Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
The OP did multiple shoulder checks immediately prior to making the merge so a mirror would not have helped.
While one may not agree with the utility of a mirror, it's always disheartening to me to read of active discouragement of the practice, in this case based on one incident. IMO shoulder checks also have their drawbacks, such as limited rotation of the head and torso, distraction of forward vision, possible deviation of the handlebars as one twists; whereas a mirror does allow easy and frequent rearward monitoring to anticipate problems.
Originally Posted by
mstraus
… The only thing a mirror would have done was let me know sooner that I had a fast paced lane changing truck coming up my rear,
maybe giving me some time to move out of its path, but maybe not….
A mirror would let me know if something is approaching me quickly from behind that I didn't know about when NOT changing lanes and therefor not doing a shoulder check.
Originally Posted by
mstraus
… I think a mirror would have alerted me to this situation sooner (I would have seen the quickly approaching pickup before I heard it) however it wouldn't have changed much besides maybe giving me a few seconds to potentially move back right further from him.
Maybe is better than not at all.
I wear
two rearview mirrors, right and left, Take-a-Look eyeglass mounted mirrors.