Abstract
The compulsory fitting of blind spot mirrors and other indirect vision devices for large vehicles in the EU is justified by the serious consequences that “blind spot” accidents may have, especially when large vehicles such as lorries or coaches collides with cycles, pedestrians or any other vulnerable road user. This paper summarizes a retrospective analysis performed to quantify and characterise such accidents occurred in the Spanish roads through a careful accident reports review and a descriptive statistical analysis of the Spanish Accident Database. The study was developed considering the recent stipulations of the legislation in force for fitting and retrofitting indirect vision devices in Europe. Three main collision scenarios with common characteristics were identified when reviewing the Accident Reports. The results show the evolution between 1993 and 2006 for each scenario, presenting the distributions by injury severity and road type and the sensibility to the influence of lighting conditions. Based on these results, the potential benefit of measures provided by the European legislation can be assessed, by means of road safety enhancement in Spain.
Keywords: indirect vision devices, heavy good vehicles, statistical analysis, casualty reduction, vulnerable road users.