NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) withdraws U.S. safety rulemaking to require convex mirrors on trucks to remove blind spots (Federal Register October 03, 2005 PDF Document). NHTSA claims this subject requires more research, this rulemaking was published in 2003 and any needed research could have been completed by this year. Most U.S. trucks already use fender mounted convex mirrors to remove right-side blind spots and new trucks in Europe are required to have convex mirrors by Directive 2003/97/EC. The U.S. should harmonize a convex mirror regulation to Directive 2003/97/EC to protect U.S. motorists immediately before more deaths and injuries occur. Australia is proposing a new harmonized rule and the comment period has already been completed. The proposed design rule for rear vision mirrors in Australia in Word Format.

New technologies now exist to remove the blind spots on big trucks. Unfortunately, in the U.S. the FMCSA has spent millions of dollars in a campaign to delay regulations that would require this new technology. The NOZONE Campaign blames big truck blind spot accidents on car drivers and does not inform the public that technology exists to remove blind spots from big trucks. They do not recommend equipment upgrades to truck drivers as a solution to the problem. One has to wonder whether industry donations to politicians have influenced the direction of this propaganda campaign. A true safety campaign would highlight and recommend all possible solutions to the safety problem, not just driver awareness. It is long past time to eliminate blind spots on new big trucks by requiring vehicle proximity technology in some form and enhanced mirror technology.