Safer view of bike riders (and other road users) from a 4 wheeled vehicle

OH S#!T !!!
A big ugly SUV had me pressing dangerously close to the curb today when he just whipped over into my personal space. Of course I grabbed the brakes and veered while his rear quarter came far too close for comfort to my front wheel as he was moving over. He finally stopped his incursion into my lane and whipped back to where he came from as he probably noticed my bright headlights shining up into his driver's side view mirror from way too close to his rear quarter and realized the error of his way. The thing is, if he had hit me,(and thank God he didn't) his report would have been; "I didn't see him because he was in my blind spot." BULL CRAP!! There is no such thing as a frickin blind spot. The blind spot with cars that most people talk about is because they don't have their mirrors set correctly. In fact, I'd venture a guess that most people have them set wrong. Especially the driver side view mirror. Sit in your car,(or SUV, pick-up, van or whatever 4 wheeled vehicle you happen to use) look out at the driver side view mirror; see your rear quarter back there? If you do, then your mirror is set wrong.

THIS IS HOW TO CORRECTLY SET THE MIRRORS ON YOUR CAR:

While sitting in the driver seat, kind of lean over to the left a little until your head is close to and almost touching your driver side window and THEN from that position adjust the mirror so you can see the rear quarter like you normally would. Now sit back upright like you do when driving. Now when you look out at the side mirror, you have a view of that so called blind spot. It only looks wrong because you have become so used to it being set wrong for so long that you think it is right, but it's not. Now go out on the road with your car and, without having to turn your head, watch the upper rear view mirror as a vehicle comes up from behind in the left lane next to you. As he begins to disappear from that upper rear view mirror, he will begin to magicaly appear in your side view mirror. If you've got the driver side view mirror set right, he will appear partially in both mirrors briefly. Then as he begins to disappear from the side view mirror, you should begin to see him in your peripheral vision coming up along beside you. All of this without twisting your head way around when trying to see!!!! THERE IS NO BLIND SPOT ! ! ! ! JUST SET YOUR MIRRORS CORRECTLY!!! (you may have to make minor adjustments to get it just right.) The passenger side mirror is convex, so when you turn you head to look at it, you automatically see what is to your immediate right side and behind. Because that mirror is curved, the so called blind spot on the right is covered. Mostly, people have this one set OK. Also, most people usually have the upper rear view mirror pretty close to correct if they have a view of the horizon on the horizontal midline of that mirror. Try this and you will see that it is all correct. And you'll not likely change these mirror settings once you see how much better your all around view is. If everybody set and used their mirrors correctly, then there would be far fewer 'blind spot' incidents and accidents.

Now tell everybody you can how to set their mirrors correctly when you can.

This is such a peeve for me. I don't know why they don't teach this in drivers training or add it to the booklet from the Secretary of State booklet titled "What every driver should know" (maybe they do but I've not seen it.) OK, So I'm done with my rant, but seriously; Please set the mirrors on your 4 wheeled vehicle. I can't stress it enough.
Ride safe.
Mike B. (bandito_two)
(Who has now gone to the 'Dark Side' and for now rides with a 145/70R12 car tire on the back of _'After Midnight'_ my 2004 Honda Reflex Sport)

**** While knowledge has power, It is what you do with what you know that is important.
It gives the knowledge validity and demonstrates it's worth.
Use it wisely. ****

+1....most people set their mirrors where the can still see some of themselves in the reflection. Wrong!


.......................bobby


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Good tip, thanks for posting...

Jerry

Hmmm...While some of this may be true, I believe the problem has more to do with idiots driving who refuse to turn that thing on their shoulders called a head. All it takes is a second to LOOK to the lane before a lane change, and lo, and behold, problem solved. There can, in some cars, be a blind spot no matter how the mirrors are adjusted, and that can be overcome by just turning your head, and looking.------Metalguy

when most people drive in there mind they look for other cars , but some how in there minds eye they ignore everything else, I have a small horse and carriage business and i get this all the time , a bride and groom going from the wedding to the reception , the horse 2500 pounds, the carriage 750 pounds , me @#$ pounds, bride and groom 300 pounds, we are 7ft tall and 6.5ft wide with a big red and orange triangle on the back and flashing tail lights and still once in a wile we get people slamming on there breaks behind us blasting there horn and yelling . the cops know us and pull over them and ask them what there problem is and 9 out of ten times they didn't see us until the last second ,, all this is in the city limits and the speed limit is 35 mph .
now think of a motorcycle 5ft tall 2ft wide , these drivers are going to pull out in front of you , change lanes into your lane , tailgate you, and not see you
because you are not a car and that is what they have taught there mind to look for.
be careful out there we have to do the thinking for them.

Horseman