Tackling the driver side blind spot

[Tectoniic]

Changing the mirrors per the car and driver article helps a lot.

It is sort of hard to explain but I keep a "360 image around my car" in my head. I know at all times what cars are around me. I remember getting into arguments/scaring the shit out of parents when they thought I was making blind lane changes back in my permit days. So far no tickets or accidents at 23 almost 24 so I must be doing something right.

[PatSciFRS]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

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

Plus being aware of your surroundings, i.e. you know there's a prius creeping up on you in the left lane, you don't have to see him in your mirror to know he's still there because he hasn't passed you and he hasn't dropped back.

This is for sure the most dangerous one, yet so many drivers like to do it. They ride up and come almost right next to you on the highway until you conveniently lose them in your rear-view mirror. After riding 10-15 mins like that it is very easy to forget that the car is still right next to yours.

[humfrz]

Yep, properly adjust the mirrors and ....... remember, your head (thus eyes) will swivel and move up and back and side to side on your shoulders ......

Besides ...... "old jet pilots didn't use rear view mirrors"........


humfrz

(sorry, its past my med time)

[Dake]

Yup - add me to the "adjust your mirrors properly" team. I used to think I was doing it right until I got into this car. Once you do have them adjusted properly they, in conjunction with a quick over-the-shoulder glance, work great.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

& Steve no you do not step off from gas, if you think you need to do that that means you are simply too close to the car in front of you! Can't believe nothing proper is being taught in traffic school/road test.

I follow the 3 second rule when following behind a car. Better to be safe than sorry.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

I follow the 3 second rule when following behind a car. Better to be safe than sorry.

You don't step off gas, your speed before/mid/after check should stay constant. You create another kind danger that ppl around you will make when u travel slower all the sudden.

When you are checking with mirror it should be done in a glimpse, if u are doing shoulder check it should be done in a sec max.

Sorry but American driver ed gets on my nerve everytime I drive in Cali. It's good that you are checking but doing thing halfway is never good.



>___> SORRY, I was just in cali this weekend... so I overreacted. But ya when ppl stop on highway for no reason, You usually wanna murder that person.

[Ammunition]

Originally Posted by Spacemane969

Very interesting. So with the correct adjustment I should keep turning my outside mirrors until the fender just barely disappears. This is new to me as I was also tought the rear of your car should show in your mirrors.
Thanks for the tips

A lot of people like to see a good portion of their vehicle in their side mirrors, but it is totally unnecessary while driving - I always readjust the mirrors on my mom's 4Runner, and she always puts them back to show everything from the rear passenger doors back; it can be a bit disorienting at first to not see any part of your car in the mirror, but your brain will acclimate to it - if you want when you first adjust them, you can show just a small portion, or sliver of your rear fender in them to help you get comfortable (honestly I still do this for parking purposes, and my wide angle mirrors help make that more than enough to cover the blind spot.

GL, and good on you for wanting to do what you can to fix this - here's to one more person on the road being educated, and less likely to be involved in an accident

[Sousuke]

This has been all very helpful to me too! I drove a four door Corolla before and I had lots of viewing space, I've only had this car for a month.. So On my way home from work I moved the mirrors more and it has helped a lot!

Gotta play with them some more and see what works best but I thought too that you had to have some part of the car still on the mirrors.... -_-

[juliog]

OP: never buy a Camaro

[Locust]

Originally Posted by Spacemane969

Very interesting. So with the correct adjustment I should keep turning my outside mirrors until the fender just barely disappears. This is new to me as I was also tought the rear of your car should show in your mirrors.
Thanks for the tips

99.99999999999999999% of blindspot problems are because your side view mirrors are wrong.

Think about it this way: If your mirror is looking at any part of your car that's wasted space on your mirror that could be looking at the rest of the road. Why do you need to see your own car? Is backing up so dangerous that you'd rather have an easy button for that than avoid hitting other cars that are in motion at speeds up to 70mph? You don't need to see your own car. Not a bit of it.

The ideal mirror setup is such that your driver's side view mirror should only show your car if your face is touching the glass. Your passenger side view mirror should only show your car if your head is directly above the shifter/armrest. This eliminates the largest "blind spot" in your vision, leaves not enough room between your rear view FOV and your side view FOV for a car to fit into, and leaves not enough room between your side view FOV and your shoulder FOV for a car to fit into.

[NOHOME]

After driving for about 37 years, I showed up on this board and made your same complaint. It was at that point that I learned to set up my outside mirrors.

Once you have them set, go out on the highway and allow cars to pass you while you track them with the mirrors. You should be able to keep track as they pass from your inside rear view mirror to the outside mirrors and never lose track of them. (No blind spot) It was quite the revelation.

In lieu of this knowledge, I am surprised the new FRS does not have the mirrors with the vehicle detection like a lot of other cars.

[Dake]

Eh, that tech is a)expensive b)adds weight and c)not necessary.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

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

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.

[Caspeed]

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 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. In any car there will be a point where you can't see. But unless you are changing more than one lane at a time (not recommended) you should be fine in a Twin as long as you have the mirrors properly set.

IMHO