| As incidents of road accidents continue to climb, yearly, | | | | 2) Not all drivers can adjust, from the view of the road, |
| auto-makers have been scrambling to meet safety | | | | to the view of the mirror, quickly enough, on the fly. It's |
| standards, that seem to get harder, and more | | | | trickier than it seems to glance in a mirror AND react |
| expensive, to meet each year. Despite these efforts, | | | | to what you see before its too late. Let any driver |
| on the part of the government, and car makers, | | | | who has ever backed into a light post tell you, it |
| accidents continue to go up. | | | | jumped out at them. Most people agree that using a |
| This simply proves that we aren't doing enough for our | | | | proper screen to see behind you simplifies reversing |
| automobile safety. With car insurance premiums rising | | | | greatly. |
| each year, not to mention the death toll, it's clear we | | | | 3) Rear view mirrors have an annoying habit of |
| aren't doing enough. One safety enhancing addition, not | | | | breaking off. It happens in so many irksome ways, |
| usually bundled with cars is an aid to reversing safely, | | | | passing another car and clipping off each others |
| something that has been tricky for drivers, since cars | | | | mirrors, vandals, accidental damage from someone |
| were invented. | | | | walking by, distractedly etc. When that happens, what |
| Backup cameras on vehicles aren't, exactly, new but | | | | do you do? Resign yourself to reversing blindly and |
| they used to be pretty hard to get(and even harder to | | | | hoping for the best. Usually, you wouldn't have much of |
| have installed). These days, however, these safety | | | | a choice until you replaced the mirrors(which can take |
| devices are as cheap as ever and an important boost | | | | a longer time that you might think...trust me That's |
| to your safety, and peace of mind, while driving. | | | | where a well placed backup camera would come in |
| Even now, you might be thinking, isn't my rear-view | | | | very handy. |
| mirror enough? Is it really? There are so many ways | | | | Now that I've made my point about the inadequacy of |
| for accidents to happen, when relying on them for | | | | mirrors alone, I'll go into some of the pros of using |
| safety. | | | | backup cameras. As I mentioned before, the screen is |
| 1) They can move, meaning that even a strong wind | | | | easier to use than a mirror. Also, you can adjust the |
| can push it out of its proper position. Once this | | | | camera so that you have the perfect view of behind |
| happens, either the seconds required to fix the mirror, | | | | you, that you need to avoid mistakes. |
| or the consequences of not doing so, can be fatal or | | | | Finally, you can see more of behind the vehicle, |
| highly costly. If you think the cost is trivial because you | | | | enabling you to judge better and prevent serious |
| have insurance, think again. Accidents push your | | | | damage to your car (and an unfortunate fire hydrant). |
| premiums up. | | | | |