# Right side outside rearview mirrors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081 "2009-09-06T19:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FERPOSTEVE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6de8d8/32.png) [@FERPOSTEVE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FERPOSTEVE)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/1 "2009-09-06T19:53:57Z")
WHY DOES THE RIGHT REARVIEW MIRROR , OUTSIDE, NOT HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF GLASS AS THE LEFT SIDE OUTSIDE MIRROR? WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS USING THE RIGHT MIRROR AS OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR WHICH TO ME APPEARS TO BE UTTERLY ASSININE?:smack: IS THIS ANOTHER ENGINEERS NON AWARENESS OF THE REALITY OF THE REAL WORLD? THX ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/2 "2009-09-06T19:56:38Z")
I believe that type of mirror gives a wider field of view. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/3 "2009-09-06T19:58:42Z")
WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING? The off-side mirror is farther away from the driver than the near-side one. Therefore it will have a much narrower field of view than the near one. In order to give an adequate field of view, the off-side mirror is convex. This results in images appearing farther away than they are. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/4 "2009-09-06T22:58:54Z")
> [@FERPOSTEVE](#): > > WHY DOES THE RIGHT REARVIEW MIRROR , OUTSIDE, NOT HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF GLASS AS THE LEFT SIDE OUTSIDE MIRROR? > WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS USING THE RIGHT MIRROR AS OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR WHICH TO ME APPEARS TO BE UTTERLY ASSININE?:smack: IS THIS ANOTHER ENGINEERS NON AWARENESS OF THE REALITY OF THE REAL WORLD? > THX [Moderator note] **FERPOSTEVE** , please do not post in all caps. Many people find this annoying. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/5 "2009-09-07T00:18:24Z")
> [@FERPOSTEVE](#): > > WHY DOES THE RIGHT REARVIEW MIRROR , OUTSIDE, NOT HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF GLASS AS THE LEFT SIDE OUTSIDE MIRROR? > WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS USING THE RIGHT MIRROR AS OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR WHICH TO ME APPEARS TO BE UTTERLY ASSININE?:smack: IS THIS ANOTHER ENGINEERS NON AWARENESS OF THE REALITY OF THE REAL WORLD? > THX Poor soul. Such… agony… over a piece of glass ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/6 "2009-09-07T00:22:41Z")
Side question: What happened to the automatic decapitalization of such posts? ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/7 "2009-09-07T03:05:29Z")
The right side mirror on modern cars is a wide angle mirror because you have a larger blind spot on the right side of the car. They weren’t always like this (before the mid-90s, the right side mirror was an option and the further back you go, fewer cars came with them). My '75 Chrysler has a regular flat mirror on the right hand side. It was a factory option with a cable-operated remote control on the dash near the steering column. The key is to adjust it out far enough so that if someone is in your blind spot, you’ll see that something is there. You won’t be able to tell what kind of car it is, or how many people are in the car, but you’ll see something there. That’s when you turn your head to see what it is and speed up or slow down so you can change lanes. ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/8 "2009-09-07T07:31:34Z")
> [@](#): > > IS THIS ANOTHER ENGINEERS NON AWARENESS OF THE REALITY OF THE REAL WORLD? I’m more concerned about this line. Why is he accusing engineers of not having awareness of “the reality of the real world”, and if this is “another” example of such, what were the previous ones? ..I ask to no one in particular as I’m fairly certain the OP won’t return. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-side-outside-rearview-mirrors/509081/9 "2009-09-07T12:38:46Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > Side question: What happened to the automatic decapitalization of such posts? It appears that the presence of the smiley disables it.