BE1026766B1 - Differentiation of Turn Signals or Direction Indicators - Google Patents

Abstract

The purpose of this invention patent is to improve road safety, by allowing differentiation of possible maneuvers of vehicles using direction indicators as prescribed by the highway code, this according to their real intentions, by informing other users of their specific intention. Wanting to indicate two possible vehicle behaviors with a single sign leads to situations which can be extremely dangerous. The purpose of this invention patent is to remedy this. This differentiation can be done in several ways, but the one proposed in this invention patent and which seems to be the most adequate and at the same time the most user-friendly, suggests an optical unit housing two bulbs (or LED's) distant from each other. 9 -13 cm located on the same horizontal line and lighting up alternately left / right at a relatively fast frequency (approximately twice the frequency of extinctions / lighting of the classic flashers), in the event of dislocation or folding back to the right after passing , and flashing simultaneously in the normal and usual manner (or both simultaneously, or only one), in the event of a change of direction proper, i.e. TURNING effectively left or right, i.e., actually entering the first road or avenue that happens to be left or right on the normal course of the vehicle. The indication of offset on the left or on the right is selected by first pulling on the direction indication lever before lowering or raising it.

Description

Differentiation of Turn Signals or Direction Indicators

Currently, turn signals or direction indicators have the disadvantage of wanting to indicate to other road users the intention of the driver to want to perform two potentially different maneuvers.

For greater road safety, it would be desirable to be able to differentiate the two maneuvers in question, namely; the intention of the driver to want to take the next street, avenue or road on the left or right on the one hand, and the intention of the driver · to simply want to disengage to pass a vehicle and then to fall back on the right once its passing is completed on the other hand, or to change lanes. As his two maneuvers can be in many cases, or simultaneous or very

1D nested, the indication of the current indicator only offers other users insufficiently precise information on the real intentions of the driver: users may therefore be surprised, having supposed an X maneuver of the vehicle in front or that he sees come opposite, when in fact it was in function of a Y maneuver that it would have been desirable to anticipate the action.

This can sometimes lead to very serious accidents; for the purpose of illustrating this reality, and by way of example, at the end of the description, two possible situations are described which could end very badly. It is proposed to the competent authorities to mitigate this danger by modifying the highway code as follows in this description, this of course, in collaboration with the automotive industry.

One can imagine several ways of meeting this imperative to differentiate direction indicators, and the present patent application relates precisely to this differentiation itself.

It seems that the simplest way, the most natural at the same time as the most easily assimilated by the public, would be the following:

5 Overtaking or disengagement maneuver: the driver first pulls the lever of the direction indicator TOWARDS HIM, parallel to the steering column, and then lowers or raises it as he normally did before.

This way of working results in the lighting of two bulbs, (or led's), spaced between 9 and 13 cm, or any other more appropriate value, which light up alternately

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BE2018 / 0135 left / right fairly quickly. This alternating flashing of two lamps located on the same horizontal can be seen from far away. (These values are given for information only, and can be optimized after tests). Same situation when it folds to the right when its overtaking maneuver is completed.

Change of direction maneuver:

If the driver intends to TURN left or right on a street, avenue or road, he lowers or raises the direction indicators control lever (I. d D. in the description below), as he did it before, WITHOUT pulling him first. Turning left or right must ALWAYS BE PRIORITY., Even and including if it

1D incidentally overtakes another vehicle at the same time.

The above is just an example, as one can imagine other ways to differentiate direction indicators.

We can also think of having the direction indicators lever on the left of the steering wheel for one function, and on the right for the other, much less satisfactory. However, at least European standardization in this area will be required anyway.

An overview of what has already been proposed, but never developed.

A differentiation of the intention to dislodge to the left or to the right on the one hand, or to really turn left or to the right in a street or road on the other hand, has already been proposed in the past. The selected methods were to add, apparently to the orange lamp or the optical unit which generally characterized the direction indicator lights in order to signify the intention to effect a change of direction, a second lamp or optical unit lighting simultaneously with the orange lamp, usually green in case of dislocation. Or, to play on the frequency of the flashing, "normal" for one of the intentions, much faster for the other. This way of differentiating between

5 two possible maneuvers of a vehicle was probably deemed insufficiently convincing by the car manufacturers.

Similarly, with regard to the manner in which the driver should have at his disposal only to differentiate and announce to other drivers his real intention, what had been proposed was an Id D. joystick with five positions, a neutral and two for each sense

2Q left and right, either by incorporating hard points by friction, push lightly to

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BE2018 / 0135 an intention, stronger for the other, or by adding a button on the Id controller to press or turn for one of the intentions and not for the other.

It is not surprising that none of these proposals have ever been accepted by car manufacturers or by road safety officials, as both from the point of view of visual differentiation for other road users, as by the means proposed, which should be available to the driver only to indicate his real intention, in a simple and user-friendly manner, were not sufficiently convincing.

SUGGESTED REALIZATION OF THE DEVICE LINKED TO THE HANDLE the handle must therefore be movable in a direction parallel to the steering column; a spring the g normally maintains in a “low” position, except traction towards the driver. In this position, a microswitch (with or without roller), is in its "energized" position, and supplies 12 (or 24) volts to the multivibrator which causes the direction indicators themselves to flash, ie , turns left or right depending on whether it is lowered or raised.

