Three years after a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officialtold me that the agency would consider permtting convex driver’s-side mirrors on vehicles, the change might finally be on the horizon.

Anyone who has driven a car in Europe knows these mirrors. In contrast to the United States, where vehicles must have flat (or planar) outside mirrors on the driver’s side, European cars can have convex, wide-angle mirrors on both sides of their vehicles.

What’s the big deal? With two convex mirrors, blind spots are virtually eliminated, obviating the need to twist one’s head toward the left when looking to turn left or changing lanes to pass.

The possibility has opened up in a recent Transportation Department rule making, in which the agency proposes making rear cameras mandatory on vehicles. Within the report is a discussion about the use of European-style convex driver’s-side mirrors as an inexpensive way to eliminate blind spots and reduce the chances of backover accidents.

A blind spot mirror on the 2009 Ford Edge.

The petitioners, which include General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, argue that drivers with convex mirrors on both sides will have a much wider field of view. The companies support the idea that the United States simply adopt the European rules for driver’s-side mirrors.

In the United States, drivers and automakers can install convex mirrors as long as the mirrors also have the required flat portion, as some manufacturers, including Ford, have done.

In Europe, either flat or convex driver’s-side mirrors are permissible, yet for all practical purposes, only convex mirrors are used. Having driven for years in Europe, I have never seen a car with a flat driver’s mirror.

The government argued in the rear-camera rule making that allowing convex driver’s-side mirrors was tangential to the issue. However, “the agency intends to re-evaluate existing side-mirror requirements (FMVSS No.111) to determine whether convex mirrors should be harmonized with European requirements,” said Karen Aldana, an N.H.T.S.A. spokeswoman.

I have fitted convex driver’s-side mirrors to three of my cars, buying replacement mirrors at dealerships in London (Britain’s dealers typically carry parts for left-hand-drive vehicles) and through a now-defunct English Web site. Replacement in all cases has been simple; you can typically pry off the mirror glass with a screwdriver.