IIHS Study: Rear cameras help drivers see behind them

Rear cameras are more effective than parking sensors at helping drivers avoid objects while traveling in reverse, but they don’t help in every situation, a new IIHS study shows. The study, conducted with volunteer drivers in an empty parking lot in the Los Angeles area, indicates that cameras would help prevent more backover crashes into pedestrians in the vehicle’s blind zone than parking sensors. Surprisingly, cameras by themselves worked better than sensors and cameras combined. "Right now cameras appear to be the most promising technology for addressing this particularly tragic type of crash, which frequently claims the lives of young children in the driveways of their own homes," says David Zuby, the Institute’s executive vice president and chief research officer.