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Past Issues

March 2006



 

Blind spots cause accidents and adding extra mirrors helps improve all-round visibility.

Trucks have much bigger blind spots than cars and most drivers are aware of this and compensate accordingly when driving in restricted spaces. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorists are not aware they’re ‘out of sight’ for the truck driver and consequently collide with the truck when it stops or turns. The Trysome Group, South Africa’s largest single source supplier of heavy-duty auto electrical components, has released a new blind spot mirror that promises to help truckers see where they’ve never seen before. Trysome marketing manager, Jim Blair explains.

Designed for use on trucks, buses and heavy duty vehicles as well as off-road vehicles in the construction and mining industries, the Safety Solutions mirror is said to be the key to ‘all round’ vision and therefore the safe operation of these vehicles. A set of wide angled, convex mirrors, when used in conjunction with a rear view camera, can eliminate all blind spots.

If you cannot see, you cannot be aware of the dangers that surround you. Among the operational safety goals of many transport companies is the assurance of three-hundred and-sixty degree vision from the driver’s perspective. There is a greater understanding of new safety benchmarks which can be achieved by combining rear-view cameras and mirror products.

Key features of the new Safety Solutions mirror are a shatterproof acrylic lens, which is aluminised and vacuum coated for longevity and scratch resistance, and a distortion minimising, non-uniform radius profile design.

They can be optimised for forward or rearward vision and fitted with the help of customised brackets and mounting fixtures designed by Trysome in South Africa to suit local applications.