Surprisingly enough, this old dog learned this trick not more than five years ago. I had driven trucks before and was used to seeing the rear corners in the mirrors and dealt with the blind spot just outside the rear tractor wheels. Just thought it transfered to autos and was used to looking in the blind spot.

This changed when I had to drive one of the company cars, which had a huge B pillar that blocked the usual glance over the shoulder. American Car Maker shall remain unnamed. Do not argue with a $99 per year unlimited milage lease.

About that time, a friend who had spent a lot of time in Europe stopped by and in idle conversation bitching about autos in general, he showed me how to set the mirrors to cover the blind spot.

From trucking, it came natural to know what vehicle was where around me, and after about a week, it is now natural to "verify" every once in a while that the car coming up from behind left does show its same headlight in both mirrors at the same time.

Easy set up method. In your driveway, set the inside mirror to show you what is directly behind centered over the trunk deck.

Look in the left corner of the mirror and identify what you see, even looking out the door to verify. A tree, mailbox, something easliy identified and about that thin. If necessary, adjust the auto by swing it left or right slightly to place the object only in the left corner. Adjust the outside mirror to see the same object only on the inside. If you then look at what is at the outer edge of the mirror, you will find you do not have to turn your head very far at all to see it over your shoulder.

By the way, this also translates to the right side as well.

Now comes the hard part for about a week or so. You have to trust your setup, and concentrate every once in a while "when traffic allows" to watch someone overtaking you move through both mirrors. I even check alignment when parked since it is easy once you know the setup.

As an added bonus, some vehicles mirrors when adjusted this way allow you to see the tail end in the side mirror while with a 90 degree glance to the left you see the front of the same car. Ie in the 90 245 this happens, the 85 245 does not. 85 has as a smaller mirror.

Once you are used to the set up, you will wonder how you ever drove with them any other way. IMOP.

Duane