Rear radar - any good?

[Mike_P]

My Varia shows a solid green line when the road behind is clear. When there is a vehicle behind me travelling at the same speed then a car icon, or icons if more than one car, will show.

Apologies was referring to the Elemnt Blot.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I'm not being negative or down playing how useful some find the radars, just wondering about effectiveness against bad drivers.

Any additional information may help you to do something in positioning or behavioural terms which will help you to mitigate the risk from a bad driver. They are, however, perhaps most useful on quiet / not busy roads, where you will be alerted to the one car every few minutes; not so much on a busy road where a car is passing every few seconds and you're therefore constantly on alert for bad drivers. Personally, the combination of a radar to alert me to the presence of an approaching vehicle and a mirror to check what it is, is very powerful in allowing appropriate road positioning and behaviour.

 

[Mike_P]

I use mine on a number of busy roads and once it has bleeped for the first approaching car it is then slient until it goes clear. You consequently know then when its worth looking back to make the approaching right turn.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Isn't it always "worth looking back" before signalling to manoeuvre to the centre of the road before a right turn. How does the radar info inform your timing? Do you look back earlier or later if you know there's a vehicle right behind?

 

[HLaB]

My point is though even if the radar alerts you to a vehicle(s) behind I'm not entirely sure how that helps if said vehicles are going to close pass etc anyway. Example you are riding along a road with traffic fairly frequently overtaking. So, I assume as vehicles approach you get an alert which tells you they are approaching etc but what then? Do you then check over shoulder for every vehicle, surely that's not feasible on a busy road. Do you alter line every time?

Being aware they are there is something I find helps a lot (no or less WTF moments as I'm expecting them). Similarly if there's multiple vehicles you don't have repeated WTF moments and you know when its clear and you can do a single shoulder check before you manoeuvre. Situational awareness. Relatedly its a good benefit (to say the least) being able to look forward 99% of the time, especially with the state of our roads and the pull out from dodgy drivers or to avoid other common hazards. I only move position though 99% of the time when I want to make a positive manouvre. My head unit and a lot of others are colour coded and large enough that you can judge their distance and speed, which heightens the benefits/ confidence/ situational awareness. If it goes red you know they are going too fast, but if it changes to orange they'll have saw you; they are far back or sitting patiently behind etc. I would have probably been in the 'why' camp until I got one and now I feel naked without a radar. You've really got to try one before you realise why they are good though (actually IMO they are better than good) .