Influence of Blind Spot Assistance Systems in Heavy Commercial Vehicles on Accident Reconstruction

Accidents between right-turning commercial vehicles and crossing vulnerable road users (VRUs) in urban environments often lead to serious or fatal injuries and therefore play a significant role in forensic accident analysis. To reduce the risk of accidents, blind spot assistance systems have been installed in commercial vehicles for several years, among other things, to detect VRUs and warn the driver in time. However, since such systems cannot reliably prevent all turning accidents, an investigation by experts must clarify how the accident occurred and to what extent the blind spot assistance system influenced the course of the accident. The occurrence of the acoustic warning message can be defined as an objective reaction prompt for the driver, so that the blind spot assistance system can significantly influence the avoidability assessment. In order to be able to integrate the system into forensic accident analysis, a precise knowledge of how the system works and its limitations is required. For this purpose, tests with different systems and accident constellations were conducted and evaluated. It was found that the type of sensor used for the assistance systems has a great influence on the system's performance. The lateral distance between the right side of the commercial vehicle and the VRU, as well as obstacles between them, along with the speed difference can have great influence on the reliability of the assistance system. Depending on the concrete time of the system's warning signal, the accident can be avoided or not by the driver when reacting to this signal.