Adjust Your Car Mirrors For Maximum Visibility And Safety
Visibility is one of the key factors that affect road safety. Apart from external factors like day light or night lights, there are also other factors in your car that help you achieve great visibility. Car mirrors are one among them.They add to your visibility, enabling you to see much more than you can from your vantage point otherwise. However, you need to adjust your car mirrors optimally to achieve the best of visibility.
When you do that, you can increase road safety manifold. This is why you need to learn how to adjust them perfectly, so as to get and unrivalled view of the road around you. Let’s take this tour to know how to do it.
How to Adjust Car Mirrors for Optimal Visibility
Well, some of the latest cars now come with blind spot detection systems. But, not everyone has those cars especially, if you are buying one from a pre-owned car sale. So, odds are that you will have to cope up with blind spots with a standard rear and side view mirrors. Let’s learn how to adjust these.
The Rear View Mirror
As the name suggests, this mirror provides you a view of the lane and the traffic behind you. It must show you the entire lane without you having to move your head. This is how you must adjust it. It is easy to do so. No rocket science involved.
Place it such that you can see as much of the rear window as possible. The aim is to enable you to see the road behind the car right through the reflection of the rear window. By doing this, you will cover the blind spots which the side mirrors leave.
Nevertheless, if you are 6 feet tall or above, here is something you may want to do. Re-position the mirror entirely upside down. You should do so because it raises the mirror further up by about 2 inches. This will help you view the scene behind your car without having to move your head too much.
How Should Side View Mirrors be Adjusted
Whether you own a have a left hand drive or a right hand drive, you will have to adjust the side mirrors in both the cases accordingly. Also, it’s very good if you have remote mirror adjustment controls. But, if you don’t, please ask someone to sit in the passenger seat and help you adjust your car mirrors.
For a left hand drive:
Lean to your left hand side and simply rest your head on the window (driver’s side). See that only a slice of your car’s side is visible to you in the driver’s side mirror. Adjust the mirror in this very fashion.
To adjust the passenger’s side, lean a bit to the right so that you are close to the center console. Adjust the passenger’s side mirror so that you can see barely see the side of your car from where you are sitting.
For a right hand drive:
If you have a right hand drive, just inverse the procedure for each side.
A lot of drivers believe in another way to adjust the side view. It is by holding your head still and then adjusting the edge of the mirror and the side of your car in one line. Unfortunately, this will mostly make the same point visible as the rear view mirror and leave a large blind spot on the side.
SEE MORE:
- Know These 5 Things to Make Your Seat Belts Effective
- The 3 Great Driving Habits from Japanese can Make You Safe
For more information of adjusting mirror, check this video.
Other Safety Driving Tips
Apart from learning how to adjust your car mirrors, there are certain other things that you must also keep in mind. Here is a short list of driving techniques to improve your car’s safety:
- Acquaint yourself with the new mirror setting. Sit parked on a safe side of the road and observe for a few minutes before driving.
- While reversing or overtaking, always do a head check to make sure that the coast is clear.
- For the night time, set the rear view mirror so that the lights of car behind you do not flash in your eyes. There is tab behind the mirror in mirror which you just need to flip for this setting. Automatic mirrors turn it on by default.
We hope that now you know how to adjust your car mirrors. Implement it, and you will be a lot safer on the road.
