Tackling the driver side blind spot

[Dake]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

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?

Your diagram shows a vehicle in a blind spot TWO lanes over. Executing a legal lane change would move that vehicle into the view of a properly adjusted mirror.

Again, it's not a big deal, but since someone went to the trouble of drawing up that fancy diagram, it's important to point out it's not the car's fault you can't see someone two lanes away. Ultimately the head check is an integral part of a safe lane change and should register that other vehicle anyway.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Dake

Your diagram shows a vehicle in a blind spot TWO lanes over. Executing a legal lane change would move that vehicle into the view of a properly adjusted mirror.

Or you could go back and actually read what I wrote, where I mentioned that if you and a car in that blind spot both attempt to take the center lane at the same time, you risk trading paint.

Or you could also go back and read the part about how the blind spot comes into play on entrance ramps, which come into the highway at an angle and therefore put part of the travel lane right into the blind spot of this car.

What you're doing is called a "straw man." That's where you make up some bullshit nobody tried to argue, attribute that bullshit position to your opponent and argue against that instead of what the guy actually said. I didn't say anything whatsoever about illegal lane changes. If you're so hell bent on winning the internet, you'll need to do better than that.

[swarb]

@Vracer111 name or link to those side mirrors? do they have a convex lens? Do you have any pics from the front of the car?

[Dake]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

What you're doing is called a "straw man." That's where you make up some bullshit nobody tried to argue, attribute that bullshit position to your opponent and argue against that instead of what the guy actually said. I didn't say anything whatsoever about illegal lane changes. If you're so hell bent on winning the internet, you'll need to do better than that.

Heh no - I'm actually just pointing out that your diagram has nothing to do with your points. But it's all good. Check your blood pressure though.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Dake

Heh no - I'm actually just pointing out that your diagram has nothing to do with your points.

Since they weren't my points, but a bunch of nonsense you concocted and attributed to me, that's still a straw man.

[Aozora.BRZ]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

This:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...id-blind-spots

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

You are not adjusting your mirror right... American drivers Ed failing again...

Please watch these 2 video

They are never invisible, you choose to make them invisible.

Just tried this setup today on a long trip and liked it a lot! It really helps with the problem.

[ogrowup]

1. Get your mirrors adjusted properly as mentioned above
2. Maintain minimum 3 sec rule between you and the car in front of you

But wait - there's more- a LOT more....
Many years ago, I was a UPS driver. For obvious reasons they are fanatical about safe driving and get really, really pissed off if you hit anything with their trucks AKA Package Cars. In UPS's mindset, there is no way you should ever get in an accident, period. The drivers training was rigorous, and they stressed the following:

1. There is no way you can hit someone from behind and be right. Never.
2. You must always know EXACTLY where every car is in a 360 view around the package car every second. They trained us to drive and watch the mirrors and out the windshield, and we were to do the following basically non- stop:

Look left into drivers side mirror, to see who's on your left
Look through windshield to see what's in front
Look right to see what's on the pass side.

Left, Center, Right
Left, Center, Right
Left, Center, Right
do it again and again.
(There is no rear view mirror in a ups vehicle)

In a car, just add rear view mirror after looking through windshield

I am now teaching my 16 yr old to drive ( yes, in my FRS) and I tell him the following UPS based tenets of driving:

Left, center , rear, right
You do that in case of emergency, you know you can bail out either left or right and avoid an accident
You must know at all times who is near you
Assume every driver is actively trying to kill you.

I used to drive a '67 VW Bus , and was following traffic on RT 95 outside New Haven CT. The car in front of me suddenly changed lanes hard to the right. My instinct told me to follow him, and I'm glad I knew no one was in the way. Good thing.

That's because there was an ENGINE BLOCK sitting in the fast lane. A big V8 engine block which must have fallen off a scrap truck or who knows what. Imagine what would happen to a VW bus hitting an engine block at 60mph.

Mirrors are necessary but only part of the overall picture. Knowing your surroundings is the most important thing...

My observation is that the current batch of drivers are way too distracted, and have NO FREAKING IDEA OF WHAT IS AROUND THEM. They see 20 feet in front of their car and that's about it. They don't even know that it's dark out and they have not turned on their lights ( they may have running lights, but that doesn't help people behind them.) They are gabbing on the phone in the left lane at 50mph, drifting across three lanes of heavy traffic because they didn't know their exit is coming up. At least in the DC/Baltimore metro area, the drivers are the worst I've seen...

Drive like they are trying to kill you...

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by ogrowup

[...lots of good stuff...]

Instead of trying to kill me though it's more that I envision other drivers as utter idiots that can pull an impossibly absurd maneuver at any given moment and am at all times open to what possible options I have and can take in my defense. Constantly scanning the driving environment and trying to know what the guy, in front of the guy, who's in front of the guy in front of you is going to do... this incudes monitoring everything to the sides and behind you at the same time - it ain't easy, and certainly requires basically 100% concentration 100% of the time. Drivers on cell phones or doing anything else equally stupid that takes concentration from the task of driving are simply very irresponsible individuals.

I've never had any accident in ~20 years of driving but have avoided several split seconds instances that could have been really bad if I didn't know what my options were and weren't competent enough to execute the maneuvers necessary for avoidance (which means you need to know the limits of what the vehicle you are driving can do...autocrossing or track time in every vehicle you have is a good idea.)

[kthxbai]

Originally Posted by ogrowup

Look left into drivers side mirror, to see who's on your left
Look through windshield to see what's in front
Look right to see what's on the pass side.
Drive like they are trying to kill you...

