Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Rear-View Camera Systems as a Countermeasure for Truck Backing Crashes: Lessons Learned from Actual Field Deployment.

A growing awareness is emerging regarding backing crash problems in the U.S. "No view" or "limited view" are commonly cited as the cause of backingcrashes, which means that backing crashes occurred because the driver didnot see the struck vehicle, object, or pedestrian in the rear. Unlike cars, trucks have huge areas directly behind them that cannot be seen by drivers. The size of this "no view" area in the rear becomes bigger as vehiclesize increases. According to the NHTSA most recently complete study, rear-view video systems are an effective means of allowing the driver to see behind the vehicle, while sensor-based systems do not perform well enough to effectively prevent backing crashes. Based on the results of NHTSA study, 73 camera-based rear view systems were deployed on various sizes of trucks and closely monitored to evaluate the effectiveness of the deployed systems, including driver feedback. It was learned that image quality is very important and that poor image quality in the early stages of system implementation can discourage driver acceptance of the system. The before/after crash study showed that installing the system helped companies avoid 40 percent of potential backing crashes. This study confirms the effectiveness of rear-vision camera as a countermeasure for truck backing crashes withactual deployment and multiple driver surveys.