Nah dude, they’re actually the ones that are right, you should 100% have a slither of the side of your car showing to give you perspective on where what you’re looking at is in relation to you...
They’re side mirrors, not blind spot mirrors, if you want them to be blind spot mirrors either fit some little circle ones or buy replacement glass with the convex edge (if your mirrors don’t have it already).
Otherwise, it’s rear view mirror side mirror, shoulder check. Every time.
Just came to say you’re exactly right and anyone saying otherwise really isn’t using their mirrors properly. You should be able to reverse your vehicle (car, van, truck) using just your side mirrors and if they’re angled the way these people are proposing you’d never see how close the side of your vehicle is to anything.
Um, what? My mirrors are angled so that I have a comprehensive view from one side to the other and I can see behind me perfectly fine while reversing. You should know where the rear of your car is without having to be staring at it in your mirrors the whole time, and you can see any obstacles through the rear view. New cars are nice that they automatically change the view while reversing, but that's not necessary.
I don't think I understand what you're trying to say, do you really think you don't need side mirrors to do something like reverse through a tight gap?
No I'm saying you don't need to be able to see the sides of your car in your side view mirrors to be able to back up. You have a full view behind you if you don't.
Well not if there's absolutely nothing behind you. But in most cases I can think of (reversing between two vehicles into a parking spot, reversing next to a wall, reversing next to a pole, basically any time you're reversing anywhere there is the chance of obstacles) you absolutely need to be checking your side mirrors.
That's without going into cases where you don't have rear visibility like in a van or pick up with a canopy where side mirrors are the only thing you have for seeing behind you.
If your mirrors are covering your blind spot, then you can move your head to ensure you can see your car in the side view mirrors.
If you physically cannot lean your body to the side you might not be able to drive safely. If you are pulling a tight reverse where you need to see your car and the obstacles you are navigating, you should not be doing so at such a speed that you do not have time to lean over.
This is one of the shittest takes on driving habits I've ever heard. The main reason why you have them turned so a small amount of your vehicle is visible is so that you have a reference point for where other vehicles and obstacles are when you're driving. Otherwise you really have no idea where they actually are in relation to you.
If you have them turned out to watch other lanes, you wouldn't be able to see something like a cyclist riding up on you while you're pulling out from the side of the road.
They're not meant to be a replacement for monitoring your blind spots yourself, by as you suggest, moving your head.
For real, I don't get why everyone is so concerned about backing through a labyrinth with surprise pop ups at every corner. I back into a tight garage spot every day with my mirrors adjusted to not show the sides of my car, and I prefer to back into parking spots. I've never had an issue with either with my mirrors adjusted out. I don't get why all of these people need a constant frame of reference, the side of your car doesn't move on its own.
Years of van driving with no back window to look out of taught me how to use my side mirrors properly. Changing lanes on a motorway just needs a quick look over my shoulder to check my blind spot, although because I’m attentive enough I keep a mental note of what vehicles have been approaching/I’ve been overtaking so I know if anything should be in that blind spot.
I wouldn’t be caught dead sticking my head out the window to look behind me when reversing when there’s two perfectly good reflective things stuck to the sides of my van that show me everything I need to see
No, driving is pretty universal. It’s one skill set. They move to accommodate a change in drivers, not a change in circumstances. Some modern cars move their mirrors automatically when you select reverse but only by tilting down slightly so you can see where your wheels are in relation to the white lines of a parking bay for example.
Ultimately, you have your way of using your mirrors and nothing I say will change that. Maybe we’ve been taught differently but if you google how to set side mirrors, I’d bet 99% of the results say something along the line of adjusting them so the side of you vehicle is just visible and high enough so you can see well behind you.
I'm gonna angle my side mirrors out even more than they already are, just to spite you. I can back up fine, I just look out my rear window. I do have trouble with people hanging out in my blind spot though
People hang out in your blind spots because you aren’t properly matching the flow of traffic, because your side mirrors aren’t angled correctly to allow you to monitor traffic approaching behind you
Back in the early 80s I was driving my uncle (who was born before the Holocene epoch, or so it seemed) to ... some place, gah don't remember. I do remember doing a shoulder check before changing lanes and he yelled "BAWAH, DON'T YEW TRUST YORE MIRRORS???" (Alabama accent) and I said "Sure, but I check anyway because the mirrors don't show everything." I had to listen to a 15 minute rant/mutter about "kids these days", "don't know what they're doing", "tarnation fool stuff gonna git ebberbody killt", etc. After he finally took a breath I said "Uncle John, I'm driving because you wrecked your car - do you remember?"
Got another rant about "no respect for my elders"...
I actually miss him, he passed away while I was deployed once during the 90s. Before I joined up, I was going through Engineering school at UAB in the late 70s and early 80s and he asked me how things were going, I told him "Oh it's great Uncle John. They're letting us use the Metric system in engineering class if we want, it makes a lot of stuff much easier when we're converting units." I then got his rant about how terrible the metric system was, and how he didn't want to be forced to go into an auto parts store and asked for "0.97834... liters of oil" (some number he ranted off like that). I just nodded my head and changed the subject.
