NHTSA Plans New Rearview Mirror And Rear View Video Camera Visibility Standards

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated rulemaking that will amend standards for rearview mirrors. The amendment to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 111 is intended to improve a driver’s ability to see areas to the rear of a motor vehicle, in order to mitigate fatalities and injuries associated with “backover incidents”, where drivers strike pedestrians they are unable to see behind the vehicle.

NHTSA and Congress are concerned that vehicles have “blind zones” behind the vehicle, in which drivers may have difficulty seeing and avoiding a person or other obstacle. In the notice, NHTSA has presented its initial research efforts, and has solicited additional information to enable it to develop an effective proposal to mitigate backover incidents related to these rear blind zones.

The agency said that approximately 292 people are killed in the U.S. in backovers each year, specifically defined as an incident in which a non-occupant of a vehicle, such as a pedestrian or cyclist, is struck by a vehicle moving in reverse. Most occur off public roadways, in areas such as driveways and parking lots. A disproportionate number of victims are under five years old, or 70 or older. Pickup trucks and SUVs are mostly likely to be involved in these types of incidents. NHTSA said that the problem of backovers warrants appropriate agency action.

Solutions may include rear-mounted convex mirrors, rear sensors, or rear-mounted video cameras.