[longhorn]

1. Ensure that all lights(head lamps, tail lamps,indicators etc) are functioning properly.

2. Ensure that headlights are properly aligned.

3. Keep you headlights on low beam while following another vehicle.

4. If an oncoming vehicle is using high beam, focus your eyes on the edge of the road (or watch the cat eyes on the road if equipped) to avoid glare.

5. Drive in such a way that you are able to stop within the area illuminated by your headlights.(in short - reduce speed !)

6. Keep a towel in handy to wipe the windscreen if necessary.

7. Ensure than both sides of your windscreen are clean. This helps to reduce glsre to a great extent.

8. Avoid smoking as nicotine can induce fatigue.

9. In case of a breakdown, pull completely off the road, and switch on your hazard lights.

10. Adjust the external rear view mirror(s) of your vehicle in such a manner than the bodyline of your vehicle is just outside your view.

[longhorn]

If your rear view mirrors are properly aligned, you should be able to see a vehicle that leaves the field of vision of you internal rear view mirror immediately in one of your side mirrors.

Driver's Side : With the side of your head against the window, adjust the mirror till the side of your vehicle comes in your view.

Passenger's side : Sitting in the driver's seat, lean so that your head is in the vehicle's centre line. Now, adjust the mirror till the side of your vehicle comes into view.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm not sure if I'm disagreeing or not, but this is what I was taught, and have always practiced...

Adjust mirrors with your head in normal driving position (or, at least, if you don't have electric adjust or a long left arm, check from normal position).

Outside RV Mirrors: you should just be able to see along the side of your own car.

Inside RVM: You should be able to see as much of the rear window view as possible, and should just be able to see the rear seat top in the lower part of the mirror.

These datum points give your brain reference points to judge angles and distance.

My teacher was a first-rate British driving instructor, a real pro. Whilst I do not always do (or even remember) what I was taught, this is one thing that has always worked for me

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'm not sure if I'm disagreeing or not, but this is what I was taught, and have always practiced...

Adjust mirrors with your head in normal driving position (or, at least, if you don't have electric adjust or a long left arm, check from normal position).

Outside RV Mirrors: you should just be able to see along the side of your own car.

These datum points give your brain reference points to judge angles and distance.

My teacher was a first-rate British driving instructor, a real pro. Whilst I do not always do (or even remember) what I was taught, this is one thing that has always worked for me

@Thad thanks ! I was waiting for someone to pick up on this. You would have either read my post with great concentration or tried it out yourself, otherwise you would not have come up with this.

If you arrange your external RVM's so that you can see the body line of your car while you are seated at the normal driving postion, then you are duplicating the scenes in the internal RVM to a certain extent in the external RVMs. Agreed now you will not have a reference to your car WRT the traffic behind you, but this is the best method to minimise blind spots. With this method, you get a much larger coverage area.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Inside RVM: You should be able to see as much of the rear window view as possible, and should just be able to see the rear seat top in the lower part of the mirror.

Agreed, except that it should be "as much through the rear window view as possible"

[watashi75]

I need my left ORVM for watching out for kerbs and ditches and other obstacles whilst reverse parking. So it points somewhat down rather than backwards. Anybody knows a solution to this?

[Thad E Ginathom]

There is always a blind spot, although mirrors made with a split vertical line and two different angles (very usual in uk; not so common here?) minimise it. Otherwise we can attach 'blind spot' additional mirrors.

If you cannot see part of your car in the ORVM, how do have any idea where what you are looking at is? Well... I guess you get used to your own positioning.

[Gansan]

The manual of my Alto specifies that the ORVMs should be adjusted in such a way to show the body of the car for 1/3 rd and the road behind for 2/3 rds. That is how I set my mirrors and find it comfortable. Apart from this I also glance over my shoulders before changing direction, a hang over from riding bikes for two and a half decades.

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

If you cannot see part of your car in the ORVM, how do have any idea where what you are looking at is? Well... I guess you get used to your own positioning.

This is just a matter of time before you get used to it. There is no use seeing your car in the RVM if you are not able to see oncoming traffic.

