How to Avoid Blind Spots and Blind Spot Accidents?

A Blind Spot is a physical phenomenon that all drivers experience daily. As per several surveys conducted so far, thousands of road accidents occur due to the mishandling of vehicles due to these blind spots. Sadly, some of these mishaps lead to a loss of life and grave injuries to the occupants of the vehicles. What's even more unfortunate is that most of these accidents could have been avoided had the drivers been aware of avoiding blind spots and blind spot accidents. Therefore, in our guide here, we will explain this naturally occurring phenomenon in detail and how it can be prevented. Read till the end!

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What is a blind spot, and how does it result in so many accidents?

In order to keep yourself and your car occupants safe on the road, it is necessary to understand what is a blind sport and how it leads to the occurrence of so many accidents every year. One of the simplest driving rules is that you should not steer out of your lanes unless there is enough room to do so safely. Obviously, the only way to figure this out is to use the rearview mirrors; both internal and external, as the vehicles behind you and the ones passing you on either side are visible in these mirrors. However, there is a small area not covered by any of these mirrors, which is known as blind spot. As is self-explanatory, a blind spot is simply an area that neither your naked eyes nor your car's mirrors can cover.

The vehicles in front are in your field of vision, while most of the ones behind are seen in your rearview mirror. Meanwhile, the vehicles that are overtaking you from either side can be seen in the external rearview mirrors. When a car behind you comes into an area that is not covered by any of the rearview mirrors, the problem is you'll be unaware of the proximity of the vehicle. You might end up making a lane-changing maneuver that is potentially dangerous.

When anything is in your blind spot, it gets impossible to see it unless you turn your head back, which, again, is dangerous as you need to keep your eyes on the road ahead all the time. This is exactly why blind spots turn out to be so dangerous and become a cause of many mishaps - Drivers change their lanes based on the belief that the direction in which they're moving has no traffic, but because of the proximity of the vehicle that has been hidden in the blind spot, accidents take place.

As the car starts approaching you from behind, it will be visible in your mirror(s) for a lot of time until it reaches a point where it won't be visible anymore. This is exactly what is called a blind spot, and the only way to see this car is through turning your head backward, which, again, is something we don't recommend. As the car continues to overtake you, it will soon get back into the field of view of your mirrors. There are many parts of your car that result in blind spots, including the pillars and frames of the door.

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It's also imperative to understand that even you could be in the blind spot of some driver. Hence, you need to be a bit careful when approaching a car from behind to avoid being in his blind spot and instead of being clearly visible in the ORVMs. In case you need to overtake, do that carefully and swiftly. But extra carefulness is required especially if you're near large vehicles. Someone driving a truck will have much larger blind spots than what a car driver experiences. Hence, it's important to be careful around such large vehicles.

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How to Avoid Blind Spots and Blind Spot Accidents?

While blind spots are decidedly dangerous, thankfully, there are many ways to avoid them, even if you can't eliminate them. Below are some steps to prevent blind spots and the accidents that might occur due to this phenomenon-

Adjust Your Mirrors

Ensure your mirrors are adjusted properly and give you the best possible field of view when you start driving.

Know Your Blind Spot

Once you have set your mirrors, try to figure out the spots that the mirrors aren't covering. This way, you can be careful right from the start of the drive about the areas that are not covered by the mirrors.

Wait to Pull Out

You can minimise the risk of accidents due to blind spots by waiting a bit before you make a lane-changing maneuver.

Look Over Your Shoulder

Turning your head around and trying to spot a car in the blind spot is a risky affair, but you can always manage a quick look over your shoulder to try and spot any vehicle before you change direction. If you don't see a car in your mirrors, you will see it through the side window. A rapid glance is enough.

Use Technology

These days, many high-end vehicles come with blind-spot monitors that help you check for vehicles in the areas not covered in the ORVMs by spotting them through a set of cameras. One can rely on these systems heavily but without taking the eyes off the road.

Keep in Mind the Blind Spots of Other Drivers

As we said, it's also necessary to ensure your safety by avoiding being in blind spots of other drivers, which, to a large extent, is inevitable. However, you can surely plan your overtaking by avoiding being too close to the vehicle or passing it slowly. Overtaking should be done swiftly and carefully. The less time you take, the better. Be extra careful around large vehicles such as trucks.

Be Aware of Two-wheeler

Even if your four-wheeler is not too big, it can still have blind spots large enough to conceal a two-wheeler. This can be deadly for motorcyclists, and hence, you need to be very careful when changing lanes with two-wheelers around.

With this, we hope we have been able to tell you How to Avoid Blind Spots and Blind Spot Accidents. Are you planning to purchase a second-hand car? If so, we, at CARS24, can not only provide you with a wide range of used Ford cars to choose from but also sort out all the documentation, including the RC transfer, totally free of cost. What's more, you can also use our free used car value calculator to find out the correct value of any car on sale in the country.