Driving & Blind Spot

badami

Is it illegal to look at your shoulders when changing lanes at any speed? whilst driving
Is it only legally required to check your blind spot, just when you take off ?
Can somebody please explain how to observe your blind spot, and is there any Law,regarding this issue ?
Many thanks

IanMSpencer

The simple answer is that there is no specific law, but you are always required to drive with due care, so if you had an accident because you did not consider that something might have been in one of the many blind spots around a car (not just over your shoulder but behind the windscreen pillars for example) then it is not an excuse.

So, at the point you are considering changing lanes you turn and look deliberately to see if there is a car alongside you. You can fit extra mirrors, especially if you have limited mobility like many older drivers have.

One of the things you learn is that however much you want to look, many vehicles simply do not let you see everything you need to see, so the other part to dealing with your blind spot is to keep observing behind you with your mirrors so you build a picture of what is coming up behind you - if you can't see the car that was there a few seconds ago, well it must have gone somewhere and the blind spot is a good guess for where.

The shoulder check is good practice, motorcyclists call it a lifesaver

ElkyElky

May not be a specific law but you'd be foolish not to check blind spots, more so when changing lanes.

Many times I would have caused an accident had I not checked my blind spot. Especially on motorways where a car may be travelling just marginally faster than you in the other lane, they will be hidden in your blind spot for a longer period.

Motorcyclists call this a 'lifesaver' and rightly so.

TrickyWicky

badami wrote: »

Can somebody please explain how to observe your blind spot, and is there any Law,regarding this issue ?

Quite simple:



Your wing mirrors look BACKWARDS. They do not look out to the side. Therefore when you look in your mirrors, you cannot see a motorcyclist that may be overtaking or a pedal cyclist who may be on your left.

This might make it clearer:

GwylimT

If you fail to check your blind spots when changing lanes on a driving test you will fail as this is a dangerous fault.

photome

badami wrote: »

Is it illegal to look at your shoulders when changing lanes at any speed? whilst driving
Is it only legally required to check your blind spot, just when you take off ?
Can somebody please explain how to observe your blind spot, and is there any Law,regarding this issue ?
Many thanks

I would hope it is common sense to check any part of the road that you are going to move in to before you do it.

Unfortunatley many people dont which is why there are so many accidents.

Please check all blind spots before manouvering

hopefully the OP will return this time unlike back in 2012

Handsome90

When adjusting the side view mirror, you should only see a sliver of the car doors. There isn't any point in having it pointed inwards, which drastically creates a huge blindspot. I've found a similar thread in another forum. This video demonstrates that.

I don't think this eliminates the need for checking over the shoulder.

Strider590

I think it depends a lot on how good your peripheral vision is, i'm very aware of objects on the edge on my vision, so often a shoulder check isn't needed.

BUT i'm aware that a lot of people, especially those who are nervous drivers, tend to have almost tunnel vision, focusing too hard on the spot immediately in front of the bonnet. Usually with the seat jacked so far forward that they're cramped up against the wheel, making their blind spots even bigger and more difficult to check.

IanMSpencer

Strider590 wrote: »

I think it depends a lot on how good your peripheral vision is, i'm very aware of objects on the edge on my vision, so often a shoulder check isn't needed.

BUT i'm aware that a lot of people, especially those who are nervous drivers, tend to have almost tunnel vision, focusing too hard on the spot immediately in front of the bonnet. Usually with the seat jacked so far forward that they're cramped up against the wheel, making their blind spots even bigger and more difficult to check.

The trouble with peripheral vision is that it is never very good.

Your brain gives you the impression you are seeing in detail but actually it manufactures a lot of what you think you see. For example, I have a mug just to my left with big lettering and I know what it says. Out of the corner of my eye I see it and think I can read it. If I try to see it in detail without moving my eyes I realise I can barely tell it is a mug let alone the detail I thought I was seeing. The area the eye that can see in detail is about a 10p piece held at arm's length. Then we can play the game of finding your eye's actual blind spot, an area of vision that everyone has where you literally cannot see. It is a small area, but you don't know it is there because of the brain's fiddling around.

So there are fundamental physical limitations to vision based on the physiology of the eye and the brain does a fantastic job of fooling us.

Don't kid yourself about peripheral vision, yours will be no better than anyone elses.

So, next time, shoulder check.

bod1467

Peripheral vision is OK (ish) as long as whatever is there is moving relative to the background. Something that is somewhat static (such as another vehicle overtaking very slowly) may not be observed.

Strider590

DoctorFoster wrote: »

You should have used one the other day to prevent your little incident. ��

Are you someone who previously got banned?
Perhaps your just trying to get in with the in crowd by picking on someone who perceive to be an outsider? But ask yourself one question...... If i'm as weak and such an easy target as you seem to think, then would I still be here 6 years and 7'000 posts later?
Your barking up the wrong tree buddy and your p1ssing into the wind.

You've come here and all you seem to have done is made futile attempts to troll me.......

What do you want me to do? Explain the WHOLE thing again in full so that everyone can see how foolish you are being?

Your clearly just trying to derail this thread.

It probably would have been wise to open that thread/post whilst you were typing this ^^ drivel OR at least reread it before before hitting the submit button. Not content with twisting my words there, your now trying to rewrite my words here in someone else's thread.

Sorry about this folks, nothing to see here "Jedi business, go back to your drinks".