Convex Mirrors are commonly used to improve visibility of pedestrians and vehicles in a variety of areas including warehouses, driveways and parking areas.
While convex mirrors may be appropriate for some low speed applications, they are not appropriate for use on public ways. Some of the issues with the use of convex mirrors include:
• Mirrors do not function well at night, they can be difficult to see and light from vehicles in various directions.
• Mirrors do not work in poor weather, including rain snow and ice events. Weather may also knock the mirror out of alignment.
• Mirrors distort the image, speed and distance of the oncoming traffic.
• Mirrors invert the image.
These issues make it easy for road users to misinterpret the image provided by the mirror. For these reasons among others, Public Works does not recommend the installation of convex mirrors for use on public ways.
