How to adjust your outside mirrors - trust me.

I just bought some Very large wide angle mirrors and always check both first. Your system is also good, better than most. Turning your head and checking, AGAIN is always safe.

 

+1
I won't drive my car with out Very large wide angle mirrors, I am lost with out them!

 

Come to think about it I'm lost with them!

 

There is a clue here eh.
50 years of driving and you're still here. I believe that endorses your method rather nicely

 

I've stated this in other similar threads.
IMO and what I personally do....is BOTH adjust my mirrors "properly" (See Internet for Exact Instructions) AND also I use a blind spot mirror.

That way, I believe I have absolutely the best visible coverage from the mirrors. Even if I do lapse into old habits and/or the drive through car wash and/or someone in a parking lot accidentally bump my mirrors out of adjustment.

Using both, keeps me covered.

Perhaps like a lot of people, I started using "blind spot" mirrors when I was driving a truck with a canopy. Did not matter how I adjusted the mirrors in that case, I had a huge blind spot. A blind spot mirror was the only way to NOT have a huge blind spot.

My recommendation is always...adjust your mirrors properly...most people don't, AND use a convex mirror.

 

You should always always always do a head turn as a final check. I believe that it is still a requirement to do so on the driving test, at least in California. Relying solely on your mirrors (or the backup camera) is not smart or safe.

 

I use this mirror method too...little learning curve....then loved it!

 

I adjust the mirrors (with mini convexed attached mirrors) before I head off to drive. I also employ the "SIPDE" technique used by motorcylists. SIPDE = Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute. I do this cycle every 10 - 15 seconds using all the mirrors to assess the ever changing traffic conditions. This works well on the bike, as I use this technique every 8 - 10 seconds. Getting into this habit, gets me out of a lot of tight traffic issues and has saved my butt many times over.

DBCassidy

 

it's very difficult to see over your right shoulder in a prius.

 

I find that I mostly ignore the backup camera because I find the fisheye distortion disorienting. I just put my right arm on the passenger seat and look out the back the way I always have.

 

On multilane roads and freeways, a glance over the shoulder tells you if another driver is starting to move into the lane you are planning to enter from the second lane over. That car would never show in your mirrors. As to the method of setting mirrors in the opening post, I whole heartedly agree, and have been using this method for years. Re rearview cameras, having had them on two cars now over 7 years, the screen is the last place I look, and sometimes forget it altogether. Checking and rechecking over the shoulders while backing is such an ingrained habit..... Having said that, I do like the camera when parallel parking to show the approximate distance to the car behind. It would help if it had the lines superimposed over the pavement the way some other cars do.

 

I don't see a need to see even a sliver of the car in the side mirrors. Set them out far enough to nearly eliminate the overlap with the center mirror, but don't leave enough gap for a motorcyclist to hide (unless he's leaning right on the rear quarter panel).

I started this many decades ago, within weeks of moving from a rural area with few multilane roads to this urban zone full of them. My eyes had serious problems with the continual headlight glare at night in the left mirror. Pointing the mirror out sharply cut that problem. Then I noticed it also improved side vision, and inspiration struck to do the other side too.

Keep doing the shoulder checks. There is nothing wrong with redundant information. Humans are naturally prone to error, and redundancy catches some of those errors and oversights.

 

I heard about this method quite a few years ago from the guy who invented the wide angle passenger side mirror. I don't remember what program it was on, but he said this is the way the mirror was designed to be adjusted and it would eliminate blind spots this way. BUT...

There is a slight caveat here. He described the adjustment procedure slightly differently than in this post. He said the correct way to adjust the side mirrors is to move your head to the driver's door until it just touches the window pane, then adjust the left mirror out until you can just barely see the side of the vehicle on the inner edge. Then move your head to the center of the vehicle and adjust the passenger's side mirror outward until you can just barely see the side of the car on the inner edge of the mirror.

If you do this adjustment in quite a few cars without moving your head to the sides first, you'll find (hopefully without incident) that you do still have some small blind spots at the extremes. If you do it by moving your head as this guy described, those blind spots will be eliminated completely on many vehicles (but I find they will still exist in others, and in some cars the mirrors won't actually even adjust out that far in the first place for me). If they're adjusted properly, you won't see ANY of your own vehicle in either side mirror while sitting in the center of the driver's seat. It's unnerving at first, but if you observe carefully while driving, vehicles (even motorcycles) will appear in the side mirror at the same instant they disappear from the rear view mirror.

As always, I still advocate craning your neck and LOOKING before you actually undertake any lane changing maneuver, because even properly adjusted mirrors can still leave some tiny blind spots at various points in some cars, and it isn't worth risking other people's safety just so you can avoid turning your head a few extra degrees a few dozen times a week.

 

Well said, babybird. From your avatar I would guess that you are in the livery business. Am I right?

 

I used to be when I lived in Arizona-- I was one of the best according to several of the other chauffeurs I'd meet and several of my clients.

I really miss that work a lot. I moved back to Colorado to be close to my parents (both about 80 years old now) a few years back (in the midst of the beginning of the economic collapse), so now I just deliver pizza which is how I became a Prius convert.

 

Perhaps it is just me, but I do not think that there is only one right way, but rather a right way for a specific driver given their specifics (driving experience, car, where they are driving, health issues, etc.). What you really need is to know that whatever way you do it a given lane is clear when you pull into it. Personally I'll never stop checking over my shoulder as I'm a firm believer that it gives me a better understanding of all that is happening around me. Given how people drive these days knowing that a specific spot is clear on a given instant in time is just part of the picture - in the second or two that can change.

 

your EYE has blind spots. Always double check.

Here is click and clack's method: Avoiding The Blind Spot | Car Talk

p.s. Please, don't trust the OP; test your mirror settings for yourself (sit in your car and have your kids play hide and seek in your blind spots).