Another way to adjust your side view mirrors is to park in a parking lot with the front of your car facing into the traffic lane, with cars on your left and right sides and a car directly behind you with other cars to its left and right. Adjust the side view mirrors until you can see the cars on either side behind you. Note that you need to be in a lot with parallel parking, not angled parking, for this to work.
OK, I’ll give it a try. Unfortunately, I don’t do a ton of driving, and nearly all of my driving is on streets I’ve very familiar with. So there are limited opportunities for cars to “surprise” me.
And I realize that I turn my head while checking the mirrors - thereby expanding their view, and also shoulder check - so having a “blindspot” really has never struck me as much of an issue.
I think this is the critical issue.
When I was taking the motorcycle training course, the instructor (a retired CHP officer) told us we should see our shoulder or elbow in the corner of the mirror, as a reference point. The big emphasis in the course material was that there’s no substitute for a head-check (turning your head looking to see if there’s something that the mirror isn’t showing you). If you’re properly doing a head-check, then there really isn’t a “blind-spot” at all. If you’re just relying on your mirrors*, you’re doing it wrong.
Even my first (car) driving instructor emphasized constantly checking the mirrors and sides (as well as straight ahead) when you’re driving and not even planning to turn. He said he could tell if students were doing that right because he’d watch to see if they were pivoting their heads. He said it can’t be done by only swivelling the eyes in their sockets.
–G!
*Even with “blind spot” convex mirrors installed
My RV mirrors are out to where I don’t see the side of the vehicle; otherwise, there would be a huge blind spot. I’m not quite so meticulous with the car, as it has electronic lane monitoring and beeps at me if there is a car to either side and I turn on the turn indicator. Probably shouldn’t rely on that, though, as gee-whiz shit can go bad.
There is a little bit of overlap between my peripheral vision, the side mirrors, and rear view. If an adjacent car is in just the right spot I’ll see their rear fender in the rear view, most of the rest in the side mirror, and their front bumper in the corner of my eye.