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Rear-View Cameras On Cars Could Become Mandatory In the US
According to the Los Angeles Times, "The federal government wants automakers to install back-up cameras in all new vehicles starting in late 2014. The plan, announced Friday, received a strong endorsement from insurance industry and other analysts and is likely to get some level of support from car manufacturers. ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that, on average, 292 fatalities and 18,000 injuries occur each year as a result of back-over crashes. The agency said children and the elderly were the most common victims. About 44% of the fatalities in such accidents are children and 33% are people over 70, it said. NHTSA said its proposal was designed to keep drivers from running over pedestrians who might be crossing behind their vehicles. It could also prevent parking-lot bumper thumpers. The camera systems show motorists what's behind them via a video display on the dashboard. They typically feature a bell or alarm that alerts the driver if an object is within the camera's field of view."
Will they now ban all existing cars so we have to buy shiny new ones?
No. About twenty years ago they issued a similar mandate for a brake light at or near the bottom of the back windshield (before that, almost no cars had them). The automakers said fine, give us 6-9 months to integrate it into our designs and manufacturing process, the government said OK and that was that. Probably has helped prevent a lot of rear-end collisions, especially on the highway when cars stop suddenly for an obstruction. At any rate, clearly a good bang for the buck. The older cars w/o the extra light were grandfathered and have gradually disappeared from the road.
Why not simply mandate minimum rear visibility standards? Style has shrunk rear and side windows in many new cars. Sit in a car from the 90's or earlier and there is a huge improvement in rear visibility.
Home Theater in the dash is illegal. Video viewable from the drivers seat is illegal.
Rear view camera would probably be enabled only when you back up. That is how mine works anyway. The rest of the time, the display functions as my radio controls and/or my GPS. And the GPS controls are also not usable while driving. There is an override, so a passenger can use it, but the key sequence of the override is so complicated only a passenger could possibly enter it correctly.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I'm a truck driver, so I'm very used to just relying upon my side mirrors only (I may be biased here). In my opinion, the rear view mirror in the car is a little bit of a crutch to help out people who don't know what the hell is behind them. The side mirrors are _the_ things you look at when reversing - the centre mirror is essentially useless.
You can't eliminate blind spots... there will always be places you can't see. Basically, my advise is double check everything. Look at your mirror, then look over your shoulder. Look twice at everything.
One thing that does piss me off is people walking directly behind my truck or van when I'm reversing somewhere. Seriously.... I know there's a person there, but I've got zero idea where the fuck they are. I'm not going to carry on reversing and hope that the person behind my truck knows to get out the way... 99.9% of the time they will understand the reversing, but there's that 0.1% where someone doesn't get it. So I have to get out and tell them...
As an aside, I hate those signs saying stuff like "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". They imply that if you can see the mirrors, then the driver can see you, which is absolutely not the case. Passenger side, turning in hard, trucks can't see anything in the mirrors. That's why cyclists should _never_ undertake trucks... I'm not talking about who is in the right or wrong, just about potential outcomes.
Weirdly, I've just got loaned a BMW 120i, and have had it for 3 months or so, which I can't park for crap. I can't even reverse straight consistently, because of the crap mirrors... yup, honestly, I find reversing a 50 foot articulated truck more intuitive than this damn car. I look like a complete driving n00b :P