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How to Adjust Your Mirrors to Reduce Blind Spots

Adjust your mirrors to reduce hidden areas beside the car, then shoulder-check before moving where another road user could be out of view.
Entry146 Date Time4 min MechanicCarCody Team
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Adjust your seat and mirrors while parked, then shoulder-check before changing lanes or making another maneuver where someone could be hidden. Correctly positioned mirrors can reduce blind areas, but they cannot show everything.

Adjust the mirrors while parked

Set the driver’s seat first, in the position you normally use to drive. Mirror angles depend on where you sit, so changing the seat afterward can change what you can see. Transport Victoria advises adjusting the seat and mirrors before driving.

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  1. Set the inside mirror. From your normal seated position, aim it to show the area behind you through the center of the rear window. Keep the mirror in reach without changing your posture to use it.
  2. Set the outside mirrors. Adjust the left and right mirrors from the seated position. Use one of the approaches below as a starting point, then check the view from your actual driving position.
  3. Check the result. While still parked, notice which areas around the vehicle you can see in each mirror and which remain hidden. Ontario’s driver handbook suggests asking someone to walk around the vehicle while you observe them in the mirrors.

Do not adjust mirrors while the vehicle is moving. If your driving position changes substantially, such as after another driver has used the car, reset the mirrors before setting off.

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Choose an outside-mirror position that suits your vehicle

Official guidance describes two practical methods. They differ mainly in how much of the vehicle’s rear side remains visible versus how much roadway beside it appears. Neither method eliminates blind spots, and the view varies with the driver’s position, vehicle shape, and mirror design.

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Approach How to set it What it emphasizes Source
Lean-and-set For the left mirror, lean toward the driver-side window. For the right mirror, lean toward the vehicle’s center. In each position, adjust the mirror so the rear side of the car is just visible. A consistent reference point at the rear of the car, with the mirrors adjusted from shifted head positions. Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Official MTO Driver’s Handbook, “Getting ready to drive.”
Aim farther outward Use a similar head-position method, but angle the outside mirrors farther outward to show more roadway beside the vehicle. More roadway coverage and less emphasis on keeping the vehicle’s rear quarter in view. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “Keeping an Eye on Blind Spots — Flyer,” May 2025.

Try the method that gives you a useful view without making it harder to judge where your vehicle is. The aim is to reduce the hidden area beside the car, not to make every nearby space visible in a mirror. If the rear side of the car occupies a large part of an outside mirror, test whether angling it farther outward gives you a better view of the adjacent roadway. Recheck from your normal seated position after every adjustment.

Learn what the mirrors still cannot show

A blind spot is an area around the vehicle that is not visible to the driver, including through the mirrors. Its size and location can vary with the vehicle and where the driver sits. A person, bicycle, or vehicle can be close enough to matter while remaining outside the view in a mirror.

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NHTSA’s May 2025 handout explains that inside and outside rearview mirrors help drivers see road users beside and behind a vehicle, but do not allow drivers to see everything. The Ontario handbook likewise cautions that side mirrors show narrow angles of view. That is why mirror adjustment and looking directly over your shoulder serve different purposes: mirrors help you monitor the view behind and alongside, while a shoulder check looks into an area the mirrors may miss.

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To become familiar with a vehicle’s remaining blind areas, do the walk-around check while parked: have another person move around the car as you watch through the mirrors. Notice when they disappear from one mirror and when they become visible in another. This is an orientation exercise, not a substitute for checking whenever you drive.

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Use a shoulder check before you move

Check the relevant blind spot by turning your head to look over your shoulder before changing position or moving into an area that may be hidden. Keep the check brief and continue to pay attention to the road ahead. Do not rely on a mirror glance alone when a nearby road user could be out of its field of view.

  • Changing lanes or merging: Check the lane you intend to enter before moving into it.
  • Turning: Check the area beside the vehicle where a road user could be hidden before beginning the turn.
  • Reversing or leaving a parking space: Check around the vehicle before moving; do not treat the mirrors as a complete view.
  • Opening a door: Check for people or vehicles approaching from behind before opening it into their path.

The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec identifies lane changes, merging, turns, reversing, leaving a parking space, and opening a door as situations where a blind-spot check matters. Follow the same principle whenever your next movement could bring the vehicle or a door into the path of someone you cannot see clearly.

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Optional blind-spot mirrors are not a replacement for checking

Small auxiliary mirrors may provide an additional angle, but the official guidance cited here does not recommend a particular product or establish that an accessory removes blind spots. If you choose to use one, treat its view as supplementary. Continue to use your main mirrors and shoulder-check before maneuvers where someone could be hidden.

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Quick adjustment checklist

  • Park before adjusting anything.
  • Set your seat in your normal driving position first.
  • Aim the interior mirror through the rear window.
  • Set both outside mirrors from the seated position, choosing a view that reduces the area beside the car that is hidden.
  • Learn where visibility is lost around this particular vehicle.
  • Shoulder-check before lane changes, merges, turns, reversing, leaving a parking space, and opening a door.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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