This study addressed the degree to which motor vehicle window tint films impede drivers' ability to detect targets in their vehicle's rear-view mirrors. Twenty-four subjects participated. Each sat in the driver's seat of one of four experimental vehicles and attempted to detect a stationary pedestrian in one of the three rear-view mirrors. Errors in detecting targets and the distances at which detection occurred were recorded. One experimental vehicle had no aftermarket window tinting, and three were tinted to varying degrees. In general, this study found that increased levels of window tinting were associated with an increase in the number of failures to detect a pedestrian in rear-view mirrors and with a decrease in the distance at which the target could be detected. In addition, increased levels of window tinting were associated with an increase in between-subject variability, meaning that window tinting interfered with target detection more for some subjects than for others. (Author/publisher)
Abstract