New cars in US to have rear- view camera as standard from 2018

All new cars in USA will need to have rear- view cameras as standard from 2018. This new rule has come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and will be applied in a phased manner. The agency first proposed this rule back in 2010 as a safety measure to decrease human fatalities.

The first phase will see ten per cent of vehicles to be equipped with the standard rear-view camera. This rule will be in place after May 2016. Second phase will start from May 2017 and will see 40 per cent of car companies lineup featuring this equipment and by 2019 all cars will have it. The agency has however exempted niche manufacturers like Ferrari from the first phase.

NHTSA claims approximately 210 people lose their lives after being hit by reversing cars. This is a great initiative the American agency but something like this will take years to be applied in India where manufacturers aim to give value for money cars and not very safe cars. But we could be optimistic about this rule being introduced in India.