This device has, like all the devices linked to this function, automatic return as soon as the steering wheel returns to its normal median position, which is that of the vehicle traveling in a straight line.

In the event of a real dislocation, without intending to turn left or right in a street or road which happens to be on the normal course of the vehicle, to overtake or change lanes, traction on the joystick cuts the power to 12 Volts of the first multivibrator for JO this time supplying the second multivibrator responsible for switching on the alternating ignition of the two lamps or optical devices located at the front and rear of the vehicle, as soon as the lever is engaged until it stops in one of the guides, either pushed upwards, or lowered downwards, and which will engage the contact for the alternating lighting of the two horizontal lamps on the desired side.

5 This arrangement has the advantage of being able to also take advantage of automatic return, as for "normal" flashers, but it is obvious that this will only be for maneuvers with

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BE2018 / 0135 low speed, with a sufficiently large action on the steering wheel, in the case of insertion into another queue for example.

When the vehicle is on the road and at high speed, low amplitude corrections trajectory will rarely benefit ^- this return · Automatic; this is also the case currently with indistinguishable direction indicators. As before, the driver will be required to disengage the joystick from its position manually, which will immediately resume its "low" position as soon as disengaged from the throat, ready to announce a new maneuver.

It is therefore impossible that the two multivibrators work at the same time, it will be one or the other.

In this regard, to put an end to vehicles which run with flashers which operate for kilometers for the distraction of the driver or which no longer hear the "ticking" of engagement of the joystick, it might be useful to provide a sound volume proportional to the noise level in the passenger compartment, (even if adjustable), and this, both for the flashers themselves and for the squeakers with ascending or other frequency, which will warn the driver of the switching on of the indicator lamps direction depending on one or the other intention, in addition to the well differentiated indicator lamps also, included on the dashboard as is already the case for the turn signals.

This would not be, despite appearances, a luxury; indeed, a driver who wishes to commit

D on a road, coming from a secondary road, sees arriving a vehicle which shows by its direction indicator on the right, its intention to engage in the road that it, it precisely leaves. Thinking that he will slow down as he approaches this secondary road, he enters the road himself. Anyone who has forgotten their turn signal suddenly sees this vehicle blocking their path, forcing them to slow down in disaster, may even be too late.

5 Here, by way of example, is a situation which may arise due to this possible confusion which results from the use of a single signal only to signify two intentions.

Suppose a vehicle traveling on a four-lane road, it is overtaken by a car at high speed, followed by only a few meters by another, which happens frequently, The first vehicle accelerates strongly in order to be able to turn in an avenue located on its left, before vehicles arriving in the opposite direction prevent it. When it comes close to the fork, it brakes violently, being unable to turn almost at a right angle to

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BE2018 / 0135 this speed; the vehicle following him was surprised, not having anticipated that the car preceding him intended to turn left onto the next avenue, and we have all the ingredients for a serious accident. If the driver immediately behind the first had understood that the vehicle in front of him intended to turn left, he would never have followed him in his overtaking maneuver. This involves the rear indicators.

Another example, this time involving the front indicators:

On a three-lane road, a vehicle A sees in the distance a vehicle B which is about to overtake the one in front of it; as it is still far, it decides that the vehicle which is still far will have all the time to fold back after passing, and that it can also exceed that TO which precedes it, which it does; his maneuver well underway, he realizes that vehicle B coming in the opposite direction does not fall back to his right, but even slowed down, stops and desperately remains on the middle lane, waiting for no more vehicle coming in the opposite direction does not prevent him from turning to his left. As in the current legislation, nothing prevents the car that followed A from coming to plug the hole that A makes before starting its overtaking maneuver and that it can no longer count on the fact of recovering it, its only option is to accelerate as much as possible in the hope of being able to fall back in time ... Here too, we have all the ingredients for a serious accident, a frontal collision being by no means excluded, whereas A would never have started her passing process if he could have realized that B was about to turn on his left, in a small road that even in dry weather, A would probably not even have seen ...

Claims (1)

_r Is deemed patented, the modification of direction indicators, which includes both the particular system associated with the lever of direction indicators or flashers that the driver must have at his disposal only to be able to notify other users of the route a differentiation between turning left or right, 5 - operating in the usual way without the driver pulling the lever of I. de D. towards him, simply by disengaging in order to overtake another vehicle or changing lanes, by prior traction this time, on the lever of I. of D. towards the driver before raising * or on the contrary lowering the lever of these I. of D. this differentiating in this way the possible maneuvers of a vehicle which involve the compulsory use of the indicators of 1 o direction, characterized by being able to differentiate precisely the intention of a driver, namely, either the overshoot followed by the drawdown on the right on the one hand, or the change of direction itself on the other go. This differentiation takes place for other road users in the case of simple dislocation by means of two bulbs (or LED'S) of classic orange color located in the same optical unit, on a 15 · even horizontal and about a dozen cm apart, and alternately lighting up left / right. (or two separate optical blocks, juxtaposed). The fact of turning to the left or to the right is carried out in the classic and usual manner of bulbs which light up and go out alternately on the side where the vehicle intends to engage. 20 Pulling the I. de D. controller to the driver will switch the power supply through a micro-switch to the multivibrator associated with the disengagement maneuver, while in the absence of traction towards you from the so-called I.D. controller, the current will normally be directed to the multivibrator associated with the normal direction change indicators.