Patent ID: 6871971

Claim:
A back-up mirror system to improve safety when a driver begins driving a passenger vehicle in reverse into a lane of cross-traffic, comprising: (a) a passenger vehicle, including a driver's side and a passenger side, said sides include doors, a rear bumper fixed at the rear end of said vehicle, a passenger compartment, a driver'seat, a window at the rear of said passenger compartment, and (b) a rear-view mirror consisting of a single optical element physically positioned with mounting means inside said passenger compartment in a location generally in front of said driver's seat row, said rear-view mirror's reflecting surface generally lying in substantially vertical plane and which reflecting surface faces generally toward the aft of said vehicle lying in a plane substantially parallel with said rear bumper, and (c) a back-up mirror consisting of a single optical element physically positioned with mounting means inside said passenger compartment at a location aft of said driver's seat row, said location also lying enough forward of said rear end so that a ray emanating from a rear bumper of an adjacent obstruction( 4 ) towards said back-up mirror position is blocked by said vehicle( 21 ) itself, said location also generally against a non-door surface of said passenger compartment's driver's side, said back-up mirror's reflecting surface lying in a substantially vertical plane, and which plane is also generally parallel with said vehicle's sides, all of whose relative physical locations and reflecting relationships form a physical structure wherein an image of a nearby oncoming cross-traffic object approaching from said passenger side and traveling in a lane of cross-traffic crossing behind said vehicle arrives at said driver's seat region via said rear-view mirror's image of said back-up mirror's image, whereby a driver sees a view of said nearby oncoming cross-traffic object, which information is needed at the moment of deciding the safety of driving said vehicle in reverse into said lane of cross-traffic, whereby a collision can be better avoided, whereby the back-up mirror element does not substantially obstruct existing rear-views through said window at the rear of said passenger compartment.