it. That's the first problem.

The second problem is that I am blind in one eye. That's a potential killer in concert with the wide post. Look at the pic below.

You see what's happening? The greater angle subtended a distance down the road is sufficient to completely cover and oncoming car ... and ... it just happens to be in a position that, at around thirty five miles per hour, will bring the hidden car right to me just as I ease out onto the road ... and ... if I ease out just normally, he stays "in the post" as I move forward in lockstep with my slow speed. The result is that he suddenly appears from nowhere ... right in front of me.

The solution

I must remember to always crane my neck forward and backward to see around that damn post and compensate for the big angle subtended. If I fail to do so, someday I'll put myself in the hospital or worse. Maybe in the future, that post can be made invisible by some fiber optic setup where whatever is on the other side (from the driver's perspective) is transmitted around the post to the driver. Like this:

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