Patent ID: 7672782

Claim:
A system of warning the operator of a primary vehicle about the potential collision of a closing vehicle with the primary vehicle, the closing vehicle proceeding in the same direction as the primary vehicle, the system comprising: means for determining the pattern of speed variations of the primary vehicle during a predetermined time interval; means for determining the state of the transmission setting of the primary vehicle during the predetermined time interval; means for determining one or more parameters about the state of the movement of the closing vehicle; and means for generating an alert to the operator of the primary vehicle when (1) the pattern corresponds to a predetermined pattern indicative of a particular driving maneuver, (2) the one or more parameters of the state of movement of the closing vehicle are at a predetermined status, and (3) another condition exists, wherein the particular driving maneuver includes a speed variation pattern indicative of a U-turn maneuver, wherein the predetermined status of one or more parameters of the state of movement of the closing vehicle includes a status selected from the group consisting of exceeding a maximum closing vehicle speed, exceeding a maximum difference in speed between the primary vehicle and the closing vehicle, failing to meet a minimum range from the primary vehicle to the closing vehicle, and failing to meet a minimum time to collision.