SHE SAYS...

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32902, 28 April 1972, Page 14

SHE SAYS...

These days you just can’t expect to drive around in safety if your car hasn’t got good mirrors, so you can see what’s going on behind you and on both sides of you as well as in front. Laned roads like Bealey Avenue are places where mirrors are really essential, 'for short of turning your head around and looking, how can you safely change lanes if you don’t know what is alongside you? Some people seem to think that just giving a signal with their winkers clears the way for them, and fully entitles them to make their lane-change, but it isn’t so. If you just signal and swoop, and hit someone in the process, it’s your fault. The mirror fitted to ail cars, in the upper middle area of the windscreen, is not good enough today. It must be supplemented by other mirrors on the car’s mudguards or doors, and that’s all there is to it.

Just where you get mirrors mounted on your car is up to you — or maybe up to your husband who, with a bit of luck, you’ll be able to guide in the direction you favour!

It’s largely a question of preference, but having tried most layouts, I’m rather on the side of door mirrors. If the mirror’s perched away out there on the mudguard, you see, you have to get out of the car and fiddle about a lot to adjust it after some kind pedestrian has brushed it with his coat and

turned it sideways. At night, you can’t tilt it away if someone behind shines his headlights into it, and in the winter, you have to get out of the car if you want to wipe mist or rain off the glass. With a door mirror, you have merely to wind the window down to have the mirror in easy reach for cleaning, adjusting, or whatever. If you’re really lucky, you might even be able to get hold of one of those American or Australianmade mirror set-ups, in which the mirror can be adjusted without opening the window, by a little lever on the inside of the door. I’ve never used one of these mirrors myself, but those who have tell me they are really the answer. Apparently they’ve been around for years overseas, so it’s surprising we don’t see more of them here.

If you want a mirror on the left side of the car, too — and it’s a good idea — you may have to settle for a wing mirror there, because in some cars a door mirror on the left would be out of sight Still, if you find a friendly garageman, who’s willing to hold different types of mirror in position on the car while you try them out, you can soon check this for yourself. Whatever sort you get, you do need extra mirrors for safe driving in today’s traffic. And having them is not enough, either. You have to use them, too.