Online driving tutorials
Online driving tutorial - Mirrors
It's important to know why do we use our mirrors before we do too much driving and instill good habit early with their use? There are several reasons for using them.
- when we move off from the side of the. road and when we are pulling over to stop.
- when we open the car door to make sure it's safe for other road users.
- when we change direction for moving around parked objects.
- when we turn into or out of a road.
- when we change speed.
- when we change lanes.
Types of mirror
Cars have two types of mirror. The interior mirror is made of flat glass and so gives us a true image of what is happening behind us. All decisions should be confirmed with this mirror. It's also the mirror we use first when changing direction. The other type is the door mirror. These are sometimes shaped a little like the back of a spoon (convex) which enables us to see more of what is happening behind us. The drawback of this is that the objects can appear to be smaller, which leads you to believe they are further away than they really are. This is why we confirm all decisions with the interior mirror.
When you use the mirrors, you must act sensibly on what you see. Never make a car slow down or change direction for you.
Blind spot
There are several of these on all cars - two in front of you and two behind. The most dangerous is the one behind you and to the right. Make sure this is checked, by looking over your right shoulder out of the passenger window before moving off and before each manoeuvre. NEVER whilst on the move. This is because twisting your head in your seat will move your shoulders, arms, hands and ultimately the steering wheel. This is obviously dangerous.
Good habits
Very early on you'll be checking your mirrors as part of your routine for dealing with junctions. If you're also able to integrate an interior mirror check when ever you feel like you might be asked to slow down, like when you see a traffic light or pedestrian crossing, this is a great habit to form early.
Mirror checking for adjustments of speed has it's own check box on your test day score sheet. So, when you're at test standard you should be checking this instinctively when ever you see some thing that you "might" slow down for. This is to check to the position of the vehicle behind you, so if you did need to brake, you know what level to apply.
