I used to use this exact setup up until when I nearly had an accident when the car behind me (visible only on the front mirror using this setup) decided to switch the lanes at the same time with me. I didn't see him because I was looking at my left mirror, which doesn't show what's in the front view. In this setup, side mirrors surely will provide you a wider view of the behind, much more wider than you will ever need (You will never need to see 3 lanes right/left-behind you for wide roads, or residential area and/or non-road parts in narrower roads) The best setup seems to be that there should be overlapping parts with the front mirror. The left part of the front mirror should overlap with the right part of the left mirror, and the right part of the front mirror should overlap with the left part of the right mirror. That way you can see your left, without losing track of the important part of your behind for the move you are about to take.

Thanks a lot, I got my driver's license two weeks to the day and I went driving on the highway for the first time today. Someone I could not see clearly who was on a high speed nearly hit me while I tried to enter the highway from an exit ramp but God helped me to turn away sharply so I came home and decided to surf the net to see how to adjust my mirror correctly. This is really helpful, thank you!

My dad taught me to adjust my mirrors the correct way when I first learned to drive. It's common sense that you don't need to see the side of your car.

Instructions made by person who seem never drove anything bigger than passenger car to persons who only drive passenger cars huh?

Go and drive truck that does not have rear view mirror inside and all you have is side mirrors. After while I bet you have yours like rest of us, the way that on inner egde of mirror you barely see the tail of the vehicle ( a bit turned more outwards than on your first photo).

Have never heard of this but will try because I hate interstate driving for this very reason. Car is small enough that I don't really need the mirrors for parallel parking, the curb isn't moving after all.

I've been driving with my SVM's set 'wide' for several years now. When I first learnt how to drive, there were no instructions on how to correctly set the SVM's. I took a driver's ed. course that never once touched on the topic of correctly setting your SVM's. I too, was one of the majority who set their SVM's so that I could see a reflection of the side of my car... DUH!!! Then one day several years ago, my dad and I were discussing how to set SVM's to get optimal view of traffic beside your vehicle. My dad recently (at that time) had read a newspaper article on 'How To Correctly Set Side View Mirrors' (setting them wide as this page suggests). I decided to give it a shot. At first it seemed odd not having the 'security' of being able to see the side of my car. However, I stuck with it and soon became accustomed to it. Setting your RVM's wide IS the BEST way IMO!!!

We must keep in mind though that this may not work for seeing smaller vehicles... motorcyles and bicycles. However, if you scan your mirrors continually while driving (like we are supposed to) then we will see these 'smaller' vehicles long before they are in the small blind spot that the wide SVM's setting creates.

I‘d like to ask a small question which is what do you mean in your article by "move your head to the center of your car". What is the position of my head in the car like? Should I move my head behind the rear-view mirror or somewhere else?

It sounds good at first; getting rid of ALL blind spots and no need to turn your head. But sometimes you need to see a duplicate image to get a better perspective of distance. If you're driving down a motorway and want to change lanes, it's very hard to judge the distance of the vehicle using only your mirrors.

I just learnt to drive 2 months ago, at the late age of 41! I bought a new car last month and the odometer on my car still shows less than 1000km. That's actually how much I have driven on my own all my life!

I nearly ran into another car on the expressway yesterday, while I was changing lanes at the speed of 100km/h. I just didn't see that car at all, despite the fact that I had installed a 300cm rear-view mirror just last week. I have been desperately looking for a 'bigger' mirror on the net when I chanced upon this article.

Thanks a lot, bro! I live in a 3rd world country where driving instructions are quite backward and hundreds of people die on the roads every week, especially during festive seasons. Although I took all the required driving instructions and tests and read all the required driving manuals, motor guides, maps, etc; I have never came across such simple, yet highly effective guide on adjusting your mirrors correctly before.

James Wong,
Malaysia

I have been using this mirror adjustment for a couple of years and teaching it & I'll never go back to the old ineffective way of adjusting mirrors. Generally speaking, most drivers are pretty ho-hum when it comes to driving skills & don't like to change their old bad habits. Most drivers who have taken some performance driving courses or accident avoidance courses are taught this method of adjusting mirros. If it doesn't work for you, then you are probably just not used to it, but for MOST vehicles, there is a way to eliminate all or most of this "blind spot". If your rear view mirror is obscured by something in your vehicle, then you could still use this adjustment, but you would need to move your head to see directly behind you, like a truck driver who can not see directly behind might. Obiously there are people who don't like it, but those might be the same people who adjust their driving position so that their arms are outstretched to reach the steering wheel, there is a "proper" driving position taught as well, although many less enlightened driving instructors still teach the old 10 & 2 hand position on the wheel, where it should be 9 & 3. This goes right along with high aim vision, & if you don't know what that is, it is another skillyou can learn to give you an extra second or so to react to a situation. People don't just make this stuff up on a whim, it is taken from much research & it is only a deviation from what is taught in low end driving schools which still teach outdated driving style and bad habits. Keep an open mind & try it for a while, you will get used to it, and if it is just too odd for you, try moving the mirrors out just a bit more than normal for a while, get used to that, then move them out a bit more when you build some trust in what you can see.

