Keep your head up and level !!. Look straight ahead .. Very very important

Yep, there are many 'short sighted' drivers out there. They're easy to spot usually, they can't keep it straight in the lane, not smooth on the curves and more importantly they don't see the cop on the shoulder, the debris on the road or the sea of brake lights until they're right on top of them. They probably dirty their underpants when they go through construction zones with narrow lanes.

And then there's the ones who don't see those things early because they can't see past the vehicle ahead of them.

I agree your main focus should be far ahead but I totally disagree with the idea of not looking in your mirrors. I don't count the seconds from the vehicle in front of me and I don't count the seconds between checking mirrors. But if I see that I'm going to have to change lanes because of something going on 20 or 30 seconds ahead of me I don't want to be surprised by what I see in the mirrors.

Main focus far ahead, as much space around you as possible and know what the traffic is like behind you. Stay out of the pack as much as possible.

Someone mentioned flashy lights coming up behind you, there have been numerous times I've seen emergency vehicles have trouble getting through traffic because people don't watch mirrors.

 

If you ride in the middle lane holding up traffic then you don’t have to worry about so much traffic in front of you. I’m so glad more people are learning this.

 

YOU'RE IN MY BLIND SPOT!!!A

 

Driving a 65mph truck, he doesn't need to worry about tailgaters.....

 

You’re right. My truck is governed. Hahaha.

Joking aside. Stevens used to govern their trucks at 62 (now 64). After two years it goes up to 66. Some more experienced drivers can have it to 68 or 70. I don’t remember. Owner operators are not bound by these rules (for the most part). Last time I was at Stevens was mid last year.

 

I caught up with a couple real slow 4 wheelers one day on a 2 lane road. Pulled right out to go around them when 1 of them decides to turn left directly in front of me! While standing on the brakes, I was leaning up over wheel looking down at that car to make sure I missed him! Not sure if it hurt my back but my backside may have got a little dirty...

 

I still miss those queen size beds!

The others largely covered the issue. Mirror glances actually makes sense physiologically, too. It's far quicker to verify what you are aware of with a glance than to have to process that raw information in an emergency.

But I'm more worried about not having an accident than who's gonna be liable for it. Safety departments worry over compliance and liability, and those don't have as much to do with safe operation as they'd like you to think.

 

As I have already mentioned, there are several situations where it is reasonable to check your side mirrors. What I am disagreeing with is checking your side mirrors every few seconds while on the freeway. I think that is bad advice. Your liability is ahead of you. What’s behind you is the liability of the vehicles behind you.

I had a case last year on the freeway far from the city where a four-wheeler lost control while trying to pass me. His vehicle swerved and hit my front bumper. He told the cops I hit him even though I told him my truck was equipped with a dash cam. When I look back at this accident, I believe that me not knowing his vehicle was out of control potentially saved his life or from becoming permanently disabled. He could have easily rolled over, but instead his vehicle swerved smoothly after taking out my front bumper.

By the way, this is the only accident I’ve ever had on a public road and after six years of driving. Even without the camera, I would have won the case as there were two witnesses describing what had really happened. The driver was apparently sleepy and driving really fast. My point is that even if you know there is a speeder or erratic driver coming your way, it doesn’t mean you can make things better.

 

Again... I'm worried about no accident, not about liability. That's served me well for 30+ years and 3+ million miles.

How often to check doesn't just depend only on what type of road you're on. A stacked up freeway at reduced speed needs only minimal mirror checks. That same road at moderate volume but higher speeds? You better be on your toes!

But hey, if it's a fatality, and they were liable, at least I can sleep better knowing it wasn't on me, right?

Pure conjecture.

Here's a real world example from close to 30 years ago. Left the port at Lauderdale after unloading, headed north, mid-morning. Side road congestion apparently caused the ramp to back up, which caused a sudden slow down in the right lane. I'm slowing, and the right lane is stopping hard, and I see a car dive in front of a box truck that was already stopping very quickly. I knew the left lane was clear,(even though I wasn't supposed to be in it,) and a quick glance only a brief instant before I steered the truck to the left saved us. The box truck locked up his rears at the same time I went left, and rotated into our lane. My partner was still up, and said he was glad his hand wasn't on the back side of that mirror as we went by the sideways box.

If I'd had to look to see if that lane was clear, there wouldn't have been time to avoid that accident. That's not hypothetical, that's reality. The briefest hesitation would have meant contact. Only the fact that I knew that lane was clear allowed me to avoid that incident. Checking that mirror takes a fraction of a second, it's not like you need to stare at the mirror, it's using barely more than peripheral vision to check it. It's doing exactly what Smith teaches, I had my out. That box truck was only a car length or two in front of me when he got cut off. Even empty, I'm sure I couldn't have slowed rapidly enough to avoid him, which was my only other option. Liability would have been on him for intruding into my lane, and I'd have that accident on my record. I'll take the "no accident", TYVM.

I have exactly one accident, from early in my career, that was indirectly caused by my nubile young wife, laid out across the doghouse of a Pete 362 just like the one pictured above, in her birthday suit. And a 4 wheeler that came up a ramp in my blind spot, and stayed there. I wasn't checking my mirrors like I should have been. just sayin'