What Mirror is Best for Driving Instructors?

08/07/2020

When steering behind the wheel, keen observation of the road from all angles is a necessity. Mirrors are useful tools fitted in your car to broaden your view allowing you to see everything that is happening around you.

Under the UK Highway Code, all licensed instructors are required to have an instructor mirror for their safety. Blind spot and an extra interior mirror are the basic must-have mirrors as an instructor to help your new drivers change lanes, slow down in traffic, and merge onto freeways.

Blind Spot Mirrors

A blind spot refers to the area around the vehicle that the driver cannot observe with the instrumentation available to them without turning your head. The main types of blind spots include pillar blind spots that are usually blocked by the pillars of the vehicle and rear quarter blind spots. These are the areas at the side of your vehicle, towards the rear, that are neither forward enough for you to see by looking through your windscreen nor far back enough to be covered by your mirrors.  Blind spot mirrors are helpful driving instructor gadgets fitted on the side mirrors of your car to show the parts of the road hidden from your vision.

Pros

• Blind spot mirrors provide a better all-round view in difficult to see areas. If you want to change lanes, blind spot instructor mirrors will help you see other motorists, cyclists, and motorbikes that are in the blind spots. Also, they help with safety when parking and manoevring.
• Supplementary mirrors can be set up so that the instructor can see blind spots  on both sides from the passenger seat

Cons

• Distorted and confusing rear vision: For a driver while blind spot mirrors are supposed to increase your rearward field of vision, they can be confusing to use effectively. Normally, your eyes take extra time to adjust to the reflection to supplementary blind spot mirrors since you will first stare at the normal mirror before changing your vision to the additional mirror. This means your eyes are off the road for a longer period than expected.
• Loss of valuable reflecting area: Side mirrors are designed to provide the best possible rear and side view of your surroundings. Attaching an additional ‘stick on’ mirror will take away some of the normal reflecting area of the mirrors. Supplementary mirrors attached to the mirror shroud are more useful..

Tips and Advice for Blind Spot Mirrors

• To enhance the aesthetic beauty of your vehicle, go for blind spot mirrors with the same or complementary colour to your vehicle.
• If you have poor vision, opt for a rectangular-shaped mirror that has a larger viewing angle. Since you will be spending a considerable amount of time on the road, you will need to protect yourself from strain and sore eyes when driving.
• When buying a blind spot mirror, ensure its weight and size is suitable for the side mirrors of your vehicle to prevent your side mirrors from tilting backwards.

Driving Instructor Interior Mirror

An extra interior mirror is required by the instructor during driving lessons to enhance visibility in order to locate all cars and obstacles in your surroundings. Detecting vehicles behind you and clear view of the parking bay requires you to have a reliable rear-view interior mirror to help avoid bumps and crashes due to avoidable blind spots that are not in sight.  

Pros

• Clear Images: Interior mirrors are made from a special glass that reflects natural, clear, and undistorted images. Having an extra interior mirror helps to prevent overlapped and distorted images that cause reflection when driving. Since most of the interior mirrors are flat, they show the actual distances and size of any vehicles and objects thus allowing you to accurately judge the speed and position of cars. With the extra interior mirror for instructors, you will conscious about everything behind you especially on motorways and dual carriageways with national speed limits.
• Wide-angle vision: Convex face designs provide a wide-angle vision to see what is happening in the back of your vehicle. Under the Highway Code, cars used for driving tests must have additional mirrors to give the instructor a view of the road behind. This is essentially necessary to ensure the instructor spots any hazards and takes action where needs be.

Cons

• The main disadvantage of interior mirrors is their inability to provide complete blind spot visibility for wider vehicles. Since you are dealing with new drives, you will need to install blind spot mirrors to give a clear view of the roads.

Driving instructor mirrors are essential gadgets for instructors during lessons and tests. Ensure you purchase reliable mirrors that will surpass the test of time. Visit Grade Six Supplies for detailed information or to purchase driving instructor mirrors.