On a recent driving lesson in Peterborough, my pupil asked a great question about the view she saw in the drivers side mirror.
She was coming on to a dual carraigeway via an entry slip road, and noticed there was a motorbike on the dual carraigeway, not too dissimilar to the view in the photo above.
She asked "How do I know which lane the motorbike is in?" What a superb question, I don't think anyone has ever asked me that question before.
The answer is that as a general rule, the further right the object is in your mirror, the further AWAY it is from your vehicle - but it is dependent on the actual distance FROM your vehicle, so it takes some practise accurately appreciating this point. The importance of having the mirrors set up correctly cannot be over-stated. An incorrectly set mirror too far over to the right for example could easily eliminate visibility of an entire lane on the dual carraigeway. You should be able to see a thin strip of your car's bodywork on the left side edge of the mirror to ensure it is not set too far over to the right.
The question is good because it raises other related questions, such as, what can you see in the side mirror if you are entering the dual carraigeway from an elevated slip road? What happens at night time in the dark, can you still spot the seperate lanes of the dual carraigeway? How do you know if a vehicle that is moving between lanes on the dual carraigeway is moving in your general direction or not? How can you tell if a vehicle seen in the mirror is getting closer, gaining speed on you, or not?
Looking at a mirror, in fact any of the 3 mirrors, is one thing, actually looking at the object seen in a mirror and being able to decipher what that image seen actually means is another. As a general rule, contrary to what you might think, staring at mirrors is not a good way of gathering information. Instead, taking repeated, short, glances of a side mirror backed up with a well timed side glance of the head (due to the possibility of "blindspots" in side mirrors), is a #gooddrivinghabit.
It's good because it allows you to keep track of what is going on immediately in front of you, and also because the possibly changing image seen by those seperate glances is easier for the brain to decode speed, distance, position, than if you just stared at the mirror.
This is yet further proof, that asking questions is such a good idea when on your driving lessons in Peterborough (see here for another real example of how a question recently asked on a driving lesson helped someone on their actual driving test!).
Good luck to you all.... and happy driving.
www.BigTom.org.uk/home/
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