Spillard News

Since 1998, Spillard Safety Systems of Gailey in Staffordshire has been the sole European distributor for the Mirror Lite range of convex mirrors.

Mirror Lite of Michigan in the USA now dominates its home market, having originally developed convex mirrors for fitment to school buses to ensure drivers had maximum rearward visibility and then worked in close cooperation with the US military to help improve safety on a variety of its vehicles.

In Europe, some doubts have been expressed as to the performance of the convex mirror because of concerns over the size of the reflected image. However, Mirror Lite has carried out extensive testing of its products at all stages of  development and concluded that the advantages offered over conventional mirrors in bringing blind spots into view far out-weigh any apparent reduction in hazard size.

In order to meet the stringent safety requirements demanded by US local authorities and the military, Mirror Lite products are manufactured to exacting standards using injection moulded housings, oval elliptical acrylic lenses, stainless steel fixings and removable bezels for easy lens replacement.

Although the quality built into the Mirror Lite range has resulted in a premium price, the company has experienced no trouble in steadily growing its market share. As one US truck company executive points out: “The cost to outfit our fleet with these innovative mirrors is minimal when compared with the cost of one avoidable accident.” 

According to Pete Spillard, “We could easily source a cheap copy of Mirror Lite but we take the long-term view that it is far better to sell a quality product incorporating nearly 50 years investment in R & D.”