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Constantly scanning the driving environment and trying to know what the guy, in front of the guy, who's in front of the guy in front of you is going to do... this incudes monitoring everything to the sides and behind you at the same time - it ain't easy, and certainly requires basically 100% concentration 100% of the time.

In addition to properly adjusting your mirrors for your car relative to you as a driver, I can't tell you how happy I am to see that there are still some responsible people in the world who take driving seriously. I learned how to drive in Atlanta, Georgia where they hand out drivers licenses like free condoms at a clinic. It is well documented that as a state, Georgia has one of, if not the worst, drivers in the country based on actual driving knowledge of rules/regs and number of accidents combined.

When I was a little girl, I often watched races on tv with my dad to help translate the commentators comments into Vietnamese for him. I loved cars because my dad loves cars and took note of everything I translated for him when it came to driving. Race drivers are contantly checking their surroundings, always watching what 2-3 cars ahead of them are doing, and are 100% concentrated on doing this for the duration of their race.

I drive a M/T '13 FRS and am always hooked up to Bluetooth for any phone calls that might come in (I only make calls out with voice commands). Texting and checking social media does not happen while I am driving, it does not exist period. Lastly, the stereo system in our cars are pretty good IMHO, but often when I am backing out of a parking space or merging onto the highway I routinely roll my windows down and lower my music to a whisper to get the optimal feedback I need to safely get to where I need to go. Vision and hearing go hand in hand.

I've been driving for 15 years in a heavy traffic climate. *knock on wood* I have not struck a vehicle or caused an accident to date. The only accident I have been involved in was 8 years ago, I was stopped behind a van at a light (far enough to not only see the bottoms of the rear tires but also at least another 3 feet of pavement) and a Camry slammed into the back of my car pinning me against the van. The driver was using his phone when the accident happened, I saw him in the rear view mirror and he even admitted it. He was traveling at 30 miles an hour when he hit me. My airbag did not go off (96' Mustang) to my surprise and instead of bashing my face into the steering wheel I braced out of fright and sprained both my wrists.

Driving is serious, not only is your life at stake, so are those around you.

[SisterBlue22]

Originally Posted by ogrowup

2. You must always know EXACTLY where every car is in a 360 view around the package car every second. They trained us to drive and watch the mirrors and out the windshield, and we were to do the following basically non- stop:

Look left into drivers side mirror, to see who's on your left
Look through windshield to see what's in front
Look right to see what's on the pass side.

All of this. My dad was a career truck driver, and he's the one that taught me to drive, so I learned to drive like a truck driver. I always use my mirrors in rotation. He taught me to always have 100% awareness of where every vichicle was 360 degrees around me, so I would always know which direction I could safely move if trouble sprung up out of nowhere. I'm 43 years old now, and I drive about 2,300 miles/month. I still hear my dad's voice in my head as I drive. I also definitely do not drive like a "typical girl".

[Ammunition]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Instead of trying to kill me though it's more that I envision other drivers as utter idiots that can pull an impossibly absurd maneuver at any given moment and am at all times open to what possible options I have and can take in my defense. Constantly scanning the driving environment and trying to know what the guy, in front of the guy, who's in front of the guy in front of you is going to do... this incudes monitoring everything to the sides and behind you at the same time - it ain't easy, and certainly requires basically 100% concentration 100% of the time. Drivers on cell phones or doing anything else equally stupid that takes concentration from the task of driving are simply very irresponsible individuals.

I've never had any accident in ~20 years of driving but have avoided several split seconds instances that could have been really bad if I didn't know what my options were and weren't competent enough to execute the maneuvers necessary for avoidance (which means you need to know the limits of what the vehicle you are driving can do...autocrossing or track time in every vehicle you have is a good idea.)

This is exactly what I do when I drive as well - never been in an accident, but I have avoided many, many close calls thanks entirely to my instincts, and inner monologue while driving where I consider the worst-case-scenario given my current surroundings.

Just two days ago I had a guy in a truck almost hit me completely failing a double left turn - I was on the inside lane, and he was the outside (I really don't understand hwy this is so hard for people - this intersection in particular had the lane lines painted all the way through). Sure enough, I just start to get "that feeling" about a driver - and I can see his front wheel next to me leaving his lane, I slow down and ended up needing to stop completely because he basically did a right angle turn directly in front of me from his (far) lane as we enter the intersection and cut right in front of me ending in my (inside) lane.

I honked at him as it started happening to alert him to what he was doing, and so he would't hit my car - he proceeded to brake check me directly under a green light that immediately followed that intersection, and then flipped me off - totally road raging because I used my horn appropriately to avoid a collision.

It's honestly pretty ****ing scary who is able to hold a driver's license in this country.

[kthxbai]

Originally Posted by SisterBlue22

All of this. My dad was a career truck driver, and he's the one that taught me to drive, so I learned to drive like a truck driver. I always use my mirrors in rotation. He taught me to always have 100% awareness of where every vichicle was 360 degrees around me, so I would always know which direction I could safely move if trouble sprung up out of nowhere. I'm 43 years old now, and I drive about 2,300 miles/month. I still hear my dad's voice in my head as I drive. I also definitely do not drive like a "typical girl".

+1 Glad to have another female twin owner, especially one who actually knows how to drive!

[Pat]

I can't believe this thread has the legs it does. Really, this is a very simple thing.
<unsubscribe>

[lantsalot]

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

Awareness. Use your mirrors to their full potential. Or... You can get those mini circle mirrors.

This. Little circle mirrors are like $5 at Autozone, and remove blind spot. I don't know what i'd do without them