Originally Posted by Gansan

The manual of my Alto specifies that the ORVMs should be adjusted in such a way to show the body of the car for 1/3 rd and the road behind for 2/3 rds. That is how I set my mirrors and find it comfortable. Apart from this I also glance over my shoulders before changing direction, a hang over from riding bikes for two and a half decades.

The fact of the matter is there is no need to see your car in the external RVMs. What you need to see is the oncoming traffic from behind. Using the 1/3rd - 2/3rd setting you might be able to see your car in the RVMs, but may miss out on what you really need to see. In this setting the mirrors are set too close. You are just overlapping most of your view in the internal RVM. You will definitely miss out on traffic on the outer lanes with this setting. If you RVM setting is correct, you almost never have to glance back over your shoulders before changing direction. This is the whole point of setting the RVM's correctly.

One might be used to some setting over a period of time and feel comfortable with it. But you will never know what you are missing out on until you try out the latter.

[Gansan]

I think it will enable me to spot if someone is immediately behind my rear pillar, which will be my blind spot. The manual is my point of reference, so I follow it. If you can mention the source from which you have picked up your setting, and if it over rides mine, I will happily change it!

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by watashi75

I need my left ORVM for watching out for kerbs and ditches and other obstacles whilst reverse parking. So it points somewhat down rather than backwards. Anybody knows a solution to this?

This setting is perfectly alright as long as you use it while reversing. Not a good setting to use for normal driving. The left external RVM can be a real boon while reversing to parallel park. Nothing comes close to it to eliminate blind spots.

Originally Posted by Gansan

I think it will enable me to spot if someone is immediately behind my rear pillar, which will be my blind spot. The manual is my point of reference, so I follow it. If you can mention the source from which you have picked up your setting, and if it over rides mine, I will happily change it!

@ Gansan
There is no setting whereby blind spots are completely eliminated. What we can do is to minimise it to the maximum extent possible. When you find free time, park your biike behind your car at various distances and angles and try spotting it in your RVMs. Try my method and the one in your owner's manual, with the bike at the same position. This will help you understand the blind spots of your vehicle and how to avoid them as far as possible.

[souravdebiswas]

I believe another important fact that people should remember while driving is not to overtake on a blind curve. I have had numerous occassions where the car behind me has been trying to overtake me at such blind curves, leaving me in quite a vulnerable situation.

I have seen cars braking hard and making a sudden left turn to get into the left lane (when it see a huge truck coming infront of it at the last second) at such curves and thereby almost shoving the car in the left lane off into the gravel track.

Please please do not overtake at such curves. Wait for the road to get straight, judge the appropriate distance before overtaking, then make the move.

Sourav

[Thad E Ginathom]

not to overtake on a blind curve.

Isn't it astonishing that everybody doesn't know that?

What is it with these people? Zero instinct? Zero self-preservation? Zero intelligence is obvious, but, even as animals we are supposed to have instincts to keep us alive.

Never overtake except when you can see, with a safe margin of error, that the entire manoeuvre is going to be safe

[blackasta]

I read somewhere that a portion of Indian drivers are homicidal, and a portion are suicidal, but a greater portion are both!

BTW good tips longhorn.

When I learnt driving, I was taught the 2 second rule. At what speed you are, maintain a gap of 2 seconds with the vehicle in front of you. If the car in-front passes a lamp post at x, you should cross it at x+2 seconds.

But I really mess it up with the dippers sometime. In US the dippers mean 'you go first', here it means 'I wanna go first' - I sometimes confuse people by using the dipper and slowing down at the same time!

[Thad E Ginathom]

I have that problem too, being a UK driver. However, as the dialogue is increasingly becoming*,

flash flash, I'm coming through

flash flash flash No you are not!

The headlight thing is just incidental.

*Or is just me getting more aggressive? <Blush>

I read somewhere that a portion of Indian drivers are homicidal, and a portion are suicidal, but a greater portion are both!

LOL

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by blackasta

BTW good tips longhorn.

@ black asta
Thanks.

What I have come across is that you flash you headlamps to request the guy in front of you to give you space to overtake him. You use high beam( not flashing but on full time) to indicate to the traffic approaching you in the opposite lane to slow down as you are going to use their lane for overtaking the vehicle in front of you. In th Gulf, flashing your headlamps means you are allowing/giving way to the other driver, which almost never happens in India.