Beat Rear Vision Blind Spots

People talk to new drivers about the 'blind spot' behind you and to the side when you drive. Well, if you adjust your side mirrors properly there isn't one. 

Below there's a video I did on this ages ago (one of the first videos I ever shot, for an old project I did with a mate). It's a pretty simple concept... 

Most drivers drive around with massive rear vision blind spots. This happens when the views from the centre rear vision mirror and the side (wing) rear vision mirrors are dangerously overlapped. Doing this generates significant rear vision ‘blind spots’ to the rear (at the sides). That makes it easy to crash into a car next to you and slightly behind if you change lanes or merge without seeing them.

The more panoramic the view of the world behind your vehicle, the better.

You owe it to yourself to swing the wing mirrors outwards so the view they offer only just overlaps the view from the edge of the central mirror. (So, the right edge of the central mirror is only just duplicating the view from the felt edge of the right wing mirror – and vice-versa for the left wing mirror.)

Here’s the acid test: if you look in either wing mirror and you can see the side of your car, the wing mirrors are adjusted too close. You don’t need to see the side of your car to drive forwards – it’s not as if you can crash into the side of your own car.

(If you use the wing mirrors to reverse-park, it’s easy enough to flick them inwards for parking if they’re electric, and easy enough to put them back for normal driving when you’re done reversing.)