Checking your mirrors

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

How often should you be checking your mirrors?
Ive been practising checking them, ignoring the rear view one like my instructor on the assesment drive suggested, also driving with my hands at ten to 2 on the steering wheel, hand brake on and into neutral at traffic lights etc and indicating when going straight across roundabouts to get rid of my bad habbits… :wink:

2

You should check both mirrors every 10 seconds or so, be prepared for neck ache :laughing:

Good luck with the training

3

Andy_:
You should check both mirrors every 10 seconds or so, be prepared for neck ache :laughing:

Good luck with the training

Thanks Andy… :sunglasses:

4

Andy_:
You should check both mirrors every 10 seconds or so, be prepared for neck ache :laughing:

Yep, I was also taught to check the nearside mirror after passing anything, parked car, cyclist, pedestrian, dog & any vehicle waiting to pull out of a side road… just to make sure you’re not dragging it along with you :slight_smile:

Also, check mirrors before speeding up, slowing down & at every gear change although I thought that was a bit excessive but I can’t complain… it worked for me!!

5

A good piece of advice is to check both mirrors before any change of direction or speed. This includes bends rather than just corners.

It seems like you are looking backwards more than forwards, but you really need a mental picture of the situation around you all of the time.

How ever much you look in the mirrors whilst training, it probably won’t be enough and your instructor will soon let you know.

6

You should check your mirrors BEFORE you alter speed / direction (including when you change gear), before you signal and as you are going passed any hazard / potential hazard.

Other than that it depends where you are - going through a busy High Street I would probably be checking at 10 second(ish) intervals. Away from traffic and hazards it would be less often…

For the purposes of a test it is probably impossible to check them too often, if you miss a check for one of the reasons above it is a minor (at least) so keep looking in them…

G

7

:slight_smile: Also, be sure to move your neck when you check the nearside mirror.
You need to make sure that the instructor and then the examiner on test day can be certain that you have looked across the passenger seat, so flicking your eyes to the left is not enough.
You may feel a bit of a divot doing this, but after you’ve passed the tests it won’t be as important if you don’t do this ‘exaggerated’ nearside mirror check every time.
Start to get used to it in your car in the next week or so, and another one you could add is your blind spot checks each time you pull away.
A turn and look over your right shoulder, followed by a slight lean forward in the seat to look just under and beyond your windscreen wipers. :wink:

Good Luck for your training and tests. :sunglasses:

8

I checked mine first thing this morning they were all there :smiley: :smiley:
Can’t add any thing to the above. When I was learning like DAF I pracitised everything in the car even the gear change exercise, used to drive my missus up the wall. :laughing: