Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Human beings are not lizards. We have not evolved the ability to use our eyes independently to any great degree. It can be fatal to smack into something ahead of you because you are busy monitoring your mirror. It has happened. You cannot significantly change your odds of being rear ended by monitoring your six! You must learn to believe in the relative competence of other road users and focus your attention on what is ahead. Your ears (if they work) will tell you all you really need to know about what is going on behind you. When a mirror is priceless is when you need to change your position on the road and you need to know how that impacts following traffic. A mirror is a tool for planning offensive maneuvers. I really get tired of hearing how wonderful a tool it is for defensive protection. Five in one hundred drivers are deaf enough that a bicycle horn makes no impression on them. Bicyclists get overtaken much more than other road users. How many of you swear by your horns and its ability to force drivers to correct offensive maneuvers that put you in jeopardy... sigh... I see a lot of blame in this forum directed at 'those drivers'. Maybe, but I don't think we do all we can on our side to meet them half-way.
H
I agree with much of what you say, except for your dismissal of a mirror as being an effect "defensive" tool. Many years ago, in my early days of commuting there was an incident in which I was biking home (in the dark) on a narrower road. Back then, bicycle lights were not nearly as bright nor effective as they are now. I heard the car coming up behind me, took my initial look in my helmet-mounted mirror and thought nothing unusual about the situation. As the car approached, I took another peek in the mirror and saw a glimpse of something that just didn't register as "right" in my mind. I still can't tell you exactly what it was I thought I saw, but it was concern enough that I hit the brakes and pulled off of the pavement quickly. The car slowed, and I could make out the shape of someone reaching out the passenger window and swinging what appeared to be a stick. The car sped up and that was the end of the encounter. I was too shook up to even think about trying to get a license plate. I did report a "vague" description of the vehicle to the police an hour later when I got home, but to no avail. If I hadn't taken that final quick glance in the mirror when I did, would the outcome have been different? I don't know.
Flash forward to just these last few months. On two occasions, when riding in the bike lane, while taking those frequent "peeks" in the mirror, I've watched inattentive motorists who have drifted across the line into the bike lane coming up behind me. One scenario, I simply waved my hand up and down to get the driver's attention, and he pulled back into his lane. The other time, I could tell it was a driver who was looking down (texting?), and just wasn't seeing me in front of her. As she got near enough to me, I chose to ditch into the curb, and she went right by me, half in the bike lane. I'm still not sure she even saw me.
For me, my mirror is a valuable tool, definitely as an aid in positioning myself within traffic, as you describe, but almost most certainly as a tool to help me be a better defensive cyclist as well. Perhaps my helmet-mounted mirror lessens the chance I'm losing focus on what is occurring in front of me, I can't say as I've always used either helmet-mount mirrors or those that attach to sunglasses. And, I apologize in advance, but I am losing my faith in the relative competence of most other road users, whether they be motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, etc.