Mirror broke: help company in the wrong, don’t know what to do.

Don't know about the hood mirrors you've used, but all the ones I've ever used they are so convex I get barely past the tractor before the reflection is so tiny as to be useless. They are simply not made to view "a view of the highway to the rear, along both sides of the vehicle"

 

and when he (or she) has an accident, because he (or she) couldn't see properly, the company will deny all responsibility, and bury him (or her).

 

True. But they can sure send him packing for not doing his job. It's like telling people to go as slow as they feel comfortable in the snow. That's the wrong answer. If you can't maintain a safe speed because you're too scared, then get TF off the road.

You should never feel comfortable. If you feel comfortable, you're stagnating. Push that envelope.

 

I was thinking about OP question earlier when driving and was like WTF would you just not drive and get the part? I still have not figured out why it is a big deal. I would assume that OP Drives when it is down pouring rain and cant see nothing. How about these whit out snow storms that we drive in. Just saying if I had my drivers side mirror out I may be able to see It a little bit but not the passenger side. Stay in the Right lane and truck down the road.

 

I was just referring to the legality part.
If adjusted correctly on my W900, I can see all the way to the back of my trailer even with the convex hood mounted mirror.

 

The toll booth from 280 to the turnpike in Perrysburg oh got me twice. Luckily just folded the mirror in. Pulled over and popped it back out. 2nd time was cracked though. Idk what happened with the op, but Jerry rigging something would be a good idea, at least to get a couple hrs down the road. The hood mirror might be enough to satisfy the letter of the law, bur who knows how a cop will interpret it. Setting aside the uselessness of the mirror.

 

Were you on the throttle leaving the gate and got it when the truck twisted?

I’ve had to take off slow out of a few narrow gates to avoid hitting

 

Maybe, or was just to far to the right. Don't like the booths lol

 

that still doesn’t guarantee trucking companies can’t fire or penalize a driver for what can be judged as “preventable”. The majority of companies are in “right to work” states, which means they can boot a driver for any or no reason at all.

I hate to say it but it really is preventable. The OP was correct in reporting the incident but still a company will do whatever they can to cover their behinds with the insurance companies. What is wrong us if a company coerces or orders a driver to keep going with an obvious defect that can be written up at the scales, especially if that mirror is in the rhs(blind side). In my first year of driving many moons ago I had an incident in which I was backing into a really tight unloading area and like the bonehead rookie I was at that time, managed to get the rhs mirror assembly wiped clean off, and being an old IH cab over I didn’t have the luxury of having a good mirror as backup. Definitely not safe!!.

 

So, what'd ya do?