I pretty much agree with this. Are you tall? That seems to make a difference.
Though you should adjust your mirrors to do their best. There is always a blind spot. I’m on my 8th car/truck/SUV. Never had one without a blind spot. If nothing else I have to bend forward and to the side and check the mirrors. I usually do that and a quick glance to the side.
Like I said, I do a peripheral check out of the corner of my eye, but setting the mirrors wide does eliminate the blind spot on most vehicles. Look at the Car Talk article I linked to.
Or here’s a better article from Car & Driver. Note: “The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) published a paper in 1995 suggesting how outside mirrors could be adjusted to eliminate blind spots.” and “But when correctly positioned, the mirrors negate a car’s blind spots. This obviates the need to glance over your shoulder to safely change lanes as well as the need for an expensive blind-spot warning system.”
I’m surprised it took them that long to figure out. That’s how I’ve always set the mirrors, and I’ve never come close to getting into an accident while changing lanes.
That’s still more than “a tad too narrow.” You actually go a bit farther out from the side of your car before you truly create a continuous image from left mirror, to rear mirror, to side mirror. It does take some getting used to, as I said above, but if you do get used to it, it gives you complete information of your surroundings. The only issue is vehicles that are two lanes over possibly merging into the lane you are merging into. That’s when I may do a shoulder check, if there is a danger of that.
Any pilots here? ISTM people who cannot grasp the idea of setting car mirrors wide would have no business trying to fly a plane: they’re demonstrating a fundamental inability to trust the instruments at their disposal.
Not to interrupt between you and HMS, but in my 2006 Pathfinder I have one. The driver’s side mirror will not adjust out far enough to see someone right next to you just out of your peripheral vision. Say just at the left side passenger door. Adjusted out as far as it goes, I can watch someone passing me, and they disappear. I can see them if I shoulder check.
Now, I’m talking highway driving, where we have 12 foot wide lanes, so we might have a good 6-7 feet between the cars.
This has been the case for pretty much all the cars I’ve owned and rented. But It may be because I need to put the seat at the most rear position.
Sometimes the instruments don’t work. I’d be glad to trust them if I could set them to where I can see where I need to.
It’s correct as far as it goes, but it’s not a complete answer. It’s a preliminary adjustment. Almost always it will be necessary to make further adjustments to ensure that there’s always some portion of the passing vehicle visible from rearview mirror to side mirror to peripheral vision.
I need to do this. My side mirrors actually won’t move out enough to get rid of the blind spot.
While I agree it’s wise to make the shoulder check, I can’t agree there’s no point in setting the mirrors as we’ve described. If they’re set properly, often a quick sideways glance will reveal there is a car in the way when one is contemplating a lane change, in which case there’s no need to take eyes off the road for a shoulder check. This can save a lot of head spinning in certain types of traffic. If the glance shows nothing, then one can proceed with the shoulder check and lane change.
I’ve never owned a car that could do that with the seat adjusted all the way back. At least on the highway. I don’t do much city driving nowadays. One thing to note is that the B pillar often blocks peripheral vision with the seat moved back.
Which is what I do. I just have never been able to get mirrors adjusted to the point that I am sure there is nothing there. Like a motorcycle.
Looking at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) link ProJammer gave, I took your second option to be roughly Figures 2 and 5 in that link, with no choices corresponding to Figures 1 and 4. No side mirror views with your first option, or “exactly the same as rear view mirror” are shown there.
Yeah, this is why I can’t get onboard with the whole “right” way to set the mirrors thing. It depends on the driver and the vehicle. I’ve never tried it with the seat all the way back. I can’t drive that way. I drive probably with the seat midway, or possibly slightly closer to the steering wheel than midway. The “right” way is the way that is right for you and keeps you from hitting cars in the lanes next to you. If you can’t keep a continuous line of vision, or you have difficulty with spatially understanding mirrors that are set wide, that’s not the “right” way for your situation.
I just checked earlier today how far off the “sliver of side” setting my mirrors are. It’s quite a bit. I have to move my head about 1-1 1/2 feet to the right, so my head is basically smack dab above the center console of the car, before I can see a sliver of my car in the passenger side view mirror. So it’s not just set just past where I see the side of my car. It’s a good bit past that.
Yep. Perhaps many people set their side mirrors to see behind them. That’s wrong IMHO, but to say that if you set your mirrors ‘correctly’ you will see everyting is just wrong.
I just checked in my Pathfinder. With my mirror adjusted to the most outside looking at the lane to my left, if I move my head to the left an inch, I can see the side of my car. That’s with the seat all the way back. Perhaps bad design..
And we now have adjustable peddles that let the driver sit further from the stearing wheel, like it should be with air bags.
Never had and accident in 37 years of driving, but when these web sites talk about adjust your mirrors and you will see everything, really, really bugs me.
They. Are. Wrong.
Go to a parking lot and pull up beside a parked car. Looking straight forward, pull forward until you can no longer see that car in your peripheral vision. The other car is now in your blind spot. Adjust the mirror so you can see that car. No part of your car is now visible in the mirror.
this does NOT work for hiway driving where the lanes are 12 feet wide.
I believe the Illinois area highway lanes are 12’. They work for me there. Once again, I think it depends on a number of factors, but I can continuously follow a vehicle from my rear view mirror to my side to it being outside the window and being visible in my direct vision. I checked this today as I was driving. In fact, by the time an average sized vehicle has left the side view mirror, it’s not a matter of peripheral vision, but I see it when I look at the sideview mirror. The peripheral check is for small vehicles (usually motorcycles.)
I agree. It really depends on your car and how you can see out of it.
All I’m asking is go to a parking lot and try the test. Position yourself to simulate a 12’ wide lane.
Granted, having 360 degree mirror + visual coverage may not be possible in every style of car, but proper mirror positioning can eliminate a lot of head-swiveling.
While I’m still parked, I look in my rear view mirror and pick a landmark that’s at the very far left of that field of view. I then push my left side mirror out until its field of view is just covering the same landmark on its right edge. After adjusting my right side mirror similarly, I now very nearly have a 360 degree field of vision – I don’t need to turn my head when changing lanes, but just take a quick glance to the right with my head facing forward – the very narrow remaining blind spot will fall within my peripheral vision that way.
It may not work for everyone, but anyone who protests the above method is “wrong”–confusing, disorienting or incomprehensible–shouldn’t be driving, I still maintain. But don’t tell my wife I said that about her.
Of course I’ve got convex bubbles to deal with the blind spot.