![]() ![]() Before I could react, the gun hit the pavement, and it scooted beneath my radio car. I jumped from my car, and I felt my revolver falling from the holster. I arrived first on the scene of a shooting where a large crowd was gathered. If that hammer strap came undone, that gun was totally unsecured. That problem was due – almost entirely - to the swivel holster for the. In my early career, Baltimore experienced a number of officers being shot and killed with their own weapons. It should be obvious that if that officer had to draw and fire his weapon, that empty chamber could not be anything other than a disadvantage. I knew that the probability of that officer encountering a suspect already armed with a gun was greater than the officer losing control of his. This would give the officer time to draw his backup gun and shoot the suspect.Įven in that inexperienced stage of my career, I could recognize the folly of that wisdom. He reasoned that if a suspect gained control of his revolver, the first pull of the trigger would cause the hammer to fall on an empty chamber. A a recruit, I remember one officer showing me how he only loaded five chambers of his revolver. However, that didn’t keep some police officers from carrying a BUG. ![]() The Baltimore Police Department maintained a policy prohibiting the carrying of a backup gun. The point here is that his training took over under stress, and he’d forgotten about leaving the chamber empty. But, when he got to go, the suspect was, thankfully, gone. When nothing happened, his training took him to the next phase of tap, rack, check and go. He came to point shoulder, and he pulled the trigger. His training kicked in, and he drew his Glock. Every system is different, which is why Kelly Funkhouser, manager for vehicle technology at CR, recommends taking a portion of your test drive in reverse.Then, one fateful day, he was fired on by a suspect. “You’ll see whether the camera has colored guidelines that show where the vehicle is headed or how close it is to objects around your car. We’re seeing newer cars that even offer additional camera views that work best for tight parking spaces and even when moving forward,” she says. Some cars have an added audible alert for when a car nears an obstruction, while others might even have rear automatic emergency braking to help prevent a collision. Sometimes the camera makes up for a design deficiency of a vehicle itself. An owner of a 2018 Jaguar F-Type told CR that “it is very difficult to see out the back of this car so this feature and the backup camera are essential.” A driver who often carries large loads in the back of their Ford F-150 pickup truck agrees, as their view out the back window is frequently blocked by what they’re carrying.Īnd then there’s the ease of not having to swivel your head as often. “At age 77, turning one’s neck is harder and the system shows me any potential danger and where it’s coming from on the backup camera,” the owner of a 2021 Toyota Highlander wrote. A 2018 Subaru Forester driver offered a similar evaluation. ![]() “As I get older I am less flexible looking around behind me and depend on the warning and backup camera,” they said. “The system alerts me to those situations so that I may avoid them.” “There are times when there is a lot of traffic or blind spots that don’t allow good visibility to traffic crossing in the rear or pedestrians walking behind the car,” says the owner of one Mazda CX-5. “This is the greatest feature of all of the safety devices on this car,” says the owner of a 2020 Subaru Forester. I would never buy another vehicle without this feature!” “Without this feature, when you are backing up you are totally in the dark, especially if you are in a crowded area, obstructed by a van or a large truck. The owner of one of those large trucks-a Ford F-350-also has praise for the system. Parking can be tight on the sides,” they told CR. “ is a big plus because it has often warned me about rear traffic that I simply didn’t see while backing up.”ĬR’s take: Backup cameras and RCTW systems are helpful in increasing the driver’s view into hard-to-see or obstructed areas. Drivers have complained about occasional false alerts from the systems that warn them or brake for them-especially systems that also include rear AEB.īut drivers shouldn’t rely on just the system they still need to turn their head, check their side mirrors, and look out windows for objects that may be out of range of the camera or sensors. And drivers have been surprised by warning beeps when they can’t see anything, or when the car brakes unexpectedly.ĬR, AAA, J.D. ![]()
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