Analyzing the invisibility angles formed by vehicle blind spots to increase driver's field of view and traffic safety.

A driver's field of view is an essential requirement for decreasing traffic crashes and increasing safety. This article improves driver safety by analyzing factors that affect the invisibility angles formed by a vehicle's A and B pillars. An experiment was conducted with 117 participants. Two models were developed, each associated with one invisibility angle. In the A-pillar invisibility model, the age, weight, waist circumference, torso angle and distance between eyes and windshield were significant. For the B-pillar model, the age, gender, stature, waist depth, waist breadth, torso angle and distance between steering wheel and abdomen were significant. Some of these factors increase the invisibility angle(s), including age, stature, torso angle, distance between windshield and eyes, and distance between steering wheel and abdomen. Other factors decrease the invisibility angle(s), including weight, waist circumference, waist depth and waist breadth. In addition, gender significantly affects the invisibility angle.