Alternately, you can adjust your mirrors correctly so you don’t have blind spots.
Bonus: it works in rental cars, friends’ cars, any car and you don’t have to carry anything with you.
Double-plus good: it’s free and almost no work to do.
True. And it’s worth noting that one reason NASCAR drivers need wide rear view mirrors is because they don’t have side mirrors. That said, more visibility is always better, I think, unless drivers become too trusting of those rear view mirrors. Where I disagree with the article is that, because there is always some blind spot, there is no substitute for the head-swivel.
$60? Try $16.50. This is what I use in all my cars.
As for proper mirror adjustment, it’s usually possible to eliminate blind spots, but on two of my cars it can’t quite be done because the mirrors are just too small and the DOT mandates flat driver’s side mirrors in the united states. The convex 300mm wide one does a nice job of helping out with that, plus it gives you a view of the kids in the back, which is also nice.
I just found a highly rated one on Amazon for less than $20 too. I bought a car this month with the worst visibility, which I can almost fix with mirror adjustments, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Inexpensive, only if you don’t include the cost of all the tools and supplies (few people have all that just sitting around waiting to be put together) and your time. Time being the most precious resource of all. It’s not something that either embodies craftsmanship or isn’t easy and cheap to find anyway…so, why?
I like that this is a project that comes up with a great-looking professional-appearing product. There are two things about the finished result that I think it is important to point out:
- mirror from a standard mirror tile will not have the proper refracted angle view so that you can “dim” the mirror to avoid distracting glare from bright lights behind you.
- your perception of the distance of objects in the mirror will be distorted.
Or for even less work and $$ you can get one for $11.
I have one in my beater Rover. Works just fine.
Seems like this creates a large rectangular blind spot right in front of the driver.
Yea, but it really depends on the height of the driver. If you’re over 6’ and aren’t slouched all down in the seat, the rearview mirror and passenger’s sunvisor can be a real pain in the ass in a lot of vehicles. If you’re 5’6", no so much.
My (Japanese spec, European manufacturer) vehicle has a driver (right) side mirror with a convex outer edge on it. Adjusted so that you can just see the rear quarter of the vehicle on the inner side of the mirror, it gives a full view with no blindspot — as a vehicle leaves the mirror it’s parallel with the driver and in peripheral vision. It’s great for lane changing on a highway … Why would the US DOT rule against that?
When I took Driver’s Ed back in the '70s, I was taught how to adjust the side mirrors so that there is no blind spot. Do people seriously no longer know how to do this?
Some people just seem to think that they must see the side of the car in the sideview mirrors…
How else am I going to see my caught seatbelt/coat/dress flapping in the slipstream?
The problem that I’ve had with these is the the support for the mirror isn’t designed to handle the weight. It’s designed to break away easily (in case your head hits it in an accident) and so it’s fairly fragile and eventually the extra weight did it in.
Crossover opportunity!
You show me someone who has these exact scraps laying around and I will show you someone who already has better projects in the pipeline.
“Nervous head-swiveling” aka “Shoulder Checking” should be encouraged, not a habit to break. Wow.
What are you, 90 with fused neck vertebra ?
The mirror in my Echo is right at my eye-line and I actually feel it makes for a forward blind spot, I can’t imagine making it twice as wide.
Sorry, great to be creative and all, but just because you can do/make something, doesn’t mean it was a good idea - like this
I think these might be restricted in certain municipalities for exactly that reason. I remember my grandfather getting warnings not to use them or he’d be ticketed…
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