Car side mirrors. I spent more than a decade of driving adjusting them wrong. You want them so you don't see cars behind you at all in your side mirrors until they're transitioning off the edge of your center rear-view mirror. This gives you far more coverage of your sides, and every car is still visible in at least one mirror at all times. For me, where I put my seat, this usually means setting them as far out as they'll go.
That's not what I was taught. It sounds logical but before I take an internet stranger's word on changing one of the likeliest things in life to kill you or those around you, did you read somewhere that this is a good idea based on research xyz or is this something you came up with?
IIRC I read it somewhere long after I learned, tried it, and it was so much better I was certain it was correct. All but completely eliminated my blind spots (I still turn and look, but pretty much never see anything that wasn't already in a side mirror, now). Turn them farther in and you're losing side visibility to gain redundant rear coverage.
[EDIT] I think I read about it in the context of correcting a common misconception or mistake, actually. Correct adjustment of the mirrors was described as watching a car leave your rearview mirror, and ensuring they show up on your sideview just as they're leaving the rearview—so if you can see cars on your sideviews before they're starting to slip off the edge of your rearview, you've got those adjusted too far in. For me, given how far back I put my seat, this ended up meaning I should adjust the mirrors all the way out in most cars. The idea is both to not have a gap in the sideview/rearview coverage, while maximizing side coverage within that constraint. So, if you can see cars in your sideview while they're still solidly in your rearview, that means you've got less side coverage than would be ideal.
BMW has a performance driving class and they teach the same thing - set them far away from your own car. It is a little disorienting at first because you kind of don't have a point of reference like you would normally, but it is totally worth it.
Absolutely! I know what the sides of my car looks like and don't need to see them in the side mirrors. Cars leave the edge of the rearview and immediately show up on the inside edge of the side mirror. I love it, but anyone else who drives my car hates it.
I often see this technique used to eliminate your blind spot since side view mirrors are mainly facing the area where your blind spot is. I don’t recommend this:
1. When you set your side mirrors like this you are heavily relying on you rear view mirrors to see cars behind/around you in the other lanes. However your rear view mirror can easily get blocked by people or items sitting in the back of the car or large vehicles following closely behind who completely block your view of cars in the other lanes (remember side view mirrors will only show cars in your blind spot, not cars traveling in the other lanes that may be go significantly faster than you if you decide to change your lane).
2. Positioning your mirrors like this does not make all cars visible to you if you are on a road with more than 2 lanes and so you still must do a blind spot check by physically turning your head. This is because on a 3+ lane road and you are in lane 1, there may be a car in lane 3 moving into lane 2 while you are at the same time moving into lane 2 as well. Having your mirrors set so they only watch your blind spot you will not see that the car is moving towards the lane you are moving to until it’s too late. Doing a blind spot check you will be able to see a car 2 lanes over is trying to move to the same spot you’re trying to move to.
I like setting my mirrors so I just barely see the edge of my car when I look at the mirror. That way if there is a car behind me, their headlights aren’t constantly flashing at me from the mirror in my peripheral vision until I turn my head toward the mirror and then I can see his headlights near the edge of my car. I can see cars in the other lane but it doesn’t show cars in my blind spot (I still do a blind spot check). Another plus to this is that it’s easier to park backwards. The best of both worlds is also having a fisheye mirror on top of you regular mirror that shows you your blind spot but this is not a substitute for doing a blind spot check!
It doesn't replace looking around, but does expand how much I'm aware of from mirrors alone, a ton. I don't get how seeing less is better (though I do adjust them in if something's blocking the rear-view, but that's not a normal situation).
It’s a normal situation for me. I might be hauling a couple people in my back seats so their heads block the rear view. There maybe a semi truck behind me and I need to change lanes but they completely block my view out the rear view so I will only ever know that there isn’t a car in my blind spot but won’t know if there are cars in the other lane traveling significantly faster than me.
It’s not about seeing less. It’s just the fact that the rear view mirror is the most likely to get obstructed. I use the rear to mainly get a feel for the amount of traffic around me but I try to check it first then my side mirror then my blind spot before changing lanes.
Car side mirrors. I spent more than a decade of driving adjusting them wrong. You want them so you don't see cars behind you at all in your side mirrors until they're transitioning off the edge of your center rear-view mirror. This gives you far more coverage of your sides, and every car is still visible in at least one mirror at all times. For me, where I put my seat, this usually means setting them as far out as they'll go.