Q: I recently had a close call with a pedestrian. I looked both ways before pulling into the intersection, but he seemed to appear out of nowhere, right in front of my car. How is that possible?
A: Back when I went through driver’s ed . . . I know this sounds like a setup for a story where I teach the next generation about life by telling them about walking to school up hill both ways barefoot in the snow, but its’ not; stay with me. Back when I went through driver’s ed we were taught about blind spots. We know blind spots are the areas just behind the driver, on either side of the car, where a car, bike or pedestrian could be invisible due to a poorly adjusted mirror and a failure of a driver to turn and look.
With modern cars, there is another blind spot that I didn’t learn about in driver’s ed. We don’t often talk about, mainly because most people don’t even know it exists. It’s the A-pillar blind spot. We’ll get into the details, but first some car anatomy. On a car, pillars are the parts that connect to the roof to the body. The A-pillars are on either side of the windshield, the B-pillars are behind the front doors, and the C-pillars are on either side of the rear window.
As engineers have designed cars to better protect occupants, the A-pillars have grown wider, and as they have designed cars to be more aerodynamic, windshields have become more sloped. On the plus side, drivers get a car that has improved crash protection, room for an airbag in the A-pillar, and improved gas mileage. On the downside, it can result in a serious reduction in visibility. The problem usually manifests itself on the driver’s side of the car, often when making a left turn, but even the A-pillar on the passenger side can affect the driver’s view.
The A-pillar blind spot can block a driver’s view of a pedestrian, a cyclist, and even a small car. The severity of the blind spot is dependent on the car’s design and how the driver fits in the car. It can be particularly challenging for shorter drivers. To understand why, try this experiment. Hold your thumb out at arm’s length in front of you and close one eye. Notice how much of your view is obstructed by your thumb. Not much, right? Now bring your thumb closer to your face. The closer your thumb gets, the more it blocks out your view. It’s the same with drivers. The further forward your move the driver’s seat, the closer you are to the A-pillar, blocking more of your view.
Most likely, the instantly appearing pedestrian in the question is a result of the A-pillar blind spot. Fortunately, just knowing that the blind spot exists is a big help in reaching a solution to the problem. And the solution is simple – move your head. Hopefully, you already look each way twice before pulling into an intersection. If that’s your habit, just modify it a bit. On your second look, bob your head forward a little – like Bert on Sesame Street doing the pigeon dance. Or like a pigeon, if you’re not familiar with the Sesame Street reference. That changes the angle of your view, revealing anyone that might have been hidden by the pillar.
You don’t even have to look like a pigeon to solve the A-pillar problem. Just shift your position in your car while you’re looking for pedestrians and traffic so you can see around the pillar. Simple changes to our driving behavior can have a profound impact on our safety and the safety of others on the road, especially vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists. By being actively observant drivers we make our roads a better place to travel.
I think there’s a major reason why the new pillars seem so much more blinding than the old pillars. Close one eye and look at the pillar, close the other and look at the pillar. If the pillar is narrow enough, there actually is no blind spot because our brain can use both of our eyes to work out what’s behind it without even moving our head. As the pillar gets wider and further away, this doesn’t work anymore. I just went from a 2004 vehicle to a 2014 and I felt much safer in the 2004 because I feel like I’m much, much more likely to hit something in the newer car.
I wish they would do away with the big a pillars and even the B pillars I used to love my two-door and four-door hard tops. A lot less blind spots in the older vehicles.
I just about hit a lady today the timing an angles were the perfect storm for not seeing her start to cross the road until I started to make the left hand turn luckily I was driving slow enough and slammed on the breaks but it was way to close for comfort.
Same thing happened to me tonight, I hate these new cars so much. there is just no way to safely see with the design of the slanted windshield and wide A pillar. I’m glad that there was no accident, and I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one having this problem.
Volvo had a concept designed for a very safe car that had a little windows and it’s A pillar to help with this problem. I don’t think any cars like that ever made it to production. And I do believe the a pillars were strong enough to meet the standards of that time
I was a pedestrian unfortunately recently hit by a car in a parking lot. My guess is that it was an A-pillar issue. I was crossing left diagonally in front of her , while she accelerated to make a left turn. My walking /her turning possibly kept me in her blind spot….perfect storm.
I’m sorry this happened to you. Your name is “Prius” and I just bought a 2023 Toyota Prius XLE. Interestingly, the recent Consumer Reports video talked extensively about how far forward the “A Pillars” are in the new resdesigned Prius, and that they had to keep moving their heads to look around it. Is this what happened to you? I am finding this a problem too as the A Pillar blocks my vision on both sides, making me worried about hitting a pedestrian, and I’m thinking seriously of trading it in, even though it’s a brand new car and gorgeous. The rear window is also too high so you don’t see the largest part of the car, mostly the roof of the car in back of you, and you cannot see the front of the car because it slopes down so steeply. Lots of visibility problems.
On the Hyundai Tucson and some other SUV’s, the side mirror is mounted on a large opaque plastic projection that contributes to the visibility problem. Next time I’ll buy a car that has slim mirror mounts.
Drivers should always be taught about the “maritime collision” situation. If you have a habit of rolling through a stop sign, an approaching pedestrian may be right behind your A pillar, and in effect stays hidden as the two of you progress toward the inevitable tragedy.
We shouldn’t have to bob our heads like a pigeon to see out of our cars. These designers are claiming to make safer cars, yet the visibility on them is getting to the point where it’s causing accidents, not much logic there. Like the person who posted above, I recently had to go from a 2003 to a 2019, and it’s frightening. Trying to see through the slanted windshield and thick A pillar is miserable, and down right dangerous. I’d gladly go back to my 2003 that was a pleasure to drive, and they can keep their new cars and pigeon head bob.
