Effects of blind spot monitoring systems on police-reported lane-change crashes

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of blind spot monitoring systems in preventing police-reported lane-change crashes.

Methods: Poisson regression was used to compare crash involvement rates per insured vehicle year in police-reported lane-change crashes in 26 U.S. states during 2009–2015 between vehicles with blind spot monitoring and the same vehicle models without the optional system, controlling for other factors that can affect crash risk.

Results: Crash involvement rates in lane-change crashes were 14% lower (95% confidence limits −24% to −2%) among vehicles with blind spot monitoring than those without.

Discussion: Blind spot monitoring systems are effective in preventing police-reported lane-change crashes when considering crashes of all severities. If every U.S. vehicle in 2015 were equipped with blind spot monitoring that performed like the study systems, it is estimated that about 50,000 crashes could have been prevented.

Keywords:

• Blind spot detection
• collision warning
• crash avoidance technology
• driver assistance system
• lane-change alert
• side-view assist
• side blind zone alert

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Adrian Lund, Chuck Farmer, and David Zuby of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Matt Moore of the Highway Loss Data Institute for their input that improved the design and statistical methods used in this study. She is also grateful to Lisa Henke of the Highway Loss Data Institute, who provided exposure and vehicle feature data, and Jason Rubinoff and JoAnn Wells of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for their assistance in obtaining and formatting state crash data. Pennsylvania data used herein were supplied by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations, or conclusions drawn in this publication.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.