Understanding how to set and use your RV’s mirrors to protect yourself and your rig is easy…when you know what to do!
How to Set and Use RV Mirrors to Stay Safely in Your Lane
If you’ve never driven anything bigger than a car, the closest you may have come to using specialized mirrors might be the slightly convex right-hand mirror on most cars.
You know… the ones that say “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” But how exactly do they work, and why can’t those convex mirrors do the job on a large vehicle?
Getting The Big Picture Means Understanding Your Camera
A major part of driving safely involves gathering and processing a lot of visual information. Understanding how mirrors fit into that big picture is more important than ever in a large vehicle like an RV. Everything requires more time: stopping, maneuvering, taking evasive action…so a better early warning system is required.
That “early warning system” is your eyes and your brain, gathering more information from more places than you may be used to. Mirrors are indispensable tools in that system. Understanding how to correctly adjust and use them is crucial to safely operating your RV.
This video uses multiple camera angles, including drone footage, synchronized with footage from a driver’s-eye view, to demonstrate with amazing clarity the all-important task of setting and using your RV’s mirrors.
Tips From a Retired Safety and Training Manager and Tour Bus Operator
As is typical with pre-retirement-age full-timers, I have a “past life” working more traditional non-mobile jobs. In one of those previous lives, I was both a professional driver and driving instructor.
I drove charter and tour buses in a big city and was Safety and Training Manager for one of the largest bus companies in North America.
I’ve hired and trained literally hundreds of professional motor coach operators, along with training and overseeing a team of instructors. I was also a regular competitor in the annual American Public Transit Association Bus Roadeo driving competition, winning a shelf full of trophies at both state and national levels.
The RVgeeks Driving School Video Series
Sharing tips on the operation of large vehicles and advanced defensive driving techniques is something we’re pleased to be adding to our portfolio of videos for our fellow RVers. Our goal is to make us all safer and more confident on the road.
If you missed the first video in the series, Off-Tracking and Rear Overhang, those conditions are caused by turning the steering wheel of a large vehicle. You can view that video here.
