Every caravan and campervan needs a reversing camera to help avoid the driver backing into innocent people, says the car review website dogandlemon.
Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, was commenting after an elderly caravan driver accidentally pinned his wife between the caravan and a concrete pillar.
"Blaming the driver is often not very constructive. Even a small child may be almost invisible to the driver of a reversing vehicle. Even if the driver looks in all three mirrors, there are often massive blind spots behind many large vehicles."
"The safest solution is a reversing camera, which shows the driver exactly what’s behind their vehicle."
Matthew-Wilson adds:
"You can buy a reversing camera for less than the cost of a cellphone. As with cellphones, the more you pay, the better you get, but any camera system is better than none, and most camera systems are vastly better than mirrors. You can fit reversing cameras yourself or you can pay an expert. The bottom line is: reversing cameras are as essential as brakes and headlights; they should be fitted to every vehicle, but especially caravans and campervans, which typically have poor rear visibility."
Matthew-Wilson advises that reversing cameras and beeping parking sensors work best when installed together.
"You often need a beep from the parking sensor to remind you that something’s right behind you."
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.”
