OK, this past week an irritation of mine finally came to a head. I loaned my car to someone who is much shorter than me, and she high-centered the vehicle on a snowbank due to not being familiar with the vehicle. Although there were a number of things that could have been done differently, this one stood out to me:
The side-view mirrors were positioned so as to be totally useless!
One of the side effects of purchasing my Honda Insight in 2002 was that, due to poor rear visibility, I had to really learn how to use my side-view mirrors for the first time. I’d never realized how much I ignored them and relied on glancing over my shoulder rather than keeping my eyes near the road and using my side mirrors as they were intended.
Purchasing a tiny, efficient, light-weight economy car transformed me as a driver. I realized that with only 1800 pounds of car underneath me, I needed to be as aware as possible of my surroundings or I was going to get squished by the legions of sport utility vehicles and 18-wheelers on the road.
In short, I needed to learn to think like a motorcyclist.
So lesson ONE in my defensive driving course: adjust your mirrors correctly.
Most of us learned to adjust our mirrors the same way: “leave a slice of your car in the side-view mirror”. This is utter baloney! I mean, think about it: what is the goal of your side-view mirror? That’s right, to see vehicles at angles behind your field of vision. Most people have around 100 degrees of stereoscopic vision, with nearly 180 degrees of peripheral + stereoscopic. The goal of your mirrors is to make you aware of the 180 degrees that you can’t see at any given time.
If you leave a big slice of your car in the rear-view mirror, that’s wasted space that could be used to reduce the size of the blind spot on that side of the car.
Now, I know you can go to Cartalk and use their advice: pull up next to a line of parked cars, and ensure that when the headlight is disappearing from the rear-view mirror, it’s appearing in the side-view mirror. Meh, whatever, that’s too much hassle, particularly if I’m borrowing a car. However, the principle is sound: I want to see some portion of any vehicle behind me in my rear and side-view mirrors.
My method for setting side-view mirrors: 1. Ensure my rear-view mirror has as good a view as possible of the area immediately behind me. On my Insight, a combination of a very small mirror plus a sharply reduced amount of visibility due to large aluminum beams means the rear-view just isn’t as useful as it should be. One day, I must replace it with a wide-angle rear-view mirror. Preferably one that has a thermometer, directional indicator, and the voice of KITT.
2. Cock my head way over to the left, and adjust my left-side mirror so that I see perhaps the top 1/4 of the mirror looking at sky (this is just so I can see when climbing an incline, and very tall vehicles), and a tiny sliver of the back of my own vehicle. Now, note, when I return my head to vertical, I can’t see my own vehicle in the rear-view mirrors at all. This is good! It means that I’m covering more area with my mirrors and can be more aware of what’s behind me.
3. Cock my head over to the right, and do the same for the right mirror. It has a wider angle, which is nice to cover the bigger blind spot on that side of the car.
Congratulations! You’re done! It takes some getting used to, but once you stop robbing yourself of visibility lost to the “keep a slice of car in your mirror” myth, you can do things like: * Change lanes with only a quick glance of just your eyes over to the right to ensure a vehicle isn’t beside you… because you have no blind spot! * Back up with confidence without having to spin around in your seat and stare out the back window (which, in many trucks, doesn’t exist!). * Easily verify your position versus all other vehicles in your area, without having to turn your head and take your eyes off the road in front of you for long.
Next Defensive Driving tip: why driving too far below the prevailing traffic speed isn’t usually “defensive driving”, but can be reckless disregard for the welfare of your fellow drivers. Stay tuned!
Solution In The Market
A solution is already in the market. Certain upper scale SUVs (like Lexuses) are on the road today with sensor warnings if drivers try to change lanes or back up with another car riding or sitting in a blind spot.
I think it’s hilarious that someone put your car on a snowbank, and you’re writing a missive about side-view mirrors. Somehow, even without knowing all the details, I just don’t see the correlation. 🙂
Side-view mirrors…
This part, I thought, explained it. I had to get into the car to help extract it from the snow, and noticed:
It wasn’t the height that was different… that’s normal… but the fact my mirrors had been tilted inward from their functional position.
I wrote this blog entry rather than lecturing the individual in question 🙂
Additionally, this is a caution to me: I’m free about loaning out my vehicle. Even though it is six years old, it includes a few confusing new dials (it was the first hybrid in mass-production on the road, after all), and if you aren’t familiar with Honda layouts you won’t be familiar with the locations of the controls. Next time I loan someone my car, I need to make sure that I sit down with them and go over the controls for a few minutes prior to waving goodbye.
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Matthew P. Barnson
Methinks
I think the question is:
How would side mirrors have prevented a trip into a snowbank? If she dented the side of your car by sideswiping someone or messed up your rear bumper by pulling in front of someone, I could understand. But usually ending up on a snowbank is a result of neglecting what’s in front of you, not what’s behind you.
The misaligned side-view mirrors may be indicative of the kind of driver who would end up on top of a snow bank (all covered with cheese, my rhymes are so funky, ’cause my name is Weed ;), but did they contribute to the accident?
My $.02 Weed
Nothing to do with it…
Nope, they had nothing to do with it, except that the driver was so busy watching the guy who was running her off the road that she didn’t see the snowbank ahead.
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Matthew P. Barnson
I never ever remember my login, I suck, wah
To be fair… what’s so surprising about discovering the mirrors tilted inward for a driver shorter than you?
If she pulled the car seat forward so her feet would reach the pedals, then of course it would make sense to tilt the mirrors in.
That said, yeah, I agree that the whole “sight your mirrors along the side of your car” thing is less than ideal. Yeah, that gives you a frame of reference if you see a BIT of your car, but… eh.
On a vaguely related note, here’s some other crap from Driver’s Ed that made me want to send the guy back to a few courses in basic logic. Yes, these still bug me now, 20 years later.
Teacher: “Why do new cars have a taillight in the middle?” Jen: “Maybe because it’s more obvious than the other two lights, which are off to the side and also at night, those are partially lit?” Teacher: “No, it’s because it’s in the middle!” Jen: “…”
Teacher: “Most car accidents are side collisions because cars travel side-by-side.” Jen: “Uh, don’t they also travel in front and behind each other? … and how do you know most car accidents are side collisions?” Teacher: “Yeah but they’re next to each other all the time.” Jen: “…”