Reduction of blind spots in heavy transport vehicles through the optimisation of driver seat design

Abstract

Statistics show that around 60% of road accidents occur due to poor visibility of driver and fatigue. Visibility of the driver while driving depends on the factors like blind spot, glare, weather and conditions of the head lamps of both own and the vehicle from opposite side. Among these, blind spot is the prime factor for accidents irrespective of time of travel. Reduction of blind spot area (Figure 1) improves the area of visibility of the driver which reduces the causes of the accidents. The driver seat design plays vital role in the driver's visibility while he is in the driver seat. This aim of this paper is to optimise the blind spot area by considering the design parameters used in the design of driver seat. To achieve this, a hybrid multi criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach is proposed by integrating computer aided engineering and technology (COPRAS) technique and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). The developed model is tested by a case study conducted in a public transport corporation located in the southern part of India.