turning rather than using mirrors?

Random

Right .. I'm coming down the slip road onto the dual-carrageway and I look in my mirror. I then turn my head around briefly to look behind me (to my right) also.

Is it just me who does this? I feel I have a blind spot from the mirror to just after the back of my car.

Am I the only one? Am I missing something? Does this mean I have my mirrors all setup wrong?

Stupid question perhaps ..

unkel

Spot on! By turning your head, you eliminate the blind spot that is there from only using your mirrors

Where I did my test, not doing both when merging onto a motorway would be an instant failure

peasant

Err ...that's exactly what you're supposed to do ...every time you change lanes as well.

And the reason why?

Because every mirror has a blind spot !

Random

Alright, excellent!

I was out in the car with someone the last night and they made a smart remark about my mirrors must not be working as I merged onto the dual carrageway.

Glad I'm doing it right and not missing anything!

ninty9er

I learned a valuable lesson in this on the M7 last summer, hadn't passed my test long before (6 months) and was only driving regularly about 8 weeks and didn't see a car in the blind spot nearly beside me...gives ya a right shock....but yes you were indeed correct as the rest have said

edit: Oh yes. use the mirrors TOO!!!

PauloMN

ninty9er wrote:

I learned a valuable lesson in this on the M7 last summer, hadn't passed my test long before (6 months) and was only driving regularly about 8 weeks and didn't see a car in the blind spot nearly beside me...gives ya a right shock....but yes you were indeed correct as the rest have said

edit: Oh yes. use the mirrors TOO!!!

Ditto. Twice in my driving life I've had that horrible "oh F*$%(£$%K" :eek: :eek: :eek: moment with blind spots. Once years and years ago when I was.... erm.... young, and the other fairly recently driving in Germany. I guess I was getting used to driving on the other side of the car and failed to look over which I always do here, but it must have been inches between me and the other car, and it was at speed as well.

Fair play to the guy, didn't flash lights or beep - I sheepishly waved and pulled over to let him by.

You should absolutely continue doing what you do - it'll save you some day.

kdouglas

yup, always do it myself

funnily enough, i was nearly hit by a car tonight where the driver obviously forgot to look in her blindspot, gave a little beep to remind her where i was, learner driver though, so i was forgiving...

Esel

It's called 'The Lifesaver'. You should do it in lots of situations, two of which are when turning right and before opening your door after parking!

unkel

There was a thread here a while ago about the setup of side mirrors. It seemed the vast majority of people had them setup wrong, i.e. too much of the side of the car showing in the mirror. You only need a fraction

peasant wrote:

every mirror has a blind spot !

Indeed, even on perfectly set up side mirrors. My current car has only a tiny blind spot, because of the split angle mirrors

Star Lord

Yup, it's the only way to do it as everyone else has already said!

I actually did this recently changing lanes on the M50, checked the mirror a few times, gave a tiny quick glance, checked the mirror again, indicated, went to move, and the guy in the other lane that was behind me but in the other lane, travelling at roughly the same speed had sped up and basically stood on his horn and tried to blind me with his lights. Thing is, I'd checked the mirrors a few times, and he wasn't gettin any closer so did he do the dirty and accellerate when I put on my indicator? :mad: I ended up feeling half mad half embarrassed.