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HGV Cab Mirrors & Glass

 

Mirrors are a reliant means for safety and accuracy, especially during the manoeuvring process. Due to the very nature of the crowded streets within the UK mainland, it is advisable to carry a spare mirror at all times, as the likelihood of accidental breakage by drivers and other road users can and does happen.

Mirrors & Glass 

Information relates to Mirrors and Glass, including fitment and maintenance.

  • Mirrors 
  • Glassware 

Mirrors – General 

Every HGV, LGV goods vehicle and dual-purpose vehicle must have two mirrors. One must be fitted externally on the offside and the other either internally or, if visibility to the rear is obscured, on the nearside externally. The mirrors must show traffic to the rear and on both sides’ rearwards. In practice, this means that (in most cases) two external mirrors are needed. They must remain steady under normal driving conditions. 

Regulation 33 Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 states that motor vehicles, except road rollers, shall be fitted with a mirror or mirrors according to their class and date of first use. Any mirror which is fitted shall, whether or not it is required, comply with any requirements of these regulations or EC Regulations applicable to that vehicle. 

Exemptions 

The following vehicles are exempt from the requirement to fit mirrors:

  • A works truck 
  • A track-laying agricultural motor vehicle, and 
  • A wheeled agricultural motor vehicle first used before 1st June 1978
  • If, in each case, the driver can easily obtain a view to the rear, or 
  • A motor vehicle drawing a trailer, if a person is carried on the trailer so that he has an uninterrupted view to the rear and has an efficient means of communicating to the driver the effect of signals given by the drivers of other vehicles to the rear
  • A pedestrian controlled vehicle 
  • A chassis being driven from the place where it has been manufactured to the place where it is to receive a vehicle body
  • An agricultural motor vehicle unladen weight exceeding 7,370 kg which is a track-laying vehicle or a wheeled vehicle first used before 1st June 1978 
  • A two-wheeled motorcycle with or without a sidecar attached

 

The following basic requirements are:

  • Internal mirrors shall have edges protected (for wheeled motor vehicles first used on or after 1st April 1969) 
  • Each mirror shall be fixed so it remains steady under normal driving conditions 
  • Exterior mirrors on a vehicle fitted with windows and a windscreen shall be visible to the driver 
  • Exterior mirrors less than 2 metres from the ground shall not project more than 20 centimetres beyond the overall width of the vehicle or the trailer if wider
  • Interior mirror and exterior driver side mirror shall be capable of being adjusted by the driver when in his driving position unless the mirror is a 'spring-back' type 
  • Mirrors must carry an approval mark 

Approval & Compliance - Directive 2007/38/EC 

There have been several changes to the legal requirement to install mirrors to commercial vehicles since the mid-eighties. Although the exemptions and requirements in general terms are listed above, the following is a general summary of mirror legislation, taking into consideration the legislation introduced on 1st April 2009. 

Subject to the type/size of the vehicle, there are currently 6 types of mirror which can be fitted to a commercial vehicle as per the table below. 

Mirror Type 

Fitment location 

Class I 

Interior rearview mirrors 

Class II 

Main exterior mirrors 

Class III 

Main exterior mirrors 

Class IV 

Wide-angle mirrors 

Class V 

Close proximity mirrors 

Class VI 

Front (Cyclops) mirrors 


Other factors which dictate mirror fitment are as follows:

  • Compliance with EU directives specified in the regulations is optional for a goods vehicle with a maximum gross weight exceeding 3,500kg first used on or after 1st April 1983 and before 1st April 1985. However, compliance is mandatory for vehicles first used after 1 April 1985. 
  • N3 goods vehicle first used on or after 1st October 1988 have to comply with the requirements in EU Directive 85/205 or 86/562 for an additional close proximity (kerb) mirror and, in the case of articulated vehicles, nearside wide-angle mirrors. 
  • Tractors and locomotives need only one external mirror on the offside 

Directive 2003/97/EC 

This directive introduced the mandatory fitment of class IV and V mirrors with improved fields of vision, and a class VI mirror giving a view across the front of the vehicle on new N2 and N3 vehicles from 26 January 2007. 

There is no requirement to fit a mirror to works trucks and pedestrian controlled vehicles as indicated in the exemptions noted above. 

Directive 2007/38/EC 

This directive has been issued requiring that all vehicles of categories N2 and N3 not complying with Directive 2003/97/EC must be retrofitted, on the passenger side, with improved devices for indirect vision, which fulfils the compliance with a reduced field of vision of 95 per cent and of 85 per cent for class IV (wide angle) and class V (close proximity) mirrors respectively. However, the directive does not apply to:- 

  • Vehicles of categories N2 and N3 registered before 1 January 2000 
  • Vehicles of category N2 having a maximum total permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes, where it is impossible to mount a class V mirror in a way that ensures that the following conditions are fulfilled where;
  1. No part of the mirror is less than 2 metres (tolerance of + 10 centimetres may be applied) from the ground, regardless of the adjustment position, when the vehicle is under a load corresponding to its maximum technically permissible weight; and 
  2. The mirror is fully visible from the driving position 

The EU Directive 2007/38/EC requires that as of 1st April 2009, all trucks over 7.5 tonnes and vehicles over 3.5 tonnes with the larger cab must comply with the expanded field of vision. The Directive can be viewed at the downloadable pdf file below. Images of the field of vision under the new directive as well as the old can also be viewed below. The deadline for retro fitment of mirrors was the 31st March 2009. 

Glass – General 

Regulation 31 and 32 Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 states that safety glass shall be used in all outside windows on passenger and dual-purpose vehicles first used on or after 1/1/59 and specified safety glass of a higher technical specification, marked with either a British Standard mark or an approval mark, or on a vehicle first used before 1/10/86, a French approval mark, should be fitted on the windscreens and windows alongside the driver on vehicles first used on or after 1/6/78. (1/9/78 for caravans). 

There are exceptions to the requirement to fit higher specification glass which include security vehicles and vehicles being used for police purposes, motorcycles, temporary windscreens, windows (other than windscreens) of engineering plant, industrial tractors, certain agricultural motor vehicles, windows of the upper deck of a double-decker bus, and windows in the roof of a vehicle. 

Visual transmission for light 

Regulation 32(10) Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 refers to:

  • All motor vehicles first used before 1/4/85 - 70% 
  • Motor vehicles first used on or after 1/4/85 - windscreen 75%, other windows 70% 
  • Trailers - 70% 

Maintenance 

Regulation 30 Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 states that all glass or other transparent material fitted to a motor vehicle shall be maintained in such a condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven on a road. 

The following link provides guidance and further information

Retrofitting Of Blind Spot Mirrors TRL (pdf, 1.5 MB)

Construction & Use Regulations 1986 – Vision 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/part/II/chapter/E/made