Comparison of Accommodation Speed and Reading Accuracy for Conventional and Digital Rear-View Mirrors with Emphasis on Overall Traffic Safety

Abstract The topic of this article is a comparison of the speed of accommodation and the reading accuracy of conventional and digital rear-view mirrors. The data for the research described in this article was obtained through laboratory measurements using precise measuring techniques on a medium-sized, relatively heterogeneous group of users, consisting mainly of university students and employees. In the experiment, all research participants performed a series of test tasks on two identical passenger vehicles, where one was equipped with conventional side mirrors, while the other had digital side mirrors installed. The main reason for carrying out this study is to try to imitate a common situation where the driver is forced to drive a car with these modern technologies in normal traffic and to understand the specific issues associated with the use of this technology. The speed of accommodation and reading accuracy is a very important parameter in this regard, which is also important for maximizing road traffic safety. The data obtained from this research was subsequently subjected to selected statistical analysis. Results confirmed statistically significant differences in the speed of accommodation when reading data from conventional and digital mirrors. It has been shown that the use of digital mirror technology can have a direct negative effect on road safety, especially in combination with other negative effects given by the technical nature of the technology under investigation, such as image latency in digital displays.