The use of digital human modelling for the definition and contextualisation of a direct vision standard for trucks

This paper presents research performed on behalf of Transport for London in the UK addressing the over representation of trucks involved in accidents with vulnerable road users where issues with driver vision are often cited as the main casual factors. A Direct Vision Standard for London and potentially for Europe has been developed that utilizes a volumetric assessment of field of view performance. This paper presents research into how to contextualize the somewhat abstract volumetric performance scores into real world metrics using digital human models. The research modelled 27 trucks currently available from major manufacturers and analyzed their volumetric performance. It also explored a supplementary process using digital human models define the minimum threshold of field of view performance. The current proposal utilizes thirteen human models, representing 5th %ile Italian females, positioned to front, left and right of the cab. The minimum standard was developed to ensure that no blind spot exists between the regulations for mirror coverage and the new Direct Vision Standard. The research is ongoing in line with the finalization of the standard at a European level.