I have them set to completely cover the blind spot–none of my vehicle is visible in the side mirrors. It took me a couple days to get used to it, when I first starting using this method, but I consider it far superior at least for the way I drive. I feel like I have a much clearer spatial
awareness with the mirrors set wide. It maximizes visual information by not including too much redundant info that is provided by the rearview mirror.
Well, I mean I adjust my mirrors using the following method, and it leaves my side mirrors with no view of my own car:
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OK, I think I understand the other point of view now! I guess there’s no right or wrong answer, but for me it’s a matter of (1) carefully adjusting my mirrors beforehand, and (2) “trusting my instruments,” so to speak.
ETA: I notice there’s at least five people now who chose “other” – would you guys care to explain?
Koxinga, Not to highjack but I was wondering if anyone tried the small mirrors that adhere to your existing mirrors?
I chose your curiously worded option 2.
Like others, I prefer to see a slice of car door in the mirror, and that was how I was taught (not that the teacher was correct).
However, the teacher also taught us to religiously check our blind spots every single time, and each time I find a car in my blind spot it is a surprise, but it encourages me to continue checking even more.
If I did the outboard-mirror-angle trick, I would either A) have to check my blind spots anyway or B) always have the nagging fear that I would lose the habit of blind-spot checking and learn the hard way in a different model car that had some feature that made the angled-mirror trick less effective.
By setting the mirrors to show a slice of door, I’m not kidding anybody: the blind spots are there and I must check them. Always.
Jesus rides shotgun with me. I have him handle all that accident avoidance crap. Hey, that’s why I pay him.
My fear with that is, let’s say someone bumped one of your mirrors in a parking lot (or a bird flew in to it, or it’s loose and it moved on it’s own, or whatever) and it’s now out a bit wider. Would you be able to tell? If I can’t see the very edge of my door, I know my mirror is set wrong immediately and I promptly make the adjustment.
I also chose #2 in the poll. But don’t like the way it’s worded.
I keep my mirrors so I can just see a smidge of my car. By moving my head a little, I can change the view a great deal. Move my head forward just a little, and it puts the perspective farther out into the lane next to me.
I almost always shoulder check. If I’m on the interstate and just passed a semi out in the middle of nowhere, I won’t.
Adjusting the mirrors too far out to try to prevent a blind spot can create other blind spots. It really depends on your car and driving habits.
I suspect that some folks adjust their side mirrors so that fully half of the mirror is nothing but their own car. I think it best to adjust so that if you move your head slightly, a little bit is visable.
You basically use your rearview mirror to help you figure out how to set your sideview mirror. You don’t want too much redundant information in your sideview mirror. Seeing the side of your car isn’t all that helpful unless you need that information to properly interpret what you’re seeing (which is completely understandable–like I said, it took a couple days to get used to not seeing the sides of my car in the mirrors.) However, when they’re set in this way, there is no point at which a vehicle in my merge lane is not visible to me. First, you check the rearview mirror. If that looks clear, then you check the sideview. The sideview gives you just the information of what is happening directly next to the car (and a bit of the other lane). It gives little to no info of what’s behind your car–you already have that info with your rearview mirror. By the time the car next to you leaves your mirror space, it enters your direct field of vision (i.e. you’ll see it out the side window.)
A side note…
I drive a Pathfinder. My Wife drives a Grand Jeep. These cars are of a similar size.
My Pathfinders mirrors are a lot bigger than the Jeep (20% ?). Makes a big, big difference.
I noticed this the other day when I had to take the Jeep in to get serviced.
About the shoulder check thing, isn’t it more dangerous to take your eyes completely off the road ahead as you whip your head back to check the lane you’re merging into? As it stands, I check my mirrors and then give a quick glance to the side, turning perhaps just a bit, before I merge. But if I couldn’t rely on my side mirror covering that blind spot, I’d have to turn my head almost 90 degress and basically look behind me toward my rear bumper in order to make sure there’s not another vehicle in that spot. That seems riskier to me.
Yeah… but it depends on the vehicle you are driving. My interior rear view mirror may not see the car 20 feet behind me on my left slowly creaping up to pass (I hate those folks that take 2 miles to pass). If I adjust my left side mirror too far to port, then I could miss the slow creeping passer and cut him off with only a few feet to spare.
I guess it doesn’t matter that much, I always move my head enough looking at the mirror to make sure there is no one next to me when I change lanes. And then a shoulder check.
The shoulder check has saved my ass a number of times. Especially when you are in a multi lane highway and two cars see that the ‘middle’ lane is clear and try to take it at the same time. Mirrors don’t help you out there.
Certainly a consideration. But of course there is a ‘but’.
But… If you are paying attention to traffic (not just following the car in front of you) and not following too close, a quick shoulder check should not be a problem.
Knowing where you are on the road in relationship to other cars is the thing. For myself, a quick shoulder check is not a problem. And as I mentioned earlier. In multi lane situations, where two cars are going for the same clear lane, a shoulder check can prevent an accident.
But… (another one) I understand where you are coming from re: taking eyes of the road in front of you.
IMHO of course.
Clothahump mentioned the fisheye type.
I agree with this. I lean forward and use the mirror to check for areas not apparent when in my usual position. I also turn and look if traffic is thick, or in areas where those speeding biker dudes are apt to be. They can sneak up on you in a hurry.
Yes. That’s what I mean by using the rear view to help adjust your side view. If you have a break in visual information between the rear and side views, then you should readjust the mirrors. If that means seeing the side of the vehicle, that’s fine. You just want as continuous a view as possible without any breaks.
I agree. Any time you’re changing into a lane bounded by third lane, you should check to make sure there isn’t another vehicle changing into the new lane.
I set mine so I can’t see the sides of the car, but on the freeway, idiots still sit off my port stern just enough so I can’t see them. OR they drive just far enough back so I can see them perfectly in my mirror, but they have their headlights on (when it’s dark) and it fucking blinds me.
I think the poll is poorly worded. I think the first option should say “I point the mirrors outward far enough that they provide no visual clues as to where I am looking - what does ‘looking’ mean?” and the second option should say “I point my mirrors so that my car’s image at their edge provides a proper, safe, wise, reasonable, well-thought-out reference to properly orient the viewer, who obviously cares about saving the lives of the innocent”. It would be interesting to see if the reply statistics shift in the slightest.
I’ve always set mine so that I can (barely) see the side. Then, after reading this thread last night, I thought I’d shake things up this morning and set them a little further out. I then promptly backed into the building at the end of my driveway when trying to back and turn out into the alley :smack:
I guess I didn’t realize how much I relied on the side-view mirrors in close-quarters backing-and-turning situations (such as the one I experience every single time I drive).
The mirrors promptly went back in, where they’ll probably stay forever.
Well, it seems like a lot of us acknowledge the existence of blind spots, eliminating option 2, but think that seeing part of the car gives the best view of the blind spot. Perhaps, there is no agreement about which spot is the “blind spot.”
Actually, for those interested, this Car Talk tutorial is a pretty good explanation of how to set the mirrors in the “wide view” manner. As Rand Rover discovered, there is certainly an adjustment period to setting mirrors this way.
The blind spot (for mirrors set up the traditional “see a bit of the side of your car way”) is right next to your car basically, about 1/2 car length back. It’s the point at which the car in the lane your merging into disappears from your rear-view mirror, disappears from your side view mirror, but isn’t visible in the merge-side window or in your peripheral vision, if that makes sense. You’ll see it if you look over your shoulder to the side, but you can’t see it directly to the merge side. This is a decent diagram.