Originally Posted by
heckler
rear view mirrors rarely help and often distract. If you can't look behind while riding you just need more practice (unless on a bent). I may just be jealous, i was never allowed to ride with a mirror because a family member died due to a bike rear view mirror, so my dad never let me have one growing up. it was a handle bar mounted one that hit her in the throat. clearly a one in a million, but i think i would find them annoying anyhow.
Here is a question, when looking over your shoulder, what do you NOT see?
Think about that for a moment before reading on....
dum de dum, la de la,
okay your back, lets continue....
The answer is simple, you don't see where you are going, when your looking over your shoulder you don't see that car door open into your path, you don't see that wheel eating pot hole, you don't see the little old lady with her walker who trotted out without looking, you don't see the tree branch fall into your path. At 15MPH, how many feet do you cover in 1 second? The answer is 22 feet, so in the 5 or 10 seconds your swinging your neck around you cover between 110 and 220 feet, there can be a lot of hazards in 220 feet. Your actually in more danger from looking around, then from a mirror.
A mirror that doesn't help, isn't set right, the mirror should be set so that in it you see the whole width of the road, like mirrors in cars, you need to check the mirror on a regular but periodic basis. This is actually an easy habit to get into, the only thing you might miss is something narrow that is right behind you, but if it's more then about 10' back, you will see it.
Helmet or glasses mounted mirrors are probably the most flexible, in that a slight turn of your head will show what is directly behind you, while still allowing you to see ahead in your peripheral vision.