Can across this today:
tinyurl.com/y8jjxpy
I was taught to adjust the mirrors to show the side of the car, but this article is suggesting otherwise.
How do you guys have your mirrors set up?
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Same as you, SS, though I wouldn't be able to see the side of the car like they've got it, I adjusted it to show the side of the car and then moved it slightly away from me so the side of the car was just out of view...
But I also used to fit those little blind spot mirrors as well, though the last couple of cars I've had have had the outer inch of the door mirror "bent" to get rid of the blind spot, so no need for them now...
Edited by b308 on 15/02/2010 at 14:25
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I've been driving with them this way since i read about this tactic. It works pretty well, well enough for me to stick with it but with some caveats --
i wouldn't use it on a car without electric wing mirrors -- reversing is impossible with the mirrors this way.
i can never quite bring myself to maneuvre without leaning forward for a better look anyway -- even though i have proven to myself hundreds of times you couldn't even hide a cyclist in my blind spot now...
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Won't this stop you from not looking over your shoulder?
It seems it may put you into a lazy habbit relying on the mirror, just my input probably get slated now.! lol.........
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There's nothing more to see over my shoulder, maybe admire my treated leather seats all the way back there but that's about it on a big 7 series.
When it comes to observations, I tell myself I'd hold my own against the most anal observers BR has to offer :-p
Edited by CraigP on 15/02/2010 at 14:58
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I have the sides of the car just visible at the edge of the mirror. This is said to be incorrect but anything else makes me feel uneasy. Low-down visibility to the rear is bad in my car, but it has a device that squeaks when it draws near an obstacle in reverse.
Like a lot of recent ish cars it has thick screen pillars. They can hide one of these invisible cyclists quite easily.
It is prudent to expect pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles to materialise suddenly in the most unexpected places. But not even theoretical prudence can guarantee safety under all circumstances.
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How do you guys have your mirrors set up? >>
The correct way, as has been discussed on this forum previously, is as per Steelspark's link. The principle is illustrated for LHD countries in the link below.
pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm
www.healthboards.com/ubb/Forum113/HTML/001550.html
Edited by jbif on 15/02/2010 at 15:01
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Pretty much as that article says. My golden rule for mirror adjustment is to have them set so that there is as little duplication in the 3 mirror views as possible, therefore more of the road behind is visible.
This naturally leads to not seeing the sides of the car in the L & R mirrors.
Works for me. It does help that the near side mirror on my car dips towards the kerb when in reverse, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see the kerb so well when parking.
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>>They can hide one of these invisible cyclists quite easily.>>
That's quite an achievement...:-)
>>My golden rule for mirror adjustment....as little duplication...>>
That's exactly the method I've used for several decades.
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The side of the car should occupy about a quarter of the mirror to place the view in context, otherwise you can't accurately relate the position of objects to your vehicle. Always glance over your shoulder to 'fill in' the blind spot when overtaking - mirrors can't be relied on do it.
Edited by AlanGowdy on 15/02/2010 at 16:11
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The side of the car should occupy about a quarter of the mirror
That's a lot of wasted mirror real estate to admire some paint work! Would you not be better investing that real estate in seeing more around you?
You can relate objects in a mirror to their real world position with a bit of practice (e.g. combing your hair...)
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otherwise you can't accurately relate the position of objects to your vehicle.
Honestly never had that problem myself.
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I recently hired a Fiat Grand Punto and and a Pug 307 found that the now fashionable small rear windows and possibly the curvature of the interior mirrors made the view very limited. This meant that the reliance on the exterior mirrors was more important, fortunately on both cars these were a reasonable size.
To me the view using the interior mirror was like looking down a long tunnel.
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Adjust mine as per the article, discovered it a few years ago and much prefer it now. Theres no point in looking at the sides of my own car or duplicating the view of the internal rear view mirror.
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I've followed that advice for years, and suits me fine.
Only adjustment I had to make was to pull the passenger side in a bit, so the side of the car is just at the edge of the mirror. I frequently need to turn left across a fairly busy cycle lane, with a queue of traffic behind me, so I need to be able to see up the cycle lane in the passenger mirror. (The cars behind me block the view in the main mirror).
If it's set to "just overlap" the rear view, I can't see up the cycle lane without a significant head shift.
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>>..I can't see up the cycle lane without a significant head shift.>>
Then the mirrors aren't aligned correctly.
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best way to get used to mirrors is blank the interior mirror out for at least a month,this way you will depend on your outside mirrors and by looking over your shoulders
it will make you a better driver
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>>it will make you a better driver>>
No it won't. You would have an even larger blind spot.
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how would you drive a panel van then with no back window?
:-)
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how would you drive a panel van then with no back window?>> :-)>>
With the same level of frustration if, by any chance, the situation arose....:-)
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I adjust mine as per the article too. As I am hardly likely to be overtaken by my back door handles there is no point in watching them.
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I like to have my mirrors adjusted as per the link. The inconvenience is when manoeuvring, when it isn't possible to see what the side of the car is about to hit. Electric adjustment sorts that out.
I know a couple of caravanners who insist that they don't need extension mirrors as their door mirrors are wide enough to see down the sides of the caravan by turning them further inwards. They just can't see that the door mirrors should be adjusted outwards and the extension mirrors turned inwards to see behind the caravan. Bear in mind when overtaking a caravan without extension mirrors, the driver probably has the mother of all blind spots on both sides.
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There's a very good reason to adjust the door mirrors so that at least some part of the side of your car is visible. If the mirror were to be knocked off line even slightly, by a passer-by in a car park for example, you would not easily be aware of the fact that your field of view had altered unless there was a familiar fixed reference point - i.e. the side of your car. The location of your blind spot would have moved, perhaps significantly.
It's a safety issue. That's why the DSA in its official Guide To Driving states on page 65 that the side of your car should be just visible. My 25% was a bit excessive.
Edited by AlanGowdy on 17/02/2010 at 00:35
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Agree... I like the reference point too so see the car side in about 10% of the mirror view.
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If the mirror were to be knocked off line even slightly ...
This struck me as a (really) good argument, so i had to check it out in practice.
When i'm sitting in the car, mirrors adjusted to minimise blindspots, if i look in the rearview, i can see my neighbours driveway across the street. If i look in my side mirrors, i can see a little of each side of the driveway.
There is a continuous picture of their driveway expanding across passenger mirror, interior mirror, driver's mirror.
I couldn't find any combination of any of the mirrors where it wasn't obvious that this panorama had been interrupted.
I tried getting out of the car and back in and it was still painfully obvious something was wrong with the mirror when i had adjusted it out of line.
I'm not sold on this argument anymore :-(
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>> I couldn't find any combination of any of the mirrors where it wasn't obvious that this panorama had been interrupted.
Ah, but you were sitting in your driveway, in an environment that was very familiar to you. Try the same experiment in a random situation.
I prefer to play it safe and trust the DSA's view (pun?).
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