Rear View Mirrors/close View, Blind Spot

[0533]

I have a problem from time to time when a small vehicle (City Traffic)is within 10 to 15 feet from my left or right front bumper. I cannot see the vehicle in most cases at this point. This is a real problem when changing lanes as these drivers love to squeeze in front of my blind spot to get ahead of me.

I have tried to adjust the top mirror (small) to look down and see this blind spot, but when I do, I am loosing the benefit of using the small upper mirror to check the white and yellow lines when driving on the open road.

I use the larger mirror to look out into the distance before changing lanes mostly.

Question: Am I doing this backwards, or do you have a better way to arrange the mirrors for each use.

Finally, I was thinking about a small mirror that might hang off the bottom that was angled down to only see what was in my blind spot.

Love to know how you handle this.

[dalej]

Bruce,

Tim, a friend of mine that was at Sevierville mounted a stainless steel 5 inch round mirror below his bus mirrors. He used a stud bolt in place of the set screw on the mirror to mount to.

If you need more info let me know, he likes it now that he can see the blind area that you are speeking of.

My mirrors are set up differently, so I don't have this problem.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

We have the old style mirror, just one lens and I could not see anything right forward. I could have had a box truck over there and missed it.

When I first rolled off the lot with ours I hit the first truck stop and bought a small (three inch) round stick on convex mirror and stuck it on the outer lower corner of the large mirror pass. side.

Experiment, lot of stuff out there to help you.

[0533]

We have the old style mirror, just one lens and I could not see anything right forward. I could have had a box truck over there and missed it.

When I first rolled off the lot with ours I hit the first truck stop and bought a small (three inch) round stick on convex mirror and stuck it on the outer lower corner of the large mirror pass. side.

Experiment, lot of stuff out there to help you.

Thanks Joe and Dale,

I think I'm off to PEP BOYS to checkout my options. It is really annoying to be wondering what might be lurking at my door or under my drivers window all the time.

I was considering installing one of those drop down mower decks, you know the big road side industrial ones with the big blades to clear what ever was in the way. Have it chromed to get rid of the Harvester green look. Once the drivers saw their antennas flying off they might apply the brakes, but hopefully one or two will want to continue, as I need revenge for all of the ones who got away.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Bruce, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We want our buses to look pretty. To maintain the pretty appearance we have these neat rectangular mirrors, sometimes supplemented with the convex mirror to expand our range of vision.

Compare what we have to trucks. At the very least the typical truck has the big mirrors similar to ours, but it also has a fairly large round convex mirror. Usually however the trucks have a mirror at the top of the passenger door set so the driver can see the car alongside his fuel tank. It is now becoming common for trucks to have a large pair of convex mirrors located near the front of the fenders that allow the driver to see along side the full length of the truck, including what is a serious blind spot on our buses.

I agree with Joe. I have the typical mirrors with the flat rectangle and the upper convex, but on the passenger side I added a small convex in the corner of the rectangular mirror to see the car next to the front wheel. I also compromise how the mirrors are set. I would like to have the mirrors set to see a little further back down the highway, but I have both tipped down enough so on the rectangular mirrors I see from the drive axle back. I cannot see a great distance behind me, but I see far enough to the rear to not be surprised by cars that can sneak up alongside of me.

The convex mirrors are set so I can see closer to the front of the coach so with the set up I have I can see a car alongside of me from about 100 feet or more to the rear until the front of the car is visible to me without mirrors. The only way to improve would be to make the rectangular mirrors taller by 50%.

My coach has power mirrors, so I adjust the RH mirror frequently depending on circumstances. When on the highway it is set to see more to the rear, but when in a campground it is set to see adjacent to my rear wheels so I do not cut a corner too sharp and hit a Jimmy Buffet rock.

My first bus had the ugly Velvac mirrors, but those mirrors were available with rectangular convex mirrors that could be attached to both the top and / or bottom of the main rectangular mirror. I had two of those fairly large convex mirrors on the passenger side and one on the driver's side. On that coach my visibility was excellent and I could literally see outward from the front tires to a few hundred feet behind me. By the time a car along side the front tires was out of sight in the mirrors the front of his car was clearly visible in the windshield.

Get a pair of small convex mirrors and when changing lanes do not hesitate to raise your butt off the driver's seat and swivel your head to insure nobody is sitting in your blind spot. It is the only way I know how to do it.

[garyde]

I had a small Datsun run up on my blind spot last year while heading home, I moved over not seeing him and put him into the dirt shoulder before he braked and fell back. I guess he had a story to tell.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

In just the wink of an eye you can get from great day to disaster.

Check 3 times.

[BrianE]

Bruce,
I have opted for the ability to see the lurker next to the door. You can still see the lane edge line even if it isn't very far to the rear. The left convex can be adjusted to give a little better view to the rear but I tend to adjust it for close in viewing also. How scary is it when you try to give yourself a little room for a right turn and some bozo or bozoess tries to zip by on the inside? immediately followed by

[0533]

Bruce,
I have opted for the ability to see the lurker next to the door. You can still see the lane edge line even if it isn't very far to the rear. The left convex can be adjusted to give a little better view to the rear but I tend to adjust it for close in viewing also. How scary is it when you try to give yourself a little room for a right turn and some bozo or bozoess tries to zip by on the inside? immediately followed by

I have ordered the custom Turbocharged Drop down Mower Deck in stainless. It will be installed at the International Harvester dealer here in Florida. I ordered the deck with the shroud to protect my coach from the flying metal parts when the deck comes down on the vehicles that are crowding my blind spot. It will work on a motion sensor, with a 30 second warning light to allow the offending auto to stand back. Its quick and legal in most Red states.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Side view monitors are now becoming somewhat popular on trucks and buses.

This would be a reasonably easy upgrade to install considering where they are mounted, the door and the drivers fuse panel door.

Very cool and work great