Cars, which are getting more and more technology day by day, can help the driver more in traffic. Of course, no matter how many safety measures a car has, the greatest safety can still be provided by the driver. This means traveling at speeds that comply with traffic rules.
The faster you drive a car or motorcycle, the narrower your field of view will be. As you accelerate while you’re in the car, the area around you that you can see clearly shrinks. For example, while you are moving at speeds of 30-40 km/h, you have almost your entire field of view, but when you reach speeds of 150 km/h, this ratio becomes incredibly narrow. Let’s take a closer look at what this condition is called speed blindness or tunnel vision.
First, let’s get to know speed blindness.
Speed blindness is a condition defined as the narrowing of the driver’s clear vision as the vehicle accelerates. The faster the vehicle accelerates, the more the driver inside begins to see the road narrower. This causes very serious problems, especially in situations where the driver has to make sudden maneuvers. (Because he can’t see.) This situation, which seriously reduces your vision, is among the main responsible for serious accidents that will result in death.
To understand how dangerous speed blindness is, let’s look at what angle you can see clearly according to your speed.
As the speed increases, the blur effect continues from the sides to the front. In other words, you cannot see a person, animal or object trying to cross you while you are in the vehicle. When we look at the ratios, we see that even the smallest speed differences narrow the angle considerably. For example, let’s say you are traveling at 50 km/h. At this speed, your field of view is 104 degrees. Let’s just say this angle is extremely good.
However, when the acceleration exceeds 60 km/h, you start to experience a serious loss of vision. When your speed reaches 65 km/h, your field of view drops to 70 degrees. Even this angle remains a very good rating compared to the loss of vision you will experience at other speeds.
Extra care is required at speeds above 100 km/h.
When you reach a speed of 120 km/h, which you can only go out on highways, your vision decreases at an incredible rate. When traveling at 120 km/h, your field of view drops to 45 degrees. When this speed goes up to 130 km/h, you can clearly see a very narrow area of 30 degrees.
It has happened that you have disregarded both your own life and the lives of other people and all living things in the vehicle and in the traffic, and you accelerated to 150 km per hour. At this point, your field of view shrinks to a very narrow area of 18 degrees. All places outside of your clear 18-degree field of view will appear blurry. This angle will continue to narrow as you go up to higher speeds.
So is there a way to avoid speed blindness?
There is a very simple way to prevent speed blindness. This means not exceeding the speed limits specially recommended for each road. You can go up to 120 km/h on a highway because here the lanes are wider and there is little chance of pedestrians on the road. However, exceeding the determined speeds in the city causes very serious problems. Even the slightest loss of vision can cause an accident. If you drive your vehicle at safe speeds, your reflex and maneuvering ability will also increase.
Today we explained to you speed blindness in vehicles. If you want more content like this, you can write to us in the comments section.
The Instagram post we prepared about speed blindness:
()
- Sources: Traffico, EMESA – M30
2226
