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This is a simple 'Ible about using color to increase automobile safety.
Where I live, traffic is dense. We have a plethora of motorized vehicles in a relatively small area, from big trucks on down to scooters. We have a lot of narrow streets and alleys too. Also, here in Taiwan we enjoy a high percentage of motorcycle and scooter ownership. It used to be highest in the world, and may still be. Scooters and motorcycles are often streaming past cars, whether those cars are parked, standing, or under way. It is dangerous when a car door opens and oncoming traffic, either two- or four-wheeled, does not have enough warning.
I am particularly sensitive to this problem since a slight incident that happened a few years back. It was about 8:30 one rainy morning. I was riding my motorcycle on the way to work, and approaching a red light. Everything was a bit blurry because of the rain on my visor. Legally and in accord with local practice, I was passing to the right of the waiting cars when the right back door of one opened suddenly! The front of my cycle hit it and glanced off at an angle, but I didn't go down. A schoolgirl got out and seemed quite concerned that the car door had sustained no damage. That was annoying. What about me? Someone in the car was scolding her. But I didn't say anything and neither did she. Car door was okay, motorcycle was okay, she shut the door and walked, the light changed, and we all went our separate ways.
I've had two or three cars since then, and now I like to paint the door edges a bright, contrasting color so it is obvious to approaching traffic when a door is opening. As it happened, I painted another set of doors yesterday, and took some photos.
Where I live, traffic is dense. We have a plethora of motorized vehicles in a relatively small area, from big trucks on down to scooters. We have a lot of narrow streets and alleys too. Also, here in Taiwan we enjoy a high percentage of motorcycle and scooter ownership. It used to be highest in the world, and may still be. Scooters and motorcycles are often streaming past cars, whether those cars are parked, standing, or under way. It is dangerous when a car door opens and oncoming traffic, either two- or four-wheeled, does not have enough warning.
I am particularly sensitive to this problem since a slight incident that happened a few years back. It was about 8:30 one rainy morning. I was riding my motorcycle on the way to work, and approaching a red light. Everything was a bit blurry because of the rain on my visor. Legally and in accord with local practice, I was passing to the right of the waiting cars when the right back door of one opened suddenly! The front of my cycle hit it and glanced off at an angle, but I didn't go down. A schoolgirl got out and seemed quite concerned that the car door had sustained no damage. That was annoying. What about me? Someone in the car was scolding her. But I didn't say anything and neither did she. Car door was okay, motorcycle was okay, she shut the door and walked, the light changed, and we all went our separate ways.
I've had two or three cars since then, and now I like to paint the door edges a bright, contrasting color so it is obvious to approaching traffic when a door is opening. As it happened, I painted another set of doors yesterday, and took some photos.
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Signing UpStep 1What you need
1 can orange spray enamel or lacquer
1 can white spray enamel or lacquer
1 roll masking tape
1 non-orange car
(Optional) some newspapers, if you need to do more extensive masking
1 can white spray enamel or lacquer
1 roll masking tape
1 non-orange car
(Optional) some newspapers, if you need to do more extensive masking
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[Okay. I just sent a message to Volvo, and got this response:
"Thank you for your feedback. Volvo Cars value your opinions!
Your Feedback has been routed to the appropriate party at our division."
I had to submit the suggestion (with link to Instructable) to the Volvo Sustainability division. Not ideal maybe, but best fit I could find that didn't require a chassis number. So can we expect to see a lot of orange-edged car doors starting next year?]
Consider adding a step in the beginning to lightly sand the original car paint. Eventually, the spray paint should peel and flake without a roughed surface to adhere to. A cheap paint job (whole body/touch up) sometimes doesn't use a primer coat for paint adherence and instead relies on light sanding of the original paint. Most spray paints, purposes for vehicle coloring or not, will flake with time.
- LEDs throw more light than paint, tape, or reflectors, especially at night.
- Reflective tape is easy to apply, and more reflective than paint per given area.
- Paint is durable, and will still be working decades later.
A good combination would be reflective tape or bright paint plus LEDs.My cousin points out that nothing really makes up for caution and awareness on the part of the person opening the car door. Many people here not only first look carefully, but open a car door an inch or two and hold it there for a few seconds to alert oncoming traffic. Then they ease the door open.
I had a car that had red lights on the door that turned on when you opened it, but if I had that now I'd add a switch - sometimes you don't want your lights coming on when you open a door.
I agree though, for visibility, a combination of 1)contrasting color, 2)reflective material, and 3) LEDs would be best.
Just make sure your LEDs are noticeable (pulse or strobe them?) and make sure your lighting color scheme doesn't conflict with traffic laws (if it is red, it resembles a brake light, blue and green are often restricted to emergency vehicles).
But if it saves some mishaps, do I get credit in heaven?
I am not sure if there is space enough in my car.
I've seen a kind of led stripes with different colours (blue, white, red,...) even I have some to put inside, roof and floor, under seats, killing blind zones (some day, promissed...)
Are you sure they are brilliant enough?
Could you tell the place or better a site to acquire?
It would be perfect to compare with mine
Tks
I found this link: http://www.oznium.com/led-flex-strips. The website specializes in these LED products.
Their stuff is also available at Amazon, which is where I found them.
The strips I have are very low profile and fit with room to spare. They are very brilliant and visible in daylight as well as night.
This is not to say LEDs are a better solution --the author of this 'ible has a great idea that's easy to do. This is just another idea, like reflective hazard tape. Maybe to be safe, paint the area, apply reflective tape, and put LEDs on top. :-)
By the way, in case an accident does occur, I suspect an insurance company would look fondly on this as demonstrating the car owner tried their best to avoid problems.
1st- 1,20m 12V 2700-3500K = 10,20€
2nd- 5,00m 12V 3500K= 3570€
3rd- unknown
I did mask the gasket. It's all a matter of balance--cost/benefit tradeoffs, etc.
(My husband didn't like red-green deficient, the dog is color blind, so we created chromatically challenged. :)
The general drift of comments is toward reflective tape. It's easy to apply, and even more reflective than bright paint.
All dog-related feedback is welcome. I was born in the year of the dog myself, and have always felt close to the canines. ;^)