New cars sold in the United States are now required by law to have backup cameras to avoid potential backup accidents since 2018. The new regulation is aimed to prevent backover accidents that kill approximately 183 people and cause more than 5,000 injuries every year. Children and senior citizens are the most common victims, as they usually cannot get out of the way in time. In fact, many automakers have already seen the value of backup cameras in enhancing driving safety and have made backup cameras available in their high-end models or premium packages long before the regulation took effect.
Even though many studies have shown that the effectiveness of backup cameras in reducing backover accidents is somewhat limited, most drivers agreed that the backup camera does improve their safety and is very easy to use. Accidents may still happen due to the negligence of the drivers, but the fatality rate was significantly reduced by about 30% reported by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The benefits of a backup camera are very obvious. It can not only increase your field of vision while backing up but also make parking a breeze of ease.
Due to the prevalence of the use of backup cameras, many aftermarket backup cameras are made available for older vehicle owners. The aftermarket backup cameras are just as handy as the factory-installed backup cameras and many serve not only as a backup camera but also a dash cam that can provide 24/7 surveillance to your vehicle.
Digital rearview mirror dash cams can not only serve as backup cameras but can also document the accident in the case of an emergency. The digital rearview mirror dash cams are equipped with every feature that a backup camera equips, such as the backup guidance lines (Note: this feature is only available if hardwired.) What makes a digital rearview mirror dash cam superior to most backup cameras is that it not only provides rearview footage while backing up but also while driving. As most drivers know that blind spots not only exist when backing up into a parking spot, it is equally dangerous for drivers when changing lanes or merging at a high speed. The real-time display feature of the digital rearview mirror dash cam gives drivers the ability to view the back traffic without any blind spots and thus reduce the chance of getting involved in an accident due to limited field of vision.