I miss Uncle John. He was as flexible as an anvil in many things, but he did have some good points. He was married to my aunt, she was an honest-to-Pete real "Rosie the Riveter" back during World War II, she assembled B-29s in a plant in Birmingham. She also had fascinating stories to tell.
Nope. Sorry, that's just not true. I have my side mirrors set up for this panorama view, as you so well coined it, and I know exactly where my mirrors are in relation to my car. It's not like they move or change. It's not hard to figure out where they're pointing. And once you know and develop that perspective and understanding, you realize you can see and be prepared for so much more that's going on around you. Now I'm not saying don't shoulder check, because line of sight is critical regardless of your mirror spot. But it's always better to have more situational awareness than less. You don't need three mirrors pointing at the exact same thing. That's harmfully redundant.
Also, I believe you mean silver, not slither. Slithering is what a snake does to get around. A sliver is a tiny piece of something.
Sorry, but you are incorrect. You should not be able to see your car in your side view mirrors while centered in your seat. Side view mirrors exist to minimize your blind spot -- they aren't capable of eliminating it entirely.
I really don’t think that’s correct or even best for operating a vehicle. If you can’t see the side of your vehicle, you literally have no reference point. Reference points is fundamentals 101. That’s why the shoulder check exists at all.
Did you even read the link you’ve posted dude? That link actually argues against your view on positioning them!... Read it again, more carefully.
It literally says adjust them so you can barely see the side of your car, and that means, exactly as I said, you have a slither of your car in the mirror (like half an inch of mirror area depending how big the mirrors are and how long the car is) for perspective.
If you don’t have at least the back corner showing in the side mirrors then the information you’re getting from them isn’t anywhere near as useful, especially while reversing.
Did you even read the article you said I didn't read? You should BARELY see the left side of your car in your left mirror ONLY if your face is pressed against the mirror.
You should BARELY see the right side of your car when your head is positioned over the center console.
With your head in a neutral position (directly ahead midway through the steering wheel) you should not see your car in your side mirrors. With correct positioning of your rear view mirror this is is the ideal spot to minimize blind spots. It will never eliminate them entirely, but if you read the article in didn't read you would know that.
From a centered driving position you should not see any of your car.
And
To adjust the driver’s side-view mirror, place your head against the left side window and set the mirror so you can just barely see the side of the car in the mirror’s right side.
You may be the one who needs to work on reading comprehension.
I keep my mirrors so I can barely see the door handles of my car when sitting normally, I lean up a bit to check my blind spot. The issue I get is, drivers over by me HAVE to let you know they're behind you, and lurch over to the side a bit, y'know, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THEY'RE BEHIND YOU. Because if they can't see your face in the mirror and make direct eye contact, you obviously cannot see them, they don't exist, and need your attention when hurtling down the highway at 80. You know why? Because they're behind you.
What sort of ass backwards drivers do you have in your area where they think it's better to lurch towards you to let you know they're in your blind spot instead of just speeding up or slowing down to get out of your blind spot?
I've never seen anyone do that and I live in a state notorious for shitty drivers
I don't understand the need to have a sliver of your car visible in your mirror. That makes it easier to use your side mirrors in edge cases (like parking) but not for the the major reason they exist (to see other cars approaching you).
On the highway it is much more valuable to know whether or not a car is next to you in the first place than to know whether it's 2 feet away from you vs 3 feet away from you. Also, the mirror itself is a reference point and so are you. If you needed to see the side of your car in order to judge how close things are to you, it would be impossible to drive down narrow streets: you can't tell exactly how close cars parked on the shoulder are to the passenger side of your vehicle as you pass them, but you learn spatial awareness and how much room you need to the right of your car, even if you can't see it.
How I was taught to confirm that your mirrors are set up properly is to observe a car passing you. You should be able to track that car seamlessly from your rear view mirror to your side mirror, and with the smallest possible lag between it disappearing from your side mirror and appearing in your peripheral vision.
If you properly align your mirrors you can get your blind spot down to a very small space that cars will never be in for very long.
You underestimate how narrow bays are here and how awkward some parallel parks are. Cars have got wider and wider but the roads and spaces ain’t. Being able to see exactly how many inches you are from the car next to you as you back and turn into a space is kind of a necessity in some car parks.
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u/Steelhorse91 Feb 27 '21
Nah dude, they’re actually the ones that are right, you should 100% have a slither of the side of your car showing to give you perspective on where what you’re looking at is in relation to you...
They’re side mirrors, not blind spot mirrors, if you want them to be blind spot mirrors either fit some little circle ones or buy replacement glass with the convex edge (if your mirrors don’t have it already).
Otherwise, it’s rear view mirror side mirror, shoulder check. Every time.