It’s been said that what begins in New York City will reach the rest of the country eventually.
With that in mind, it’s fair to wonder how long before municipalities follow New York’s lead in mandating that commercial vehicles have crossover mirrors installed. Crossover mirrors – those front-end mirrors that help drivers see over the hoods of their high-standing vehicles – have been common features on school buses for years, and for good reason. Children crossing in front of a bus are difficult for a bus driver to see due the height of the vehicle.
Image by David Reed from Pixabay
With that in mind, it’s fair to wonder how long before municipalities follow New York’s lead in mandating that commercial vehicles have crossover mirrors installed. Crossover mirrors – those front-end mirrors that help drivers see over the hoods of their high-standing vehicles – have been common features on school buses for years, and for good reason. Children crossing in front of a bus are difficult for a bus driver to see due the height of the vehicle.
City officials in the Big Apple applied the same logic to delivery trucks, tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles that navigate the busy pedestrian traffic of New York. The blind spot that hinders drivers of such vehicles has led to pedestrian deaths, and officials are correct in believing that crossover mirrors are part of the solution to help eliminate those blind spots. Crossover mirrors help drivers see any person who is at least three feet tall and passing as close as one foot in front of the vehicle.
The new law went into effect in January, and requires that crossover mirrors be installed on all trucks that:
- Qualify as a commercial vehicle, as defined by the city;
- Are registered in New York State; and
- Operate on non-expressway streets in New York City
In only 10 months, the law’s effect on commercial vehicle-pedestrian crashes is only anecdotal at this point, but I’ll be watching closely in the coming months for statistics that speak more definitively as to its impact.
From there, my guess is that it’s just a matter of time before similar requirements begin popping up in cities across the country.
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No other law firm knows trucks quite like us. Our trucking law expertise and trial experience allow us to win multi-million-dollar results year after year.
Involved in a Crash?
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