What car do you drive?
Y’all know you head moves right?
This is why guys like me on bikes constantly get the “Sorry mate, didn’t see you!”
It’s really not that hard to move your head to see through all the blind spots in a car, I’ve only been doing it for 30 years and I’ve never even had a near miss!
Theres two other ways yo fix this. Either they make the A-pillars with glass inserts (rectangular portholes) along the midsection of the pillar/s….
OR
mount a camera on the top of the A-pillar, and a projector mounted behind the driver… so that it projects the unobstructed image from the camera ONTO the A-pillar.
In that case, the pillar would appear nearly invisible, offering unobstructed 180⁰ degree from the drivers position.
Of course it would work on B and C pillars as well, giving a complete 360⁰ view.
Cost is the factor for now, but its something to
“watch-out for”.
There’s a third way first invented on 1954 Buicks: slant the A pillar backwards.
Hello, I just discovered my challenged driving obstacle name:
“A pillar” of my 2019 edge st. Almost hit so many pedestrians, especially children that can be obscured from view, right side mostly. I miss my 2005 Ford Explorer with full view capacity.
I realize the “A pillar” is a “good” safety feature but it’s hit or miss for tired drivers unaware of the pigeon bob maneuver.
Sedans and hatchbacks have this A-pillar problem a lot. SUV’s and trucks are better. Lucky we can choose the model we buy accordingly.
Even my 2000 Dodge Caravan (and the ’96 Dodge Ram 1500 I used to have) are much worse than my ’74 Chrysler station wagon and ’95 Dodge Dakota.
I wonder how much of an effect that packing the cavities inside the pillars with some type of non-compressible matter would have on rollover strength.
Hey – I appreciate this info! I’m an old-timer driver that only drives old cars. My present one’s a ’77. I just dumped a ’72. Anyhow, when I drive the modern cars, of my kids’ say, I always seem to have trouble at turns or when wanting to do a reverse in them stupid cockpit seats they make these days, instead of sofa seats like I always loved, and had, and never quite figured out what the hell was wrong with me, sometimes. Here I was a healthy septuagenarian but sometimes in some cars I just was blinded from all over. BINGO! Like you revealed for me – darn – it was the bloody a pillar or c pillar or a + B + c pillar blind spots! A pox on electric cars – which is where they’re going with all this extra mandated garbage.
I drive a little coupe in the UK with super-chunky A-pillars. After a couple of near misses entering roundabouts (it’s amazing how much can be obscured, not just a small car..) I developed the aforementioned pigeon bob and it worked a treat. I am now teaching my son to drive in a little 04 with matchsticks for A pillars and do worry about when he graduates to to a modern car, difficult to enforce the pigeon bob as habit when it’s not strictly necessary.
On another note, as a motorcyclist I have become increasingly aware of this blind spot and are always on the look out for cars whose drivers you cannot see…
just bought a toyota yarris hybrid and in the drivers seat looking left visability is really bad ? any one tell me if a blind spot mirror help at all just a very small space to see if cars aer comeing any suggestions please?
Think A pillars are a problem? Try being tall with the safety cam in newer cars completely obscuring your vision for it’s own purposes of viewing and distracting you as a driver!
Hi Lance, tell me more. What kind of car is this? I haven’t heard of this problem yet, and I’d like know more about it.
London, UK:
Hi, I just got bumped into by an SUV. I see now that it is a ‘thing’; me, a pedestrian on the pavement, crossing in front of the car from the side, as it pulled out of driveway, driver looking both ways but view obscured by A-pillar, next thing is they move to enter the main road and there is a 6′ 4 ” man in plain view straight in front of them.
The car braked and ran into my shopping , which took the force which was around my knee. But many things ran through my mind. Had I been a kid, I might not been see at all; had the lady driver not seen me when she did, I could have been knocked into the main road and been hit be another car. I swore out loud out of surprise & shock, she waved her hand in apology. I did not go and speak to her, I just walked on, trying to make sense of it, trying to work out if I was hurt & thinking what might have been. And wondering why she did not see me. And then I read this, thanks.
I used to go to the Royal College of Art (RCA) graduate shows, in London, which show off the work of the recently graduated car designers, who get jobs around the world, from what I understand. My Vauxhall/Opel Astra 2009 was designed by someone from the RCA – a great car; good visibility. I would see these beefy, outlandish designs, like something out of ‘Judge Dredd’ and think “no chance (of them going into production)”. And they have. There would be the odd, outlier student who would do environmentally considered car design (one where you wheeled your bicycle on board, that kind of thing) but they were in a distinct minority. In essence, the cars we see now were born in the minds of these designers. They could have gone a different way, aesthetically, but they have chosen this muscular car look, which impacts on visibility.
1- I’ve “lost” cars coming out of a parking garage in my pillar — when I moved my car forward when the light turned green – lo and behold — a car, with driver, to my right, had been waiting – half emerged from a parking garage.
2- I looked right and left at a Stop sign — no one visible — started to turn left and lo and behold a little car emerged from behind my windshield pillar — had I gone forward I would have broadsided it..
3- OK. I’m at the STOP sign and the road is Clear! I can make a left turn…!! Oh LOOK!! A Jogger suddenly appearing from behind my windshield’s left pillar!!!
No — I don’t need this– my next car will be an oldie but goodie – I work on cars and will be HAPPY to not only have a car without those annoying pillars (If I really want to I can have an anti-roll bar/cage installed) and also this car will NOT have computer modules —- so I can do all the work without worrying about frying a module.