While there are many hazards that contribute to serious auto accidents in San Francisco and the Bay Area, the failure of drivers to adequately check blind spots is one of the more frequent causes. A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that almost a half a million car accidents per year could be averted if all vehicles were equipped with blind spot monitoring systems. Many collisions occur when drivers change lanes without turning their head and checking the blind spot.
Tractor-trailers are notorious for having enormous blind spots referred to as “no zones.” The size of a commercial truck’s blind spot is typically related to the length of the vehicle so tractor-trailer combinations that are the maximum length under applicable law have the largest blind spots. Tractor-trailer blind spots exist in front and rear of the truck as well as on the sides of the vehicle. This is the reason that tractor –trailers carry warnings indicating that if you cannot see the truck driver in the tractor-trailer’s mirrors the truck driver cannot see you.
While camera systems have been developed to improve the blind spot visibility, the cost of this safety feature has discouraged many vehicle manufacturers from installing the systems other than on high end makes and models. Mirrors on the typical passenger vehicle have a field of view of approximately 15-17 degrees wide, which is akin to the angle between two adjacent numbers on a clock. This means that passenger vehicles not only have blind spots on the side of their vehicle but also have only a narrow sliver of view of what is happening behind their vehicle. Although some mirrors can be made with a curve to provide a wider field of vision, this typically results in distorting the images and distances in the mirror.
A new type of mirror may help with the half a million preventable blind spot crashes that occur annually in the U.S. A mathematics professor at Drexel University has developed a new type of mirror that can provide a much wider view without employing the expense of equipping vehicles with electronic monitoring systems. The mirror provides better coverage without the sacrifice that comes with curving the mirror that results in distorting images in the mirror. The mirror surface uses an algorithm to focus tiny little disco balls that comprise the texture of the mirror. The mirror takes each ray of sunshine and bounces the light to create a wider field of vision without much distortion. The new mirror triples the driver’s field of view.
Unfortunately, federal laws governing vehicle safety mandate that the surface of all mirrors must be smooth and flat so these new mirrors do not yet comply with U.S. law. At the Law Office of Ian Zimmerman we are committed to vehicle safety measures that can prevent collisions resulting in catastrophic injuries and wrongful death. Given that this mirror technology is relatively inexpensive and could prevent almost 500,000 collisions per year in the U.S., we hope that federal motor vehicle regulators and the auto industry will embrace this new safety innovation.
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If you or someone you love has been injured or a loved one has died in a San Francisco auto accident, you should contact us as soon as possible because critical deadlines apply. Our San Francisco auto accident lawyers invite you to contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.