January 4, 2020, corner of Saint-Hubert and Bélanger, 3:38 p.m. A van driver turned left on a green light and struck 74-year-old pedestrian Agnes T Nguyen Thi. The coroner noted that the victim was “unfortunately located right at the height of the driver’s front left blind spot,” referring to the obstruction of the windshield.
About an hour later, on the same January day, another collision occurred 2 km north, at the corner of Lajeunesse and Liège. A sport utility vehicle (SUV) made a left turn and mowed down 79-year-old Rosa Presta, who was crossing a green light. “The Most Probable Theory of the Accident […] The driver did not see usme Presta in his blind spot […]His view was obstructed by the A-pillar of the vehicle,” wrote the second coroner.
Increasingly strong and imposing A-pillars, or windshield pillars — and some accommodating airbags — save lives. of drivers and passengers, for example, during transitions. On the other hand, the blind spot created by these pillars on the driver’s side is responsible for increasing fatalities. Between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2022 in Montreal, fewer than 10 coroner reports cited glass pillar barriers as a possible or proven cause of fatal pedestrian accidents. Pres.
During this period, 20% of investigations into vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the metropolis highlighted this visibility issue.
Image from a coroner’s report
A Honda CR-V collided with a pedestrian on July 28, 2019
In nine cases, the vehicles involved were larger: three SUVs, three vans, two trucks and one bus.
Marie-Soleil Cloutier, a road safety expert and full professor at the National Institute for Scientific Research, notes, “Vehicles have never been safer for their occupants.
But it can be detrimental to people outside the vehicles due to high hoods or reduced visibility from the A-pillars.
Marie-Soleil Cloutier, road safety expert
The dangers associated with frontal blind spots arise mainly when a motorist turns left after a forced stop or during a shared green light with another road user. If both are traveling at the same speed and in the same direction for a moment, the pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist may disappear from view for significant seconds.
Dangerous conflicts are likely to accumulate in these situations; The width of the A pillars is often linked to the size of the vehicle. However, the number of so-called “light truck” Montrealers exploded between 2011 and 2021, going from 184,000 to 329,000, according to Statistics Quebec.
In North Carolina, researchers analyzed all traffic accidents involving pedestrian deaths from 2010 to 2018. Results published last year showed that pickup trucks were 42% more likely than cars to hit pedestrians when turning left. For SUVs, the risks increase by 23%.
On the dock… the A pillar on the driver’s side. A US study showed no significant difference in crash rates between different types of vehicles when making right turns.
A recent issue
In Quebec, interest in the blind spot created by windshield pillars is relatively recent. A coroner sounded the alarm in 2018 following the death of a 63-year-old pedestrian in Lock-Broom. “Over the years, car manufacturers have built increasingly solid vehicles,” writes Richard Trapeau in his report. To do this, they have [renforcé] Some parts of vehicles, including glass pillars. In doing so, they have created an ever-increasing blind spot. »
Left turns cause three times more fatal collisions than right turns in Montreal, our review of pedestrian-vehicle crashes since 2000 shows.
Also, 13 of the 15 most recent crashes we compiled in the borough — and others may have been added later — involved a large vehicle: 6 vans, 4 SUVs, 3 trucks and 2 vans.
“In Quebec, SUVs are 2.5 times more involved in collisions with pedestrians than other types of vehicles,” notes Équiterre in a report published in 2021.
However, vehicles of all sizes have more or less significant gaps in visibility to the driver’s front left. The now-discontinued Dodge Dart was the small car that claimed the life of little 8-year-old Liam on July 22, 2020, when he joined his father at the end of day camp.
“There is reason to question the interior of some vehicles: although vehicles are more robustly constructed to protect occupants, glass pillars create an increasingly significant blind spot and impair the driver’s vision,” the coroner wrote in his report.
Courses were reviewed and corrected
There is currently no perfect solution to compensate for the blind area created by the windshield pillars, in retrospect. When approaching an intersection, it is the driver’s responsibility to move their head slightly from side to side of the pillars.
In 2018, Coroner Trabio recommended that the SAAQ “modify the content of driving courses to sensitize new road vehicle drivers to the danger posed by windshield pillars”. Part of this problem is actually included in the guide Driving a passenger vehicle and at Road Access Book, both published by SAAQ. The Association of Driving Schools of Quebec has also included it in its manual Learn to behave.
The road guide and some driving school manuals – Technic’s manuals, for example, which we were able to consult – ignore the A pillars though. “This subject is in the practical courses and not in the theoretical courses,” notes Stephen Gurdin. Vice President Operations in Tech.
Got the message? We surveyed ten new drivers; Seven people told us that they did not remember hearing about blind spots at the front of passenger vehicles during their theoretical and practical courses.
In a report published in 2019, the Committee of Experts on Pedestrian Safety stated that all drivers of road vehicles “must be aware of the problem of pedestrian safety linked to blind spots created by barrier pillars. -Broken “.
It is noteworthy that SAAQ 2020 produced and distributed a video capsule on social networks.
Il n’en demeure pas moins que les piétons nord-américains sont moins bien protégés que leurs homologues européens. La Commission économique pour l’Europe des Nations unies (CEE-ONU) réglemente les piliers A ; l’angle d’obstruction ne doit pas être supérieur à 6 degrés. Cette directive d’harmonisation est contraignante dans l’Union européenne. Bien qu’ils soient eux aussi membres de la CEE-ONU, les États-Unis et le Canada n’ont pas intégré d’angles d’obstruction maximaux dans leur législation.
En Amérique du Sud, par exemple, un échantillon de 75 voitures analysé par des chercheurs brésiliens présentait des angles morts variant de 8 à 15,3 degrés pour le pilier côté conducteur et de 7 à 11,5 degrés pour le pilier côté passager. Les méthodes de calcul peuvent toutefois différer.
Transports Canada, responsable des exigences de fabrication des voitures vendues au pays, en est toujours au stade de recherche sur les funestes piliers. « Les projets […] Pay attention to the shape and location of the A-pillars,” says a spokesperson. “The development of new measurement techniques and methods will be used to establish test protocols to assess risks and their mitigation methods. If this research determines that there is a net benefit from implementing a regulation, Transport Canada will not hesitate to take the necessary steps. »
Why did A-pillars evolve?
Photo from Insurance Company for Highway Safety Facebook page
From 2009 to 2022, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety will require a vehicle to carry at least four times its weight to be given a “good” rating.
Beginning in 2009, North American federal authorities and conservation organizations imposed roof crush resistance criteria. In previous years, SUVs have seen significant drawbacks. From 2009 to 2022, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) will require a vehicle to carry at least four times its weight to give it a “good” rating. “We discontinued the roof strength test because virtually all vehicles received good scores,” the IIHS says on its website today. According to U.S. standards imposed in 2009 and later drafted by Transport Canada, a vehicle must carry three times its weight. The A-pillars, which support not only the windshield and rear window, but also the roof, among other things, have been reinforced and widened to meet these safety requirements.
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