[whaap]

A new member just announced getting his new car and also mentioned how he didn't like the blind spot on the drivers side of the car. That prompted me to do a little write up about what is perhaps the biggest mistake made by automobile drivers.

If, when you're driving, you can see the car behind you in all three of your mirrors, you owe it to yourself to continue reading this even though it will seem a little lengthy.

Your mirrors should be set up in such a manner that you are looking at a panoramic view, not three views of almost the same thing. As suggested above, if you see that car behind you in all three mirrors you're not benefiting from your side view mirrors.

It will take some time to get this right but if the car that has been behind you starts to pass you on the left side of your car, your left side mirror should be out far enough that he starts to come into view in your left side mirror before he is totally out of view in your rear mirror. Likewise he should be in your peripheral view before he goes out of view in your left mirror. At the very least it would require a small head check to your left.

The same applies to cars that are passing you on the right side. Get that mirror out there so that he only comes into view in the right side mirror just as he's going out of view in the rear mirror. Again, you should be able to easily see him without any mirrors when he leaves the view of your right side mirror.

It will take some getting used to and it will also take some fine tune adjustments to get things right. However, if you get on a multiple lane road where you can position yourself so that cars pass you on both sides it's not difficult to make the adjustments properly.

With a little practice you'll discover you don't need to add those stick on, convex dot-mirrors.