Adjust mirrors so you see blind spot

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2005 (7637 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DRIVER training is a constantly evolving field that has to cope with the changes not only in rules and regulations, but vehicles and roads.

One such case is the requirement for a new method of setting the mirrors to replace that established more than 100 years ago when there were only two lanes, occasional traffic and slower speeds. The new method all but eliminates the dreaded blind sport, allowing drivers to remain aware of traffic in adjacent lanes on multi-lane roadways. It also allows a driver to keep his or her eyes on the path ahead — so important in today’s faster and more crowded traffic scenario — instead of taking them off the road to look back over a shoulder.

Proponents of this new system include most leading novice-driver training schools, the American Automobile Association, The American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Opposition comes mainly from those whose own training harkens back to an era of less-crowded roads, those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo due to costs in changing manuals and methods, and of course, those resistant to change.

The logic behind the new method is the same as that for requiring two side mirrors instead of one — more traffic travelling in a common direction. When there were two lanes and the only time you were adjacent to another vehicle was while passing or being passed, the outside mirror was set to show the side of your vehicle and was actually known as a rear-view mirror.

As multi-lane roads became more predominant, speeds increased and passing on both sides became commonplace. The result was a sharp increase in crashes, injuries and death as two vehicles travelling in the same direction tried to occupy the same piece of road. Regulations were changed to require two outside mirrors — but as with ABS and many other advances, currently licensed drivers were not provided with information as to their proper use.

Driver instructor training had all but ground to a halt, certainly with respect to new techniques based on factual research versus personal opinion, and thus new drivers were not properly trained. The Society of Automotive Engineers began testing mirror shapes and methods — with startling results and a recommendation for altering the way mirrors were set. Converts were constantly being surprised by the appearance of a vehicle beside them, having been alerted to the fact by the side-view mirrors. Thus aware of the other vehicle, they were able to avoid conflict.

How to do it? The traditional method of setting outside mirrors is to adjust them so you can see the side of your own vehicle. The resultant sightline does not include the space adjacent to the rear half of your vehicle. The new mirror settings move the mirrors out, bringing that blind spot beside you into the picture, leaving the rear-view mirror — the one inside the car — to handle, well… the view to the rear!

To set your side-view mirrors properly, adjust your seat to the usual position in relation to the controls and airbag. Lean to the left and rest your head against the driver-side window. Adjust the driver’s side mirror in the traditional manner — so you can just see the edge of your vehicle. Set the passenger side mirror by leaning as far to the right as you can while sitting in the driver’s seat — pretend to be in the middle of the car. Now set that right-hand mirror so you can just see the edge of the vehicle. Now resume your normal position behind the wheel.

Whoa! Hold everything! You can’t see the sides of your vehicle! Your safety blanket is gone! It feels weird — until you drive in multi-lane situations and suddenly become much more aware of vehicles beside you.

Get a friend to help and check it out in a parking lot. With the mirrors set the old way, ask the person to walk toward your vehicle from a spot perpendicular to the rear bumper. While in the driver’s seat looking straight ahead, yell when you first notice them in the side mirror. Ask them to stop and mark that point on the ground. Now set that mirror the new way and have them repeat the approach from the side, marking where they are when you see them in the mirror. Repeat on the other side of the vehicle with the other mirror.

You should be picking them up when they are at least a metre further from your vehicle than with the old method. If not, you haven’t adjusted the mirrors out enough. Look carefully at where they were standing with both methods. One was so close to your vehicle as to be useless with respect to adjacent traffic.

The new one is in a spot that would be occupied by the grille of a vehicle in the adjacent lane — one you couldn’t see before. To complete this mirror gig, ask the person to walk from one side of your vehicle close to the rear bumper. If you have set the side and rear-view mirrors correctly, you should be able to follow them from one side mirror across the rear-view mirror and into and out of the other side mirror. This broad range of vision allows you to deal with modern multi-lane driving conditions.

After teaching this method to thousands of novice and experienced drivers as well as driving instructors, I’ve never had anyone tell me they returned to the old method once they gave the new one a fair chance for a few days.

There is still a great deal of controversy regarding eliminating the shoulder check. But it comes down to semantics. Let’s call that last-second move an eye check or even a head check. Now that you can see beside you, with your peripheral vision keeping you aware of adjacent traffic, you only have to look to the sides when making a lane change, such as during a merge or passing manoeuvre, and even then you don’t have to take your eyes very far from the path of travel.

Other benefits? Older drivers and those with reduced range or motion in their neck will be much more comfortable. Merge lanes become easier to handle because you can more safely keep your line of sight to the front while being much more aware of traffic to the side. Motion in your mirror, caught in your peripheral vision, will keep you constantly aware of what’s happening in your traffic area. And as a bonus, the lights of the vehicles behind will not be directly reflected into your eyes by the side mirrors. The benefits will be appreciated the moment you realize you avoided an incident because you saw something you know you would not have with the old method.

Drawbacks? You can’t use the modern method if you don’t have a rear-view mirror or are driving a vehicle with no visibility to the rear through the inside mirror, for example, towing a trailer or driving a truck with a blocked path of sight.