Side-mirrors & Blind Spots

I was listening to Car Talk this morning on NPR (a rerun from yesterday, I suppose). Anyhow, at one point during the show, a caller asked about the best way to adjust her side-mirrors to avoid blind spots.

So, Tom mentioned to her that they recently featured an article on their website (“the Car Talk section of Cars.com”) on adjusting side-mirrors:

Instead, adjust the driver’s side mirror by resting your head against the driver’s side window and then turning the mirror so that you just see the side of your car. Once this is set, move to the center of the vehicle and turn the passenger side mirror so that you can just see the side of your car from the center of the vehicle. That’s it. You won’t see your own car in either mirror, yet what you will see is far better. Cars behind you show up as usual in the inside rearview mirror above the dash, but the instant the car leaves your field of vision from the rearview mirror the outside mirror picks it up. […]

Tom went on to say that he was skeptical at first and that it took some getting used-to. However, he now prefers this setup much more than traditional mirror-alignment.

I used that method to realign my mirrors this evening, and I’ll see how it goes as I drive around tomorrow.