Analyzing the invisibility angles formed by vehicle blind spots to increase driver’s field of view and traffic safety

Abstract

A driver’s field of view is an essential requirement for decreasing traffic crashes and increasing safety. This article improves driver safety by analyzing factors that affect the invisibility angles formed by a vehicle’s A and B pillars. An experiment was conducted with 117 participants. Two models were developed, each associated with one invisibility angle. In the A-pillar invisibility model, the age, weight, waist circumference, torso angle and distance between eyes and windshield were significant. For the B-pillar model, the age, gender, stature, waist depth, waist breadth, torso angle and distance between steering wheel and abdomen were significant. Some of these factors increase the invisibility angle(s), including age, stature, torso angle, distance between windshield and eyes, and distance between steering wheel and abdomen. Other factors decrease the invisibility angle(s), including weight, waist circumference, waist depth and waist breadth. In addition, gender significantly affects the invisibility angle.

Keywords:

• driving posture
• traffic
• obstruction
• blind spots
• body mass index

Acknowledgements

The researchers are grateful for the Deanship of Scientific Research at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) for the generous funding of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Jordan University of Science and Technology [Grant number 20170332], [proposal number 505/2017].