Hi,
In essence i live on a road with moving traffic at about 30mph, there is zero visibility until you pull out about 1.5m. I would like a simple solution which shows the exit is clear or a vehicle (car/cycle) is approaching.
What would be a good module to use with arduino to detect movement along the road which i could integrate with a traffic light based system for exiting the drive.
Using cctv is a no go due to privacy laws so looking at alternatives if there are any?
Thanks
Simon
Hello Simon
Simply use a mirrow.
In UK you often see these convex mirrors mounted to walls or poles opposite such driveways:
The mirror is my back up plan, was hoping for a more techie solution, for fun 
It is difficult to understand why a mirror would be allowed but a camera and screen with no recording equipment would not be
I would start with the mirror, because it never runs out of battery and won't have a coding bug 
(and works both ways, people approaching on the road can also see what's going on in the hidden road and if a vehicle is approaching).
Whatever tech stuff would be a fall back position
use the traffic light... on the main road, before exiting turn the traffic light to red than wait till all the 'crashing sounds' stops ( just kidding, sorry couldn't resist ; - ). If you own a car repair this could be good for your business too.
use some sort of 'long range lidar' to map the road and understand if it is clear/safe.
Very difficult to do as it should be 'super reliable', I may imagine an 'obstacle' could create blind spots...
"More techie" ==> more complexity ==> more errors ==> less secure
e.g.: Blackout? Mirrors work. Storm? Mirrors work. ... ==> Mirrors (using quantum mechanics) are the superior solution you are going to duplicate using inferior error prone playground techie stuff.
So a horizontal periscope type gadget 
A mirror is very techie - it's powered by photons.
Mirrors work. But, they're vulnerable to the same crowd of miscreants that take ball bats to mailboxes and use traffic signage for target practice.
Not trying to dissuade, just being realistic.
Hey, that could also be useful for miscreant control!
I like your thinking, but maybe a bit cheaper to deploy stingers to stop any vehicle whilst i exit the drive 
Could be argued that use of Arduino in this situation would be a no-no due to the life/death/safety aspect.
As I understand this is a challenge, a proof of concept, how would you do this...
But passing from 'theory to practice' is not that easy ( considering aspects as security, reliability, redundancy.... ).
Having said that I think the problem can be approached in 'simplified manners', for example having a device that scans the road near your driveway and sends this scan to a display inside your car where it could be shown 'radar style', a background image of the road superimposed with 'colored sprites' representing the objects detected ( the color may represent the object type, an arrow may show the direction/speed of movement... ).
This could be an helper, every decision should be taken by the driver ( no red/green light ).
Regarding the 'scanning device', I have no experience with lidars, but it coud be something like a 360° lidar, it should be positioned inside your property at an 'adequate height and position' so to have a good view of the road ( and somehow disguised so that those passing won't say: 'hey that guy has a lidar looking down the road...' ; - )
