Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

Here is a simpler way:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...id-blind-spots

Basically most people have their side mirrors aimed so they mostly show the side of their car. The link above says: aim your side mirrors outward, specifically so they cover the blind spots. Use your rearview mirror for viewing things directly behind you.

I have used this arrangement for about a month now, and although it is disconcerting at first- it seems to work. On the highway when cars pass, I can see them in my rearview, then they transition seamlessly into view into my side view (blind spot) mirrors.

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

I started adjusting my mirrors like this in 2008. It works fairly well in the Prius, but the Sedona is just too #$#@$ big to catch everything in the side view. Someday I'll pick up some of those sticky convex mirrors to put on there.

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

You do need to see things that are closest to the car, because those are the ones that could hit you first.

My solution is to use video mirrors. I get about 120+ degrees of view, so I see the sides of the car AND the rear bumper of a car that is even with my shoulder, too -- no blind spots. They do distort some, admittedly, but the cameras are 4:3 while the LED backlit LCD screens are 16:10, so the horizontal dimension is less compressed than the vertical. It would also be possible to calibrate them digitally, or to add a corrective lens.

The other big advantage of video mirrors is they are much smaller (less frontal area) and they are enclosed in a low drag fairing, so the overall drag is noticeably reduced.




As you can see I have a small convex mirror on the driver's side as well -- old habits die hard, and for when the car is shut off. (I'll have to take a newer picture in a place that will show the field of view better than my driveway...)

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

I like your video mirrors, Neil ! Are they affected much by bright sunlight ? I mean , can you still see the image clearly and without glare ?

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

Nice mod Neil.

Have you tried backing all the way to work yet?

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

The only gripe I've got with adjusting the mirror view from the side of the car is not having a good view for parallel parking. And neither of my vehicles have that nifty feature that will adjust them for you in reverse. But then, I don't have to parallel park all that much to begin with.

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

$20 Wink mirrors have offered panoramic views for years.

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

Yes, the SAE system works great. On the highway. (That is, unless you're being tailgated. Never happens to us hypermilers, right? ;)).

I tried it for about a month, then stopped when I almost got clobbered pulling away from the curb in front of my house, because I couldn't see behind me. “Have fun filling out those accident reports,” indeed.

For those of us who live in the city and parallel park on city streets, it is fundamentally flawed: when there's a vehicle parked behind you, you need to use your side mirrors to see straight back, because your windshield-mounted mirror is obstructed. But your side mirrors' field of view is angled off into oblivion.

It also makes parallel parking extraordinarily difficult in the first place. Considering I do that at least 3x/day, SAE=FAIL.

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

Bright sunlight is the time when the video mirrors don't work as well, ironically enough. The first set on monitors I had (with cathode backlights) got dimmer as they heated!) but the current LED backlit monitors are pretty good in heat and they work well enough in bright sun; the exception is when the sun in *directly* in one camera or the other.

They work very well in the rain and at dusk, which are times when optical mirrors can be problematic. Here's a blog post from a while back:

http://neilblanchard.blogspot.com/20...-on-my-xa.html

Re: Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent
 

Hm. Perhaps I align my side view mirrors differently. I have them set so that I can't see the side of the car unless I lean my head over toward the closest window to the mirror a few inches. That way I can see the side of the car if needed (though I never use the mirrors when parallel parking -- I look forward and back repeatedly). I find that though there is still a blind spot for something the length of a smart car (not really an issue because I religiously shoulder check before moving laterally) I'm able to see the end of a vehicle in one mirror while the front is appearing in the other (or from the side mirror to my peripheral). If a vehicle doesn't appear where I expect it to in my vision based on previous position and speed, I'm busy shoulder checking to find out what happened.

Maybe I'm a one off but I had the phrase, "Don't trust your mirrors!!" drilled into me pretty thoroughly. I don't even use my fancy backup camera when backing up except to check the really close up stuff I can't see through the back window. :o

(I learned my mirror pointing standard from a flier distributed by State Farm many years ago.)