Australian Design Rule ADR 14/02 ensures that the internal mirror and the driver's side mirror are free from distortion and therefore provide accurate information from which to make judgements of the distance and speed of vehicles approaching from the rear. Unfortunately, the requirement for a flat mirror on the driver's side results in a narrow field of view from this mirror (approximately 9 degrees in a medium sedan car). Thus there remains a relatively large blind spot on the driver's side that can lead to failure to see other vehicles and an increased risk of crashes. The blind spot of another motor vehicle may have contributed to up to about 20 percent of motorcycle crashes. The estimated contribution to fatal crashes is lower than for other crashes (9 percent of Victorian crashes, 5 percent of Australian crashes). The potential exists to at least double the field of view of the driver's side mirror by changing from a flat surface to a spherical convex mirror with a radius of curvature of 1200 mm. The effects on distance judgement appear to be less than predicted by optical theory and there is no evidence from overseas studies that these effects contribute to crashes. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E202275.
Samenvatting