Doubts regarding vacuum-adhesive mirrors

[Kevin]

I heard the reason was elfinsafety - in case the spare interior mirror started flying around and taking someone's eye out.

Elfinsafety! Call themselves experts? I'd have made them wear safety glasses and kept the extra internal mirror

[Astraist]

I'm not saying the interior mirror is dangerous or prohibited to use. Just curious. And I believe we have established it's efficiency nicely. It's a good choice for the instructor in as much as it is for parents with children.

About the windows, I find a semi-opened window to be a real danger without curtain airbags (and preferably with them as well). Just as it has been mentioned -- either fully opened, or closed/slightly opened. I teach this to students as well. The glass is quite rigid and rather sharp on it's top, not the best thing for your temple to hit.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Permanently deployed airbags - with TV cameras (with cushioned screens of course) for outside visibility. It's the only answer ...

[Horse]

About the windows, I find a semi-opened window to be a real danger without curtain airbags (and preferably with them as well). Just as it has been mentioned -- either fully opened, or closed/slightly opened. I teach this to students as well. The glass is quite rigid and rather sharp on it's top, not the best thing for your temple to hit.

At a guess, you don't ride motorcycles, do you?

Actually, serious question: what do you drive (on track and on road)?

[Astraist]

It's funny when I bring it up: I'm one of the few people who like to drive and instruct advanced driving, who hasn't went through the "regular" path taken by the Israeli driving hobbyist, which begins in motorcycles and than moves on into cars.

I still have great awareness for motorcycles (the life of the Israeli rider are very hard), because some of the people who instructed me were renowned riders. Even some of Israel's great masters of advanced driving and track driving (Re'm and O'n, to name two) ride motorcycles on their everyday life, due to problems of mobility in the city of Tel-Aviv.

As a trainer, I always preach for tolerance and consideration to motorcycles. The Israeli rider is poorly misunderstood by the car drivers, who mistake the riders' most basic necessities (like driving above the average traffic speed or setting themselves before the queue at a junction) for rudeness and lack of attention. The Israeli driver fails to utilize the whole width of the lane (as if they are obligated to drive in the geometric center of the lane), often obstructing motorcycle movement between the cars.

To add to the misery of those on two wheels, the Israeli roads are constructed with little to no consideration of motorcycles -- the armco allows a fallen rider to slip under it or even get cut by the rail, the tarmac quality is often dangerous to them, and the painting on the asphalt are extremely slippery to them (made of acrylic).

My signature is in fact temporarily changed in memory of Israel's most known rider, one Tal Shavit, lately killed by an unattentive car driver.

[waremark]

I use a small convex suction mirror, as bought for less than five pounds from Halfords. I was aware that many police forces had ceased to use these mirrors due to safety concerns, but I consider the convenience to be signficant and the safety issues insignficant.

[Astraist]

What were the safety concerns? Shattered glass? Because I understand that you can buy more expensive mirrors that are made of tempered glass and will not shatter. Likewise, we have established that, if placed high enough, the mirror will not be dislodged by the airbag.

[WhoseGeneration]

Permanently deployed airbags - with TV cameras (with cushioned screens of course) for outside visibility. It's the only answer ...

Or, we walk everywhere?
What a nonsense world we now inhabit.
Which, of course, explains why the West is now falling behind the East.

[MikeB]

I now find that suction mirrors are incapable of accomodating steeply raked windscreens. Recently while observing in a new Mondeo my Summit mirror's ball joint would not adjust upwards enough to allow a view out of the rear window.
Lots of new cars have very sloping windscreens, can anyone recommend a suction mirror with greater adustment please?

Regards,
Mike Beavan.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

I haven't had this problem on any windscreen yet. The mirrors I have (not sure but I think they're Summit too) have a "handed" ball socket. Make sure you're attaching it to the windscreen the right way up - it will have much more movement in one direction than the other. There's also a curve in the stem on the ball, which should curve upwards when attached to the windscreen. If both of these are right, you shouldn't have a problem. Here's a rough diagram (windscreen on the left):

Code: Select all

\         |
  \      -|
    - C/  |  <---- Mirror
        --|
          |


Edit: I looked at my mirror tonight, and it is indeed a Summit. In the right configuration the mirror glass will sit at nearly 90 degrees to the vacuum sucker. It'd have to be a very severely raked windscreen that it couldn't cope with.