Tackling the driver side blind spot

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Caspeed

I understand the point you're making. But I think that when people refer to "the Blind Spot" they are generally refering to the adjacent lane not 2 lanes away.

OP specifically mentioned on-ramps, which is one of the places where the blind spot causes problems. I do a lot of driving on interstates, and I run into this issue quite often.

There is also another problem nobody ever discusses, because it's kind of complicated. But what the hell, I've got nothing pressing at the moment.

Peripheral visual perception in human beings is mostly based on motion. Something that is just sitting off beside us blends into the background and becomes "invisible" to our brains. Something that is moving off to the side, however, will grab our attention. We evolved that way to be able to quickly identify threats (such as predators coming at us from the side) and ignore insignificant items in our field of view that don't need us to waste attention on them.

The problem is that we evolved for that to work when we're not moving at 70 mph. When we're moving in a vehicle, our brains perceive another object in our peripheral vision moving at the same speed to be stationary. In fact, it is stationary, relative to our own forward motion. As a stationary object relative to us, our brains will often refuse to let us see it. This is something they teach you early on in pilot training, because planes have actually run right into each other in midair more often than you'd think because they didn't appear to be moving relative to each other, and the pilots couldn't see them even though they were in plain view.

So when a car comes up behind us, and we look at it in our mirrors, we can see it clearly because we're looking directly at it with our forward vision (which is based on more than just motion). When the car moves up beside us, we'll keep noticing it in our peripheral vision as long as it's moving in relation to our own car.

But if someone matches our speed and paces us just to the side and behind us where it's only in our peripheral vision, that car can easily blend into the background and become invisible to our brains even though our eyes can physically see it over there. The problem with the twins is that the position of the b-pillar obscures some of the peripheral vision and reduces what can be seen of the car pacing alongside in the next lane. Not only is your brain wired to ignore that object, but now it's even smaller in your peripheral field of view, telling your brain it's even less important. So even though it's a perceptual blind spot in the driver's brain, it's still a blind spot in the car's design as well. I suspect a lot of us have had surprise moments in this car where we suddenly noticed a car next to us that we hadn't realized was there or had somehow lost track of in traffic. "Whoah, where did YOU come from?"

The reason the Rexspeed mirrors help so much in reducing that blind spot is because, with their wider field of view, they keep the other vehicle in your forward vision longer, where your brain will process it differently. It makes it easier to avoid losing track of another car in traffic when you're dividing your attention between that guy back there and the traffic in front of you and the people on the passenger side also plus this other idiot weaving around cutting people off and oh shit there's a cop and is that bitch really putting on makeup while she's driving? Because of that b-pillar design, the curved mirrors really should have come standard on this car. Even with the Rexspeed mirrors, you can still lose a car into the blind spot in traffic.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I was waiting for someone to start this crap again. This car does have a huge blind spot, even when the mirrors are adjusted correctly.



The problem is not in the lane next to you. It's in the next lane over. If you go more than one lane width away, it is impossible to adjust away that blind spot.

That means on a freeway with three or more lanes, you can have someone pacing you two lanes over that you can't see. If both of you move to the center lane at the same time, the other car suddenly appears out of nowhere.

The same thing goes for on-ramps, which OP mentioned specifically. In most places in the US, on-ramps come into the highway at an angle. Until you're right alongside traffic, that extra distance over the grass between you and the travel lane puts some of those vehicles right in the blind spot. I've driven a lot of cars over the years, and this is one of the more difficult ones to merge into flowing traffic because of that huge gap in what you can see.

The only way to overcome that huge fucking blind spot that exists in the real world no matter how many people try to imagine that it doesn't is to glance out the window. It only takes a moment to glance back over your shoulder and back to what's in front of you.

ALL THAT paragraph just to defend you don't shoulder check correctly?

You wont even pass basic driver's road test in most of west europe or canada.
(No shoulder check is instant fail, you don't even need to complete the road test. They will just tell you to drive back to their DMV.)

Like I said, fail driver's ed = fail driver's ed.

[Vracer111]

These are my mirrors:



Better than stock mirror situational awareness with them even though they have less than half the surface area of the stock ones. Proper adjustment and convex mirrors FTW...zero blind spots. It's also nice to have full forward visibility with them out of the triangular window portion on the door (where the stock mirror housing actually blocks the view somewhat.) I always shoulder check as well after the mirror glance.

[mush]

ive been driving with proper adjusted side mirrors for years
the rexspeed convex mirrors makes it better. the blue tint is nice especially at night, headlights arent as blinding now

[mush]

double post

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

The only way to overcome that huge fucking blind spot that exists in the real world no matter how many people try to imagine that it doesn't is to glance out the window. It only takes a moment to glance back over your shoulder and back to what's in front of you.

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

ALL THAT paragraph just to defend you don't shoulder check correctly?

ALL THAT post just to demonstrate a lack of reading comprehension skills?

We actually agree that you have to look out the window. But you started that bullshit about having the mirrors adjusted incorrectly. The blind spot exists, regardless of how you adjust your mirrors. No amount of insulting "American driver's ed" (which you clearly know nothing about) changes that.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

These are my mirrors:



Better than stock mirror situational awareness with them even though they have less than half the surface area of the stock ones.

Too bad they look so ugly.

[Dake]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I was waiting for someone to start this crap again. This car does have a huge blind spot, even when the mirrors are adjusted correctly.



The problem is not in the lane next to you. It's in the next lane over. If you go more than one lane width away, it is impossible to adjust away that blind spot.

That means on a freeway with three or more lanes, you can have someone pacing you two lanes over that you can't see. If both of you move to the center lane at the same time, the other car suddenly appears out of nowhere.

The same thing goes for on-ramps, which OP mentioned specifically. In most places in the US, on-ramps come into the highway at an angle. Until you're right alongside traffic, that extra distance over the grass between you and the travel lane puts some of those vehicles right in the blind spot. I've driven a lot of cars over the years, and this is one of the more difficult ones to merge into flowing traffic because of that huge gap in what you can see.

The only way to overcome that huge fucking blind spot that exists in the real world no matter how many people try to imagine that it doesn't is to glance out the window. It only takes a moment to glance back over your shoulder and back to what's in front of you.

I hate to break it to you, but it's illegal in most states to make multiple lane changes at once. I'm not saying that everyone doesn't do it, but you can get pulled over and ticketed.

The proper way is to change one lane, then reassess from that lane before moving to the next.

Also, I may be wrong but I don't think anyone is recommending not doing any physical blind spot check at all.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Dake

I hate to break it to you, but it's illegal in most states to make multiple lane changes at once.

I don't mind breaking it to you that I said nothing whatsoever about multiple lane changes. Why are you bringing up something nobody has mentioned?

[Tromatic]

How f-ing hard is a head check? I'm a normal sized primate with a Marine Corps modified skeletal system and even I can take a look over my left shoulder to clear my lane without killing myself or others. Perhaps that comes from riding on two wheels as well, but it's not really that hard.

[slim blanco]

i'm usually good with just the shoulder check...the passenger side kind of sucks to see out of haha, but i've gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me as much anymore. i also got the rexpeed side mirrors and a convex broadway interior rear view. the mirrors help a lot, but i always shoulder check anyway.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tromatic

How f-ing hard is a head check?

Who said it was hard? Seems to me that most if not all of the people who have responded to this thread have said nothing of the sort.

[jbetanc]

these work, 9 dollars at pep boys

[frs10]

just drive really fast and nobody will be in your blind spot