One thing that all vehicles have in common is that “blind spots” exist in the driver’s visibility.  The blind spots or blind areas continue to exist even though the equipment has mirrors as designated by the Federal Government and even when the operator adds on convex, or other enhanced mirrors designed to improve the driver’s view.

In 2001, when the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NIOSH) started evaluating promising strategies to prevent injuries to workers from being struck by construction vehicles and equipment in the work zone, a definition of blind areas was developed:

“For the NIOSH manual method, blind areas are defined as the areas where the equipment operator who is seated in the equipment cab, cannot see an object by direct line of sight or in the mirrors.”

Exterior mirrors are added to solve the problem of blind spots and yet the problem of blind spots still exists. Understanding why is important to arriving at a solution.

Click on our white paper on blind spots explained button to see our explanation of why this occurs and the extent of the blind spot problem left on various vehicles using contemporary mirror technology.

Richard T.Ince
VP Safety
M-C North America Inc.

Jason Enrique
Safety Director
M-C North America Inc.