Road structure – process – or apparatus – Process
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-10
2004-12-07
Hartmann, Gary S. (Department: 3671)
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Process
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827522
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a left-turn driving support device where vehicles travel on the left side of a road. The device supports a driver's judgement on making a left turn by communicating driving information such as a left turn and a right turn of a second oncoming vehicle following the forefront oncoming vehicle, which are about to enter the intersection, to the driver of the left-turn vehicle. Adjustment needs to be made where vehicles travel on the right side of a road.
In the present invention, oncoming vehicles mean oncoming vehicles approaching the intersection in the opposite lane, the forefront oncoming vehicle means the first vehicle in the opposite lane, which is arriving at the intersection, and the second vehicle means a vehicle, which follows the forefront oncoming vehicle. Vehicles mean all the vehicles prescribed in traffic regulations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior to the present invention, means for supporting a driver making a left turn in an intersection are typically to provide a left-turn only lane, to provide a time-difference control for securing the safety of left-turn vehicles by switching a green traffic signal for the oncoming traffic to a yellow signal to a red signal earlier than a green signal for the traffic lane on the left-turn vehicle side, and to provide traffic signals with left-turn only arrows for the left-turn vehicles for securing the safety of left-turn vehicles.
There are, however, many intersections with traffic signals without the above-mentioned controls supporting left turns, or without traffic signals. In these intersections, the driver making a left turn has to make the judgment of whether the forefront oncoming vehicle goes straight on, turns left or turns right by looking at blinking signals of the forefront oncoming vehicle. If the forefront oncoming vehicle is through traffic or is turning right, the driver making a left turn is able to judge that it is safe to make a left turn by looking at the traveling distance from the oncoming vehicle and makes a left turn. If the forefront oncoming vehicle is making a left turn, the driver makes a left turn at ease. Since the judgement of making a left turn in such cases depends on the judgement of the driver who makes the left turn, it hardly need be said that there are judgement mistakes when making a left turn, and accidents between left-turn vehicles and oncoming through traffic occur frequently. If the second oncoming vehicle is about to make a left turn or a right turn (where it is easier for a left-turn vehicle to make a left turn than in a case where the second oncoming vehicle is about to go straight), it is out of the line of vision (obstructed by the forefront oncoming vehicle) of the driver of the waiting left-turn vehicle, and often he/she cannot visually check the vehicle's turn signals. Particularly, it is impossible for the driver of the waiting left-turn vehicle to see the turn signals if the forefront oncoming vehicle is a large-sized car.
Prior to the present invention, as technologies supporting making a left turn of a vehicle, there are, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1984-198000, a technology for securing the safety of a vehicle making a left turn by measuring time between a left-turn vehicle and the oncoming vehicle traveling before or after the left-turn vehicle and displaying the result of a calculation on a displaying device installed on the street by calculating whether making a left turn is possible or not based on the time measured, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1993-2700, a technology for supporting making a left turn only when the driver of a left-turn vehicle cannot judge whether to make a left turn to support making a left turn by determining a possibility of a collision with the oncoming through traffic and by issuing an alarm inside the left-turn vehicle if a possibility of a collision exists, and in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1997-270097, a technology for creating information to judge to make a left turn by calculating whether a left-turn vehicle can make a left turn safely based on a traveling position of the oncoming through traffic from image signals received from an image sensor installed near an intersection and displayed data at a point of time from a signal controller controlling traffic signal lights and transmitting this information to a receiver installed in the left-turn vehicle for making the judgment to make a left turn. All of these technologies use microcomputer-based controls. As those which do not use the controls, there are technologies such as that in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1999-345395, a technology for preventing a collision with the above-mentioned second oncoming vehicle by installing a downward-looking concave mirror at the upper portion of a post set up near the traffic light of an intersection, widely reflecting objects passing through the street and allowing waiting left-turn vehicles to visually recognize a second oncoming vehicle following a first oncoming vehicle, particularly a large-sized vehicle, being making a left turn at the intersection, where the second oncoming vehicle is passing the side of the first oncoming left-turn vehicle to avoid the above-mentioned left-turn vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above-mentioned conventional left-turn support devices basically intend to support making a left turn of a forefront vehicle entering an intersection. Because those devices include expensive controls such as microcomputers, their structure is complex and managing them is complicated. Additionally, in the case of the device using a concave mirror, if it extensively reflects the road surface, vehicles reflected were small and there was some possibility of failing to notice the second oncoming vehicle.
As a result of particularly examining traveling conditions at the intersection of a two-lane road, the inventors of the present invention found that not many accidents occurred between a vehicle making a left turn and a forefront oncoming vehicle on a road where the traffic is light, because the driver of the vehicle waiting to make a left turn can directly visually check whether the forefront oncoming vehicle entering the intersection is making a left turn or a right turn by looking at the blinking status of its turn signals. The inventors also found that collisions between a vehicle waiting to make a left turn and an oncoming vehicle frequently occurred at intersections where traffic is heavy. In view of these findings, the inventors came up with an idea for solving this problem.
Particularly on a road with heavy traffic, when a vehicle is waiting to make a left turn and if turning left of the forefront oncoming vehicle and second oncoming vehicle, both of which are entering the intersection, is clear to the driver of the waiting left-turn vehicle, there is no problem because the driver can discern the oncoming vehicles' intentions by looking at the turn signals. The driver of the waiting left-turn vehicle cannot make a decision quickly until making sure of not colliding with oncoming traffic because there is a case where even when the forefront oncoming vehicle is making a left turn, the second oncoming vehicle may be going straight on (so that the driver of the waiting left-turn vehicle cannot start making a left turn until the driver actually recognizes the direction of the second oncoming vehicle). The inventors achieved the present invention by turning their attention to the finding that the driver of a vehicle waiting to make a left turn can prepare him/herself for making the turn ahead of time if he/she can tell that the second oncoming vehicle is making a left turn.
By turning attention to the fact that in conformity to traffic regulations, if any, a driver has to use a turn signal in advance if making a left turn or a right turn, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a left-turn driving support device which enables the waiting left-turn driver to make a judgement with
Kodama Kohichiro
Kodama Yoshihiro
Hartmann Gary S.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
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