I don’t know about you, but after getting my driver’s license, I feel like I didn’t learn all of the secrets to driving a car. There are so many factors in driving, we have to take full advantage of our car’s features. While you can’t control how other drivers behave, you can drive a bit safer and more confidently by adjusting your mirrors this way.
A YouTuber, Stan Cravans, brought up an interesting mirror adjusting technique to reduce blindspots in car mirrors. And while many cars have blind spot sensors and detectors, it’s still important to position mirrors and use them when driving. While blindspot sensors are a great addition to improve driver safety, they should never substitute using mirrors and checking your surroundings yourself. Many sensors don’t always detect every passing vehicle, and dirty roads splattering dirt, debris, salt, and snow onto your car can inhibit the sensors from activating.
Most drivers similarly adjust car mirrors in the same fashion. The rearview mirror is straight back, and the side mirrors are adjusted to see some of your own car.
Yet this 1995 paper published by the Society of Automotive Engineers found that unconventionally adjusting your mirrors drastically reduced the blind spot. The SAE found that having your mirrors pointed further away from the vehicle reduced blindspots — sounds counterintuitive right? Luckily we got one of three mirror adjustments correct as the classic rearview mirror setup is okay! To do this new side mirror adjustment, put your head pressed against the left window and adjust it away until you barely see the left side of your car.
Next, you adjust your right mirror by positioning yourself in the center of the car over the console. In the awkward position in the center of your vehicle, adjust your mirror outward until you only see a tiny bit of your car.
At first, this setup feels a bit different, but as you drive, you’ll see that this mirror adjustments give you a more complete view of your car’s surroundings. In the video, Steve showed how a car from the rearview mirror didn’t get lost in the typical blind spot.
Once the rear car leaves the perimeter of the rearview mirror, the same passing car immediately shows up in your side view mirrors.
This almost creates, as Steve describes, a panoramic view, drastically reducing blindspots. With this added safety, you’ll feel a bit more confident in your driving.
To watch the video check out the link below, and if you want to read the article that mentions this technique you can find the link here.