The U.S. government will require all new vehicles to have reversing cameras from 2018.
According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the fitting of reversing cameras “enhances the safety of these vehicles by significantly reducing the risk of fatalities and serious injuries caused by backover accidents.”
The car review website dogandlemon.com welcomes the U.S. move.
Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who has campaigned to make reversing cameras compulsory, says:
According to credible studies, reversing cameras are the most effective way of eliminating the blindspots that often lead to driveway tragedy.
“No one claims reversing cameras are foolproof. They’re simply the best, most cost-effective way of preventing reversing accidents. You can fit one to your car today and be safer tomorrow.”
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of driveway deaths and injuries in the developed world.
An average of five children a year die on driveways in New Zealand and a child is seriously injured about every two weeks.
Matthew-Wilson says the New Zealand government should now show leadership, and make reversing cameras compulsory for all vehicles within 12 months.
“Reversing cameras are affordable, easily installed and very effective at allowing drivers to see what’s behind them. Surely this is a no-brainer.”
Matthew-Wilson explains how his own reversing camera and parking sensors may have saved a child's life:
“I was reversing out of a parking bay at a supermarket. Like all good drivers I checked my three rear mirrors. Just as I began to reverse, a sudden beep warned me that a small child was running straight past the rear of my car. He appeared from nowhere, running across the reversing camera screen, then disappeared past the vehicle. He was too short to show up in my rear view mirror. If I had not had a reversing camera and parking sensors fitted, I could easily have reversed straight over this child.”
