“IIHS supports NHTSA’s proposed strategy of specifying a minimum blind spot area, including a minimum distance from the rear of a vehicle that must be visible to the driver either directly or with the aid of mirrors or other vision aids,” commented David Zuby, Senior Vice President at IIHS.
NHTSA recently presented arguments that sustained the reduced effectiveness of current non-visual technologies, such as radar and sonar sensors, to the problem of backover crashes. Therefore, IIHS suggested that NTHSA could require all vehicles to meet a minimum area and maximum distance from the back of their vehicles for a direct visible area and also require mirrors or a backing camera to cover the area not directly visible.
“IIHS recognizes that NHTSA’s cost-effectiveness estimates suggest it would not be cost effective to require rearview video systems in all vehicles. However, it seems that with vehicle designs that maximize the directly viewable area behind, some vehicles may be able to comply with a no-blind-spot requirement using mirrors instead of video cameras. The agency is requesting information about the efficacy of various mirror designs, and it seems possible this may provide a less expensive option than cameras for some vehicle designs,” added Zuby.
The IIHS comment came after NHTSA made public its study in which it showed that backover crashes involving all vehicle types are estimated to cause at least 183 fatalities annually. In addition, between 6,700 and 7,419 injuries result from backover crashes every year.
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