Originally Posted by
Old Dirt Hill
I use a eyeglasses mounted mirror (
take-a-look) except during the winter, when I mount it on my helmet visor because I wear ski goggles. I will not leave home without with my eyeglass mirror. I'd rather ride without my helmet as far as the hierarchy of saftey devices goes
Additionally, approximately 2/3 of the time I do a "dummy" shoulder-check to give the driver a visual that I do indeed see him and will not be surprised by his passing.
I'm seriously considering buying a second take-a-look for mounting on the other side of my glasses for good measure,
Agreed with everything you said.
I have 2 Take A Look mirrors in case one gets lost or damaged. I won't ride a bicycle without wearing one. That's how strong I feel about that mirror because cars that come behind scare the crap out of me but not so with the mirror.
The mirror allows me to take the entire lane without fear of getting hit or honked by car behind. Being able to see if there are no cars behind me within a 1 or 2 block distance allows me to take the lane with impunity! This is a life saver because I see too many cyclists riding in the door zone even though there are no cars behind them. They do so because they cannot determine how far the traffic is behind so these cyclist play it safe and ride close or near the door zone. A mistake.
The other day, a door opened wide and I would have been hit if I was riding in or near the door zone. Luckly, I was taking the entire lane (as I usually do) since there was no traffic behind which was easily determined thanks to the mirror. Without that safty device, I would have been riding in or near the door zone and I'd be in the hospital today.
Someone created a thread on getting doored and nearly killed in the process. What he went though, I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy but I'm fairly certain the OP was riding in or near the door zone. The Take A Look allows you to take the lane and ride out of the door zone with far more frequency.
By the way, I used to be one of the most anti-mirror forum members years ago. The Take A Look mirror is the ONLY one I can recommend.