Potential Safety Benefit of the Blind Spot Detection System for Large Trucks on the Vulnerable Road Users in Taiwan

Abstract

Considering motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicyclists as vulnerable road users (VRUs), more than 75 percent of the victims of fatal crashes involving large trucks in Taiwan are VRUs. Most crashes occurred at or were due to the blind spots of large trucks because of the size and traveling locations of the VRUs. This study applies typology and statistical methods to estimate the potential safety benefit of blind spot detection (BSD) systems for large trucks on VRUs. The pre-crash scenarios associated with the blind spots of large trucks were derived by counting the maneuvers of large trucks and VRUs, prior to crashes, the truck drivers’ improper behaviors (cause of crashes), and the crash types. The number of crashes and fatalities were counted for the pre-crash scenario relevant to the BSD systems. A value of 0.8 of human machine interface factor (HMIF) based on a previous study was applied to estimate the potential safety benefits of the BSD system. The results show that the implementation of BSD systems on all large trucks could help avoid about 24, 10, and 11 percent of large truck-involved crashes with pedestrians, bicycles, and motorcycles, respectively. The BSD systems could also save 5 pedestrians, 3 bicyclists, and 15 motorcyclists per year from crashes involving large trucks.