How to improve open rear door visibility?

DOT C2 conspicuity tape. It really is the best stuff for this. Put some on the painted part of the door interior near the rearmost (outermost when open) part.

 

My VOLVO which had a small red light inset into all the doors as they opened? I've seen them aftermarket.

Something like this (not my car - mine was an earlier white one):



Could you get a car-wrap business to apply some white wrap to the inside door panel?

I had an almost black car a few years ago (titanium I think they called it) - I soon learned that it was invisible in certain lights. The same colour as many road surface. I drove with headlights on day and night.

 

I replaced my interior dome light with a very bright blue Led,and the front door low lights with LED's, bad driver, driver needs a time out and an eye examination.

 

First of all, I'm very happy to hear that you and your daughter emerged unscathed. As for your car, that's good too, although I'd recommend having it closely examined by a body expert to ensure that there's nothing damaged in a subtle way that you're not seeing right now.

As for the visibility issue, I owned a black Prius for well over a decade, and I've got a dark gray one now, so I'm right with you on the visibility concerns. In fact, I just alluded to this issue this evening in this thread: 2019 Prius Midcycle Refresh Details | Page 13 | PriusChat . That was regarding using the fog light when the headlight was out, to mark that side of the black car in the dark.

I've actually considered, for my new car, what's already been recommended: reflective tape. The enhanced lighting suggestion sounds good too. Really, ANYTHING you can do to increase visibility, you should consider.

Over the years, I've had various positions in and around aviation safety (my avatar is one of my favorite collected gems...). One of the most perplexing aspects of this field is its inherent paradoxical/enigmatic nature. In particular, it's very difficult to actually prove what steps increase safety -- it's impossible, after all, to line up all the "accidents that never happened" as proof! The "counter point"? Just make your car as visible as you can (without ruining it, of course -- don't go painting it with florescent chartreuse zebra stripes...), and as we used to say, keep YOUR head on a swivel at all times!

 

Glad to hear you and your daughter are ok Prof.
There's no accounting for impatient idiots who are not paying attention and I don't think reflective tape or lights on the door would have made any difference in this case. Sorry for being so cynical, but I'm glad the other driver got payback for his actions.
Check your door gaps and the hinge mountings for damage, although door mirrors are fairly flimsy things, designed to collapse on impact, so you should be ok.

 

Only thing I can suggest here is to turn on the hazards if you are gonna hang around the car for some reason, e.g. getting your daughter out, the groceries, or doing emergency maintenance on the side of the road.

Nothing is gonna prevent a careless/reckless driver from hitting you.

 

Wow.
I'm just glad to hear yourself and your daughter weren't hurt. That's a dangerous scenario.

I would say this.

You can do things as suggested to improve the visibility of the open doors BUT...
really if you were parked on the side of the road?
The Primary Factor was a driver not paying attention and being negligent. Someone being that reckless? The blame for what happened lies on the driver of the offending car.

I drive a black vehicle. And I feel it's more visible during the daylight than many colors...but at night, well it's black.
But really, that's no excuse. I'm assuming the offending car had headlights, and there was enough light being generated for yourself and your vehicle to be entirely visible.

I guess I'm saying...I'm glad everyone is OK...and don't blame yourself or even your vehicle for what happened. Whether the vehicle is black, white, or has flashing lights on it like a space ship in Close Encounters, it's the responsibility of those on the road NOT to hit parked cars.

 

Good job, mate!

Maybe also think about a strip on the bottom of the rear liftgate, the bit that faces aft when the hatch is up.

I don't buy gray, silver or black cars but I'm still attempting to round up some leftover "see-tape" to do a similar door treatment for ours. Thanks for the motivation!

PS night photo (with flash) will be very illustrative. The key to that stuff working is having illumination and receptor on a common axis relative to the tape. It won't light up much from ambient light, but when the lamp and eye (or image sensor) are close together it really shines up.

 

Sure..and again, glad everyone is safe and unhurt.
I do think sometimes when we are involved in any happening that is an intrusion into our own world of "safety" we can consciously or subconsciously react with almost a victims trauma like guilt. Again this happened because the driver of the offending vehicle was not paying attention and being reckless, not because your open doors don't have lights or reflectors, or that you were wearing dark colors or that your vehicle is black. However....I agree...

There's absolutely no downside to improving the visibility of your open doors. It's a good project, and if it at all relieves any future stress? Well worth it. And at night (or day) ...I'm not going to argue with more visible is safer than less visible.

Good Luck with your visibility improvement project, and let's hope nothing like this happens again.

PS.
That reflective tape is a good and simple solution. I own a black vehicle and you've motivated me into doing the same. It's a good idea.

 

There you go! That tape is both hi-vis and "something unexpected," both of which should go a long way to breaking into the "attention circuitry" of the next addled, distracted or otherwise tuned out driver you might next encounter.

On a more humourous (spelling in deference to The Professor's location ) note, this might be the first time in my life (well over fifty years worth...) that I've ever seen the door jamb area cleaner looking than the rest of the car. Good grief, prof, wash your poor car!

 

My Prius is black also and I like the idea of the reflective tape. There are all kinds of high visibility items for sale now for construction workers, joggers and bikers, now it is time for just normal people to make themselves more visible.

 

And it's black!

My dealer told me they have a hard time selling black cars.

 

A flashing blue light usually draws attention, although totally illegal on non police cars.