I tried this out for a few months but i went back to the traditional way of adjusting my mirrors. I agree that this is a good way to adjust your mirrors but you can only take advantage of it in specific road conditions. I drive in areas where there are a lot of single or two lane roads, which means the car in the other lane is going the opposite direction and you do not need a mirror to see him, I do not normally pass a multi-lane road to use the benefits of this type of adjustment. Another thing, I make a lot of short drives and parallel park and/or park in reverse several times a day, I found out that with my mirrors adjusted this way, you can't use your mirrors to park effectively. Some people might say that you spend more time driving forward than reverse, but in my case the time i spend driving forward would not need this type of mirror adjustment.

This is a good ideea, but you can't say it's the best way of adjusting your mirrors, because for example i live in europ in a small country, and we don't have highways so "dumb" chill a littel bit because i don't know if you still know but you aren't the only country on earh...so getting back to the mirrors, in my country i do side parking and back parking about 10-15 times a day, so using this adjustment woun't help me. I don't say that this one isn't good but it just woun't work everywhere...so you all have to chill and think a littel bit and think about accepting that both of the techniques are good...

I started using this technique about two years ago, have gotten used to not having the side of my car as a visual reference, trust the perspective, and like it. I then set about trying to duplicate this technique with my motorcycle mirrors. My M/C mirrors are limited in their full out position, probably by the manufacturer on purpose. However, with them full out, they do take in much more side area, which is great and a boon to my safety. But, unfortunately, this position on M/C side mirrors also removes a good look directly behind. You'd think a motorcyclist wouldn't have to look directly behind, especially as fast as you usually see us trying to travel these days. However, the motorcyclist is concerned about traffic stopping (or not stopping) behind him at controlled intersections and during panic stops, which he/she has been taught to mitigate by keeping a close eye on traffic bearing down on them in these situations. And, when traveling in teams, groups, or gangs; it is nice to see the bike behind you to help judge group speed. But, with a little practice, you can move your head around enough to get a glimpse directly downwind... Thanks for your post on the internet as a source for this topic. Now if people would just quit using their hands on their cell phones and to eat cheeseburgers while they drive.

My mirror positioning is close to this and has been for years, but not quite as far out as you have it. I like seeing a sliver of the side of my car in the mirror, but just a sliver. This gives me that reassuring perspective people like, allows me to see down lanes of traffic without much hassle and reduces the blind spot considerably. I also augment this with convex mirrors to help make that car in the blind spot stand out even more. There is another benefit that's overlooked in this placement, that car behind you at night. If I want all 3 mirrors reflecting those headlights into my eyes, I have to move my head back slightly from where I normally keep it when driving. Conversely, if those headlights behind me are bothering me (the idiot has the high beams on and is far enough back), I can move my head slightly forward and catch the beams with only one mirror instead of all 3. I'd highly recommend people experiment with mirror adjustments to find what's comfortable for them while showing as much around their cars as possible. It shouldn't encourage you to stop turning and looking, but it will allow you to see more with a quick glance. Trust me, you'll really appreciate it at night!

another way i adjust my mirrors is that when a cars rear bumper clears the view of my right mirror that his front bumper and hood come into my peripheral vision. so there is no blind spot cause i can see them comin up from behind me til when they pass. if you don't kno where your bumper ends an theres is at then look behind you if your that nervous to change lanes.

I've stumbled across this method a few years ago after recently obtaining my drivers licence. Once realizing that I am roo afraid to even change lanes, I alway used the 'head turn' to check, I never could figure out hoe to use the side mirrors. Once day I thought to my self. there's got to be a way to use these mirrrors effectivly. So in a parking lot I drove my car up next to a parked car to adjust my mirrors to the possition that showed me where an adjacent car would be safe enough behind my car so that I could pass it. THis enevitably eliminated the blind spot - since a car could never fit in the blind spot if I could see a cars head light completly in my side mirror. THis is the same method that this page described. I will be teaching this method to my children when they learn to drive. Too many people like to see the side of there car in their sides because it 'feels right'.

My mirrors have been set up the "wrong" way for the last 30 years! This makes *so much* sense! I've forwarded this information on to everyone I know! Thank you for posting this!

the official defensive driving course's teacher taught me the wrong (1/3 of a car 2/3 of a road in my side mirrors) way of adjusting the mirrors!!! So glad i took a couple of additional lessons (to learn how to drive a stick), and the instructor (a guy from germany) showed me this technique.

Great stuff! spread the word lol

It is amazing to me that there are so many drivers that still do not know this technique. I learned this years ago in drivers education class while it was still in my school curriculum. This is just another example of why drivers in the United States need professional drivers education. If Mom and Dad are crappy drivers, it's likely their kids will be crappy drivers too. I live in Germany and it is such a night and day difference between the quality and skills of German drivers over those of the USA. Great site by the way. I will send out this link to everyone I know that drives here in Europe. This will likely save some embarrassing accidents for those that take this seriously.

EXACTLY! I have such a hard time making people understand "The side of your car doesn't move!!! You want to see your blind spots!!!" When you adjust your mirrors like you said, the mirrors should see nearly 100% of what is available to see. When a car moves OUT of your center mounted rear view mirror, it will move INTO your side mirror. As for the dummy who said it's "illegal", well, "Happy blind spot" to him! I've been using this method since SCCA taught me back in 1968. It has saved my butt numerous times wanting to change lanes. I now drive by my mirrors and have learned to TRUST that blind spots do not exist.