[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I beg to disagree. ....I found the mirror position suggested by the thread-starter better. It gives a wider view of who's behind....

Sure, it does give a "wider view", but it also increases the size of the blind spots accordingly. Convex rear-view mirrors are standard on most cars to enable a wide enough view without having to sacrifice any visibility in the immediate proximity of your car.

Take a look at this :



There is a clear difference in the size of the blind spots.

Also, my arguement was that "place your head against the window" is a VERY vague way of adjusting your mirrors. The amount of space between the drivers seat position and the window from car to car can alter this greatly (Think hummer H1 vs santro).

In addition to that, where they place their head when doing this adjustment (ie closer to the A pillar or the B pillar) makes a huge difference with the angles.

The possible result : a completely lost mirror positioning especially since there isn't any frame of reference!

Originally Posted by vnabhi

....If you want to see the rear sides of the car, you can always lean right or left.

Sure, but this also means that there is some amount of a blind spot unless you are leaning left or right!! This blind spot could be small or huge - but its hard to tell unless you have some frame of referece - ie your car body visible.

Take this for example, a typical indian scenario where a biker is riding on your bumper. Also, lets assume that you only check your left mirror before making a left turn (not your right or your in-cabin mirror).




Hope my points are clearer now, and i can convince you back to keeping a bit of your car visible!

As others mentioned, it also helps a lot with parking/ reversing in tight spaces.

cya
R

[WasavaTyres]

I keep my OSRVM's just the way Rehaan has said and for the exact purpose, to keep an eye out for those pulsars and karizma's trying to squeeze in at any given point.

[madhukar_n]

Originally Posted by High Torque

Friends found this while surfing..hope this is helpful

The rear-view and side mirrors are to eliminate blind spots while you are on the roads.

Blind spots, in the context of driving, are the areas around the vehicle ...
...
...
...
...
...

i guess this is the New Jersey traffic rule book. I remember reading this part when i took the test.
i actually followed the same thing when i came back here.

[siddartha]

blind spots cannot be totally eliminated , can only be reduced. also size /width, thickness of c pillar comes into play , thats why lots of car manufaturers are developing lane change assist systems which have sensors and give indications on the ORVMs.

corrected, thanks ksethuram.

[ksethuram]

Rehaan , I agree what you are showing in the picture...
In the real time scenario no driver can see all both mirrors continiously and they are not supposed to do so as they would to look back on the road . Only if they see both mirror at the same time they can iron out the blind spot.
Take the scenario when you see the rear mirror, see the road, left mirror to check if it is free, indicate, Look at the left mirror before lane change, Now if a 2 wheeler is at the same position as in your picture 2, he is in trouble.
Always it is good to turn your head over your shoulder and look at the blind spot before making a left/ right lane change...

Originally Posted by siddartha

blind spots cannot be totally eliminated , can only be reduced. also size /width, thickness of c pillar comes into play , thats why lots of car manufaturers are developing lane change assist systems which have sensors on the ORVMs

Yes C pillars are crucial also many technologies like GM's patented technology with sensors at the rear corners of the car, linked to a green/red bulb at the corner of the ORVM to assist drivers and eliminate blind spot.

[bblost]

Its Friday evening so I guess its ok, to go OT for fun.
Mods: sorry if wrong, please delete post if you want to.

Can someone tell me what is a blind spot?
I cannot see it.

[mithun]

Originally Posted by bblost

Its Friday evening so I guess its ok, to go OT for fun.
Mods: sorry if wrong, please delete post if you want to.

Can someone tell me what is a blind spot?
I cannot see it.

Blind Spot

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by TSEA

I was going through one of the threads and saw this inclination among some members about keeping the Left Side OVRM closed. Now we all know that is not a safe habit.

1. It increases blind spots.

2. An OVRM somehow prevents two wheelers from coming too close to your car body. A sudden thud at the car body is more painful than a ........

I adjust both my side view mirrors to the extent, I can see the front door handle on these mirrors. Seems I limiting the covering area with such adjustment

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by bblost

Can someone tell me what is a blind spot?
I cannot see it.

Thats a good one bblost!

Originally Posted by mithun

Blind Spot

and mithun fell for it !

A friend of mine bought a wide angle convex IRVM which lets him see through the Rear side windows too. Reduces the blind spot quite a bit!

[Glass]

Originally Posted by bblost

Can someone tell me what is a blind spot?
I cannot see it.

If you are not seeing the blind spot, you are spot on!

[equinox22]

I think it is very important to use both mirrors. Not just for reversing but even to have a better spatial orientation of ones surroundings. You have a much larger blind spot on the left if that mirror is not present and that can prove dangerous.

[comet]

Hi friends, I agree that OVRM is a must in a vehicle. I drive an Esteem car without the left mirror and a Chevy with both on. Every time i switch cars for driving gives me one hell of a problem confusing whether to use central or left sided mirror. Finally one of my new year resolutions; Esteem now has left mirror to complete it's safe driving. I was pretty amazed at parallel parking with it. I do see a lot of people avoiding/folding it for expense due to damage-prone part of the car. Trust me, few hundreds to a few thousands is worth the expense than an avoidable accident/incident which costs more.

[DieselFan]

Without rear view mirrors I feel I am blind. Yes that is true. I experienced the same when I was driving a old Premier (Borrowed Car) while I was out of town. It is a harrowing experience. My Neck was paining after a 10 km drive (really I am serious) which took twice the time of my average drive (Some of the delay may be due to the car itself).

[subache]

Originally Posted by turbo_c

Y'see, cars of today are designed with lots of thought given to aerodynamics. Like it or not, the shape of most of today's cars produce "lift", and depending on the shape of the outside mirrors (or wing mirrors, as some like to call them), the mirrors produce lift too...

So... if you didn't have a left mirror (as on the economy variants), your car would have more lift on the right side than the left... and at high speeds, it would flip over !

Nice one!!

I guess you must be a r/c plane hobbyist! Not able to understand why lot others failed to get what you said!

Really cool!

[nitinjacob]

not only do I use both my ORVMs I have also fixed 2 hotspots to reduce the blindspots around my safari, really helps!