EU directive means up to 40,000 trucks may have to replace mirrors

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The rear-view and side-view mirrors of 30,000-40,000 Finnish trucks will have to be replaced if the European Union's "mirror directive" concerning heavy goods vehicles comes into force.
      According to an EU Commission estimate, the cost of replacing the mirrors would be at its lowest around EUR 150 per vehicle. This translates to a possible supplementary bill of EUR 4-8 million for Finnish transport entrepreneurs.
     
The mirror directive would only apply to those heavy goods vehicles that have been in the register for ten years or less at the time the directive takes effect.
      Vehicles on which mounting the proposed mirrors proves impossible would be exempt from the requirement. Furthermore, as some of the vehicles in use already have mirrors that comply with the directive, the proposal would apply to fewer than half of Finland's 91,000 lorries and trailer trucks.
      The mirror directive would come into effect progressively. Lorries registered after the year 2004 would have to have approved mirrors within a year from the effective date, whereas vehicles acquired after 2001 would be given two years. Vehicles introduced after 1998 would have three years to comply with the requirements.
      The directive proposal is part of the efforts with which the European Union aims to reduce the number of traffic deaths by half during the current decade.
     
Especially on the passenger side, lorries often have a blind spot, where the driver is unable see other road users. According to the justification section of the proposal, 400 people lose their lives in the EU every year in accidents where a lorry or a truck-trailer combination making a right turn or a lane change does not see traffic in the blind spot - usually it is pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders, or motorcyclists who suffer the consequences.
      In Finland one or two such fatalities occur each year, estimates the Finnish Motor Insurers' Centre.
      New models of cars have been fitted with acceptable rear-view and wing mirrors already from the beginning of this year, and from the start of January 2007 the requirement will apply to new lorries as well.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Millions of rear-view mirrors to be changed in EU trucks (13.11.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat