Blind View Drive

In fact, "blind spots" are a thing of the past!

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On any car or mini-van built in the last ten or twenty years assuming it has a right side mirror, which everyone should have , the mirrors can be adjusted so there are no blind spots. This procedure should be done every time you get into a car in which you have not adjusted the mirrors. It only takes seconds, and can make a big difference.

Far too many drivers do not use their side mirrors enough when changing lanes, instead relying on turning their heads and looking over their shoulder. The problem is as they are not set or adjusted properly - resulting in blind spots - the driver does not trust using the side mirrors. But, once they are adjusted properly, using them and trusting them to give you the information you require will become a habit.

With the mirrors adjusted properly, a shoulder check to change lanes becomes more of a "shoulder peek", meaning you don't have to turn your head so far. That means your peripheral vision will still provide a view in front of you - no "blind spot" in front of you either, meaning less chance of rear-ending a vehicle that has suddenly stopped. As a side benefit, with the side mirrors tilted out farther, you will no longer have to worry about the bright lights of a vehicle behind you glaring in your eyes.

It may take a little while to feel comfortable with not being able to see the side of your own car in the side mirrors if you really need to see it every now and then, just tilt your head a little! Also, it may take a little time to stop relying on the side mirrors for looking to the rear. But once you get used to it, you'll love it. You'll feel much more confident and comfortable in traffic.

Bonus: Winter Trick to Defrost a Windshield

The first step is to adjust the rear-view mirror to do exactly that - give you a view directly to the rear. In many cases, your own blind spots can be effectively eliminated by reducing them to such a size that nothing likely to be there while moving will fit in them. In the case of other vehicles, you must be wary of where you sit with the vehicle, and validate that the driver can indeed see you. You can effectively eliminate your own blind spots by adjusting your mirrors such that a small vehicle or motorcycle doesn't completely fit in the blind spot; that is, before the rear of the vehicle disappears into your blind spot, the front should become visible elsewhere.

As the vehicle leaves view of your side mirrors, it should come into your direct peripheral vision. In this way, although you still have a substantial blind spot, you remain completely aware of anything currently in it, regardless of whether you were paying attention when it entered your blind spot or not. At the very least, and possibly most effective, a driver can and should adjust his mirrors to eliminate any blind spots around his car. The average horizontal viewing angles were To properly adjust the side- and rear-view mirrors, a driver should make sure the viewing angles don't overlap.

There should be enough of a gap that a smaller blind spot is formed, much too small to squeeze a vehicle into; when a vehicle exits the viewing area of the rear-view mirror, it will then inevitably enter the viewing area of a side-view mirror.

In this way, all objects in a driver's blind spots will be partially visible in some area visible to the driver, and thus known rather than hidden. A driver can follow a simple method [2] for eliminating blind spots:. Once the driver has set up his mirrors, he must make sure they don't create large blind spots near the rear corners or passenger doors. If a small motorcycle or bicycle rider can't hide there, then a small car certainly can't.

Bicycle riders, by the way, provide a huge pedestrian hazard on city roads; they can pace 30mph with your vehicle, and hide in a wide enough blind spot, so that area definitely needs a small enough blind spot to expose cyclists! It may take some time for a driver to get used to not having a proper frame of reference with their car.

While unlikely to do damage to an unblemished windshield, cracks even invisible ones can be forced to expand due to the shock. The mirror technique is interesting and probably helpful but you still need to being doing head checks for every lane change maneuver. Motorcycles and bicycles could be in those spots not quite covered. Car Talk also covered this years ago, but the method was slightly different.

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Instead of leaning over and putting your head in the center of the car or over by your window, just turn your head all the way to the right to adjust the right mirror, or all the way left to adjust the left mirror. It gives you the same result, and cars behind you seamlessly transition from one mirror to the other.

This link from Car Talk describes in detail how to adjust your mirrors.

Thank you for pointing this out. Which is useless in traffic. But there is an easier method. Just set your center mirror. Then, while parked of course, take note of the items you can see at the very edges of the center mirror. Now, re-set the side mirrors without moving your head so that the inside of the respective side mirror just slightly overlaps with the items at the edges of the center mirror.

Pull up even with the car in front of the space you want. When your passenger side rear door window is even with the rear end of theparked car next to you, cut the wheel to the right. You will slide into the parallel parking spot perfectly. I have read as many stories saying that using alcohol for de-icing is bad for your car especially your blades.

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