New rear visibility regulations will make cars safer to be around

In what I think is an under-reported story, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final rule requiring rear visibility technology in all new vehicles under 10,000 pounds by May 2018.

It's hard to say how much this rule will help your average adult cyclist (backing up fatalities are only about 1% of all bike fatalities), but it is a much larger factor in fatalities involving child cyclists. 

On average, there are 210 fatalities and 15,000 injuries per year caused by backover crashes. NHTSA has found that children under 5 years old account for 31 percent of backover fatalities each year, and adults 70 years of age and older account for 26 percent.

 And, it may be a bigger problem than thought because many of these are not reported in FARS data

While the FARS database is a census of motor vehicle crashes, it only catalogues crashes that are related to a public road. If a fatal crash occurs entirely on private property, (e.g., in a driveway, parking lot, on a farm) it will not be included in the FARS, in accordance with the criteria defining FARS cases. Likewise, if a motor vehicle related injury or property damage only crash occurs, several factors may cause the case to not appear in any database. These include the lack of a police report, a lack of insurance involvement, and a lack of documentation regarding medical treatment. In addition, NASS-GES does not include certain cases because they do not fit the definition of a traffic crash. Thus, we not only lack information regarding backover fatalities, but also backover crashes occurring on private property that result in injuries and property damage

So the number of cyclists deaths from car collisions are unreported every year because they don't include this kind of crash. But these new rules are expected to reduce the number of backover crashes and that's good news. 

Including vehicles that already have systems installed, 58 to 69 lives are expected to be saved each year once the entire on-road vehicle fleet is equipped with rear visibility systems meeting the requirements of today's final rule.

Comments

[charlie]

Very much disagree. Rear cameras don't help with spotting bikes; and the new NHTSA regs are creating massive C pillars and small rear windows on cars.

There is some interesting stuff on the horizon -- making the rear visor a LCD display and and so, but the reality is the new rules are going to make rear visibility and the greenhouse worse.

[washcycle]

Rear cameras help with spotting bikes when you're backing up, which is what these are for. And what the post was about. I'm not sure why you think that giving drivers more information about what is behind them won't help them spot bikes, but the NHTSA disagrees. Perhaps there is some research out there that contradicts this that you know of?

Your criticism seems to be that these regs don't solve problems they aren't designed to solve and that other, unrelated regs are bad. Both those comments seem to be off-target.

And I have no idea how any of this will make the greenhouse worse. That seems way way off target.

[charlie]

The "greenhouse" is a semi-technical term like "cockpit" for bikes. It refers to the overall glass space in the car. More greenhouse = more and better visibility.

There is a long commentary on various auto sites on this, and in general the various safety regs of the last 15 years have decreased rear visibility (beltlines, rollover standards) with bad effects for other people on the road - whether cars, bikes or pedestrians.

[washcycle]

OK, but that doesn't sound like it's related to this reg.

[Smedley Burkhart]

These things only turn on when the vehicle is in reverse, no? The rest of the time, the dashboard display is showing text message or Facebook or something to fend off the ennui of operating a motor vehicle under 10,000 lbs. Not clear to me how this affects anything but parking lot and driveway safety.

[washcycle]

Right. That's all it does. Still some cyclist die in those kinds of crashes.

[DE]

Taxi almost backed into me the other day after it parked in a crosswalk. Perhaps this isn't a complete cure for idiocy, but it could help some.

[elizqueenmama]

Rear cameras are nice and useful. But I drive a Honda Odyssey (when I'm not on my Xtracycle Edgerunner), and it has one of the best camera/visibility features I've ever seen. When the right indicator is turned on, a view from a rear facing camera on the outside of the right side mirror is shown. It shows the blind spot on the highway, sure, but it also clearly shows the bike lane/bikes coming up the side, as well as the sidewalk if you're on a small street. It is an AMAZING camera view that really would prevent accidents. I think that THIS is what should be required in all cars. http://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2014/Odyssey/features/Honda-LaneWatch/4