Mirror positions
Discussion
LordGrover said:
I've just read an (American) article suggesting the way I set my mirrors may not be the best, see below:
Article here: click.
I think I'll try it before I leave tonight to see how it goes.
It's an interesting idea. I tried it for a while but I found it too freaky and returned to what I know. I can see what they're getting at though.Article here: click.
I think I'll try it before I leave tonight to see how it goes.
One word of warning from my experience - nearly caught me out somewhat scarily. If you're on a motorway/dual carriageway with another, perhaps larger, vehicle behind you, it will at least partly block what you can see in your internal mirror of any faster traffic coming up behind and outside you. In this situation, you may, consciously or subconsciously, be used to using your offside wing mirror to look for this traffic. With your wing mirrors adjusted as the article suggests, a vehicle in the lane outside you will be much closer than you are used to before it appears in the offside wing mirror.
Adjusted as suggested, your wing mirror is better at showing you what's in your blind spot, but will give you much less notice of the guy some distance back charging up the outside.
I use my near side mirror in the illustrated position, I drive for a long time on dual carriageways and I use that position of the mirror to easily see when ive passed another vehicle, it makes driving in heavy traffic much smoother and.. Well... Lazier.
I would do the same with my driver's side, but it won't adjust that far!
I would do the same with my driver's side, but it won't adjust that far!
Article says "Many accidents could be avoided if everyone had their car side and rearview mirrors positioned correctly, eliminating blind spots and making it easier to change lanes quickly".
I bet I can find several blindspots after the mirrors have been adjusted to eliminate them. Perhaps if the goal wasn't to change lanes quickly, ie plan ahead then maybe they wouldn't be having so many crashes on their multi-lane roads. Maybe overtaking on one side only isn't such a bad idea after all.
I bet I can find several blindspots after the mirrors have been adjusted to eliminate them. Perhaps if the goal wasn't to change lanes quickly, ie plan ahead then maybe they wouldn't be having so many crashes on their multi-lane roads. Maybe overtaking on one side only isn't such a bad idea after all.
That's the lifesaver.
No reason not to improve your field of vision using the mirrors though. I've tried it since last night and while I've not driven far, especially not on motorways/dual carriageways, I have noticed some benefit to slightly widening the angle. I'll leave it for a while and see if there is anything to report, to the good or bad.
No reason not to improve your field of vision using the mirrors though. I've tried it since last night and while I've not driven far, especially not on motorways/dual carriageways, I have noticed some benefit to slightly widening the angle. I'll leave it for a while and see if there is anything to report, to the good or bad.
I would say so, but I see many drivers not doing it.
I find it very un-nerving as a passenger and often do it for them
I cannot think of any reason why somebody wouldn't check before potentially pulling in front of a large lump of steel that could bump into you with some force or nudge you into the path of other traffic.
I find it very un-nerving as a passenger and often do it for them
I cannot think of any reason why somebody wouldn't check before potentially pulling in front of a large lump of steel that could bump into you with some force or nudge you into the path of other traffic.
Mr Grayson said:
The key for me is to adjust the mirrors such that a very slight movement of the head will bring the corner of my own car back into view as a reference. This seems to give me the best of both worlds.
Funnily enough, that is exactly what I've done. I like the ability(/comfort blanket?) to be able to check that my mirrors haven't been pushed outwards without my knowledge.LordGrover said:
That was how I interpreted it. If I lean back only slightly, I can see the sides of my car if necessary.
How much overlap does that leave you between the internal rear view mirror and the wing mirror?The Article said:
The paper advocates adjusting the mirrors so far outward that the viewing angle of the side mirrors just overlaps that of the cabin's rearview mirror.
I took that to mean adjusting the wing mirror out far enough that a car coming up my outside only starts to appear in the wing mirror as it starts to disappear from the interior mirror. Adjusted thus, I found the wing mirror quite a long way from being able to see the rear corner of my car - great for seeing in the blind spot, but basically zero use for anything else.What you and a couple of other posters have done sounds like it might be a good compromise, but not quite what I thought the article was getting at.
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