Nevada Drive Academy 

Adjusting the side mirrors
 

Learn the BGE mirror setting. The BGE mirror setting stands for ‘Blindspot and Glare Elimination’ and it’s the best way to configure your side view mirrors. Because this setting was introduced in 1995, many of today’s drivers are not aware that their mirrors should be set in this way.

 

You’ll find that it eliminates your blindspots completely. It takes a driver who is accustomed to traditional mirror settings approximately 1-2 weeks of driving to become comfortable with the BGE setting.

 

Nevada Drive Academy of Las Vegas  completely endorses the BGE setting and suggest you teach this mirror setting to your teens.

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How Blindzones are Created:

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Graphics at the bottom of page

 

Most passenger cars are equipped with one inside mirror and two outside mirrors. The inside mirror provides the driver with the widest field of view. However there are regions called blindzones or blindspots in which a vehicle cannot be seen in either the inside mirror or the driver’s peripheral vision. To change lanes, you must turn and look over your shoulder into the blindzones to see if a vehicle is there. The DMV calls this a "head shake". Points are deducted on the drivers road test for not using a headshake.

 

The outside mirrors have been set so that the sides of the car are just visible. The field of view of an outside mirror is about half that of the inside mirror. Note that the outside mirrors have reduced the size of the blindzones, but have added relatively little to the field of view seen in the inside mirror. Blindzones capable of hiding a vehicle still exist. With this setting of the outside mirrors, it is still necessary to turn and look into the blindzones when changing lanes.

 

This setting is called the “blindzone setting.” Eliminating the Blindzones: Graphic B shows how easily the blindzones can be eliminated.

 

The two outside mirrors are simply rotated outward to look into the (Graphic A) blindzones instead of looking along the sides of the car.

 

There are now four mini blindzones, but none is large enough to hide a vehicle. With this new setting, it is no longer necessary to turn and look into the blindzones.

 

All that is required is a glance at the outside mirror to see if a car is there.

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A: Traditional Mirror Settings

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B: Enhanced Mirror Settings Blindzone Glare Elimination Mirror Method

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The Five Major Advantages To Blindzone Glare Elimination (BGE):

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1. First, turning to look into the blindzones, which can be uncomfortable and annoying, is no longer necessary .

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2. Second, only a brief glance at the outside mirror is required to view the blindzone, as opposed to the longer time required when turning your head. At highway speeds, turning your head takes your eyes off the road for about 100 feet of travel.

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3. Third, glancing at the outside mirror leaves the forward scene in your peripheral view, while turning your head completely eliminates the forward view.

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4. Fourth, the blindzones can be easily included in your visual scanning.

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5. Fifth, at night, glare from the outside mirrors is virtually eliminated. The reason for this is that a following car’s headlamps are not visible until the car moves into the blindzone, and at that point, the high intensity portion of the headlamp’s beam does not hit the mirror.

 

Using the BGE Setting:

 

The BGE setting requires turning the field of view of each outside mirror outward by about 15 degrees from the blindzone setting. For the driver’s side mirror, this can be done by placing your head against the side window as shown in Graphic C and then setting the mirror to just see the side of the car. Do the same with the passenger’s side mirror, but position your head at the middle of the car.

 

You should next check to see that the blindzones are truly eliminated. From the normal driving position, watch a car as it passes you. It should appear in the outside mirror before it leaves the inside mirror, and it should appear in your peripheral vision before leaving the outside mirror. This is your proof that the blindzones have been eliminated and that your mirrors are correctly set. When changing lanes with the BGE setting, you must first look in the inside mirror for vehicles approaching from the rear, then glance at the outside mirror to see if a vehicle is in the blindzone. A good rule to follow when changing lanes is that if you can see the entire front of a vehicle in the inside mirror, and that vehicle is not gaining on you, it is safe to change lanes provided there is no vehicle in the blindzone.

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This is similar to the rule used when passing, which indicates waiting until you see the front of the car you just passed before changing lanes. Information for this fact sheet was derived from: ADTSEA Curriculum version 2.0 Public Service Information SAE International

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