TEG

After decades of driving I just had a thought that maybe I was adjusting my side mirrors to look too much towards the car. I had instinctively been setting them so my view is "straight backwards" and I see the door handles of my car in each mirror. Realizing that a few times I was caught off guard by someone in my "blind spot" that I couldn't see with my mirrors, but could see when I turned my head very far around, I thought I would try pointing the side mirrors outwards a bit more. I don't really need to see all the way back in the distance, and I think a smaller blind spot would be a good tradeoff. After driving this way for a few days I got used to it and think it is an improvement. (Never too old to learn something new I hope).

Today I checked and lo and behold I see that some sites recommend this very change in habit:

How to Set Rearview Mirrors to Eliminate Blind Spots - wikiHow
Adjusting Your Mirrors Correctly - Smart Motorist

DaveD

Yes, indeed! This way of adjusting the mirrors was something that a friend of mine tried to sell me on many years ago. I resisted until I bought a Nissan 350Z, which has signifcant obstructions of the rearward view. It took about a week to get comfortable with it, but now I do lane changes and highway merging without any problems. I evangelize this technique whenever I get rides with other friends or co-workers and see that they have their mirrors set "wrong".

doug

The way I've always done it (and I think the way I learned in Driver's Ed back in high school) was to adjust the side mirrors so that their view just barely overlaps with with that of the rear view mirror. This isn't what most people do?

vfx

My exterior rear view mirrors have those "stick on" mirrors in the corner. They are fish-eye convex like the security mirrors in a store. Works well for a big truck mirror -they probably take up to much real estate on a small sports car mirror.

Gets low scores here:
Auto Safety Editors' Results: Best 2007 Car Gadgets & Automotive Safety Technologies

edit:
Took me awhile to firgure out what they were selling. Looks like they tap into power mirrors and let you scan the blind spot by "panning" the mirror with a seperate swith. Kinda cool but I wonder what the life cycle is of those motors and plastic gears?

__________________
.
.
.
.
.
.
The world loves to be deceived.

Cobos

I've always done what the drivers ed teacher told me as I've only had my license for about 4 years. He said turn them far enough away from the car that you barely can see the door handles at the edge. Though I haven't experimented with this... maybe I should. I do turn my neck whenever I'm crossing my blind spot, like exiting a roundabout or changing lanes...

Cobos

TEG