How to eliminate your car’s dreaded ‘blind spot’
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Most motorists are driving ‘blind’ when it comes to their car's mirrors.
A good number of collisions are caused by our lack of using the mirror, a simple device that has its origins in vanity.
If only we used our mirrors to look at others as much as we look at ourselves we could save ourselves a lot of trouble, money and even some lives.
Most modern cars have three mirrors. A rearview mirror positioned in the middle of the vehicles’ interior on the windshield and two side-mounted mirrors located on the leading edge of the driver- and passenger-side doors. These latter two are referred to as side-view mirrors.
Your mirrors are an important safety feature that allow you to see where and what traffic is doing behind and to the side of you. The intent is to prevent you from striking the side of an adjacent vehicle or from “cutting off” a passing vehicle. They are not intended for applying makeup or checking your teeth for foreign objects. Their sole purpose is to save you from a collision.
This raises the question, “Why do so few of us use them or know how to adjust them correctly?”
To use them properly, they first need to be set correctly.
The rearview mirror, which is usually adhered to your windshield, should be aimed directly out your rear window and slightly biased to the passenger side. You should not see your own head in the rearview mirror unless you suffer from a narcissism complex. Every driver should be checking their mirrors every five to 10 seconds to ascertain what traffic is doing behind and around them. Many rear-end collisions could be avoided if each of us checked our mirrors as we came to a stop at a traffic light, stop sign or in traffic congestion.
The most common mistake with mirrors is not positioning the side-view mirrors correctly. The majority of drivers like to set their side-view mirrors so that they can just see the side of their vehicle when they glance in the side mirror.
If you are currently setting your side-view mirrors in this position, you are missing the big picture. With your mirrors set this way, you will also notice you can see cars behind you in your side-view mirrors. You now have three mirrors showing you the same picture making two of them redundant.
Your side-view mirrors are just that, “side-view mirrors,” and are there to show you what is beside you, not what is behind you. To obtain this view, and eliminate your car’s dreaded blind spot, you will need to turn these side-view mirrors outward. The ideal way to have your mirrors positioned is as follows.
As a vehicle comes up to pass you in the left lane, it will first appear well behind you in the rearview mirror. As it progressively gets closer to you in the left lane, it will eventually disappear from view in the rearview mirror and, as it does, it should then begin to appear in your side-view mirror. For most vehicles, you will then notice that the passing vehicle will remain in the side view mirror until it eventually appears in your peripheral vision as it leaves the view of the side mirror. You have now eliminated your blind spot.
You should not be able to see the side of your car in the mirrors if set properly, hence losing your point of reference, but this is the safest way to position them. On another note, the passenger side-view mirror on most modern vehicles is convex in shape. This means that it has a curvature that allows a wider field of vision at the expense of depth perception. In other words, it is more difficult to judge how close the other vehicle is in relation to your vehicle. Because of this curvature the passenger side usually does not need to be aimed as far to the outside as the driver’s side.
Here are four more tips to help you set your mirrors properly.
1. Do NOT try to adjust your mirrors while driving. Wait until you have come to a stop at a red light or have someone help you adjust your mirrors in a parking lot. Taking your eyes off of traffic in front of you to adjust your mirrors while moving can lead to a serious crash.
2. To get a “rough setting” on your side-view mirrors, try this simple procedure. For the driver’s side, sit in your normal driving position and lean your head over so that your head just touches the driver’s side window. Adjust the side-view mirror outward so that you can now just see the rear corner of your vehicle. When you return to your upright seating position, you will not be able to see the side of your vehicle in the side-view mirror. This should be close to the correct position. For the passenger side, lean your head over to the middle of the vehicle and set the passenger side-view mirror so that you just see the side of your vehicle. This will get you close to the ideal location and now some fine-tuning is all that is required.
3. You will invariably say to yourself, “I don’t like this” at first. It is only because you are not comfortable with this new setting yet. A lot of this feeling has to do with the fact that you no longer have a point of reference when looking in your mirror. The rear corner of your car gave you comfort only because you were able to locate other objects in relation to your vehicle. Please have peace of mind in that you do not need to see the side of your vehicle during your drive. It will be still be there when you reach your destination.
4. Do not stop checking your blind spot simply because you have eliminated it. I know of some instructors that suggest you no longer need to do a shoulder check with your mirrors set this way. Not taking your eyes off the road to check your blind spot means always keeping your eyes on what the traffic in front of you is doing. Although this can be a good thing, not checking your blind spot can mean you may miss the vehicle making a lane change from two lanes over on multi lane roads. Continue to check your blind spots before making a lane change.
Give yourself time to get comfortable with these new mirror settings. Soon, you’ll wonder how you ever drove safely with your old mirror positions.
Source: TheStar
