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To help drivers monitor the road and to reduce blind spots, Camera/Video Imaging Systems (C/VISs) display live video from cameras mounted on the truck's exterior to drivers using displays inside the truck cabin. This study investigated drivers' performance with C/VISs in a real-world trucking operation. Twelve commercial drivers' performance with and without a C/VIS was continuously recorded while they each drove for four months. Half of the drivers used a commercially available C/VIS that had a side-view camera on each fender. The other drivers used an advanced C/VIS (A-C/VIS) that had side-view cameras, a rear-view camera, and night-vision capabilities. This paper presents the study's final results and expands on the preliminary results that were previously reported. Detailed analyses of drivers' involvement in Safety-Critical Events (SCEs), their lane change performance, and their opinions of the C/VISs are presented.

Approximately 28,000 crashes involving combination unit trucks occur each year when they are making lane changes, merges, or turns. One contributing factor in these crashes is inadequate visibility for truck drivers. Recent advances in video technology have heightened the prospect of improving commercial vehicle safety by improving drivers' vision around the truck. For such video systems to be implemented on heavy trucks, the systems/driver interface should be demonstrated as viable through research. This paper presents the Camera/Video Imaging Systems (C/VISs) developed at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), the methodology used to test them, and some results obtained.

Camera/Video Imaging Systems (C/VISs) display video captured from cameras mounted on the truck's fenders and trailer to drivers using displays mounted inside the truck cabin. C/VISs provide a countermeasure to blind-spot related crashes by allowing drivers to see objects not ordinarily visible by a typical mirror configuration. They also support drivers in determining the clearance between the trailer and an adjacent vehicle when performing a lane change. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) have collaboratively funded research on the development of C/VISs that operate during the day, as well as enhancing C/VISs to operate at night and in inclement weather. This paper presents the work performed in developing a C/VIS capable of being used in an eight-month technology field demonstration (TFD), which will allow the measurement of driver behavior with the C/VIS in a revenue-producing environment.