re: #29 RadicalModerate

I can hear the “libertarians” screams of impotent anger already on this one with their “no government regulations!” and “nanny state” mantras.

NHTSA to require backup cameras on all vehicles

Don’t have the time to look over the wording just yet, but I suspect that this is likely targeted towards vehicles like buses and box trucks. Most consumer-grade vehicles already have rear-view mirrors that would satisfy most common notions of “rear-view visibility”, but buses or large vans/trucks with no clear LoS to the rear have to resort to a lot of mounted mirrors that are cumbersome and don’t always provide the best view, especially in squirrely atmospheric conditions. In these cases a backup cam is a low-cost measure that can dramatically improve safety.

When I bought the Prius I insisted on having them install a backup cam (I got one of the lower badges that didn’t come with it standard, higher badges have it as part of the software package on the console) because the car’s unique backend has really terrible LoS issues. They basically took the rearview mirror and camera system out of one of Toyota’s pickups and put it in there. The system’s pretty robust, even has adaptive low-light mode so that it still works clearly at night.