Driving Tips From Gurus To Beginners Like Me

[Sidd7hartha]

Friends,I seek your advice regarding setting of IRVM. Will it be tilted towards right or towards left? The cause is changing lane in fast moving track from right to left is difficult [ to me ]. All cars moves like arrow and reluctant to give way. You can easily tell check your left ORVM. I do it and also take assistance of my co-passenger. But I see in some cars there is no left ORVM. Even one day while moving through a densely populated traffic condition my hired driver asked [ I was sitting beside him ] me to close left ORVM stating,closely moving cars may hit the mirror. I think you will advice me to set it [ IRVM] according to my need,but I would like know what is the general practice.

 

[GrandRk]

Friends,I seek your advice regarding setting of IRVM. Will it be tilted towards right or towards left? The cause is changing lane in fast moving track from right to left is difficult [ to me ]. All cars moves like arrow and reluctant to give way. You can easily tell check your left ORVM. I do it and also take assistance of my co-passenger. But I see in some cars there is no left ORVM. Even one day while moving through a densely populated traffic condition my hired driver asked [ I was sitting beside him ] me to close left ORVM stating,closely moving cars may hit the mirror. I think you will advice me to set it [ IRVM] according to my need,but I would like know what is the general practice.

Hi Sidd7hartha,

You should never ever close your Left or Right RVM. If cars passing by left side are close to you then move by some inches to right or else assume that you yourself are in wrong lane. You should always tilt IRVM in such an angle that you get maximum visibility of the actions happening behind your car.

For changing lane you should always check what is behind you by glancing at all three RVM's, once you know it then give proper indicator and still moving in your lane just check what is the reaction of vehicle behind you. If it slows down the you can change your lane at safer speed and once you reach in your desired lane then make sure you turn off the indicator.

 

[Sidd7hartha]

Friends please advice on the right placement of ORVMs. Should I place them to view a portion of rear of my car or keep it [ Car body ] out of sight allowing only the rear view. Please advice on the best method to place the Car near the curb if by fault it is placed a bit far from the curb. In this case I usually put the car on reverse gear,place left/right ORVM to view rear wheel and bring the rear wheel near curb and then turn steering wheel to straighten the car.

 

[Kichu]

Friends please advice on the right placement of ORVMs. Should I place them to view a portion of rear of my car or keep it [ Car body ] out of sight allowing only the rear view. Please advice on the best method to place the Car near the curb if by fault it is placed a bit far from the curb. In this case I usually put the car on reverse gear,place left/right ORVM to view rear wheel and bring the rear wheel near curb and then turn steering wheel to straighten the car.

I found the most useful way is my adjusting in just a way that only a small portion of the car body is visible in the mirror, rest of the portions will be giving a wide view behind.

Attaching a sample image.

While reversing the ORVM will be adjusted to downwards, again in such a way that a portion of rear wheels are visible.

Regards.,

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

In Indian Driving conditions, with respect to Swift's body design ,rear quarter panel is bit more projected out,hence the focus of ORVM can be adjusted to that side 60%.
Objects projecting out like Steel rods transported in mini vans, Side Electric posts,etc can hit the rear quarter panel,and can cause scratches.

Also in heavy traffic, better to fold in the ORVMS,if reverse camera is linked within stereo,we can switch on that for better monitoring of traffic,Traffic in right side can be viewed via IRVM,as we genereally tend to drive keeping the left side.

 

[parth1231]

Also in heavy traffic, better to fold in the ORVMS,....

I would never do that,as the IRVM will have some blind spots which are not good if some bikers are moving close by your sides.

 

[Sidd7hartha]

I found the most useful way is my adjusting in just a way that only a small portion of the car body is visible in the mirror, rest of the portions will be giving a wide view behind.
Regards.,

What is the use of keeping this small rear portion visible? Do you follow the same position for Left ORVM. In a driving video on youtube it is suggested to place the the ORVMs where rear of the car just vanishes. But origin of those videos are from western countries. so I seek your view on Indian road condition. [thinking]

 

[TAIDhana]

It is essential to allow car to occupy slight portion of side view mirrors (~10% or so), since it provides a relative view.. i.e., position & distance of other vehicles w.r.t your car. If you remove your car from the sight, it becomes very difficult to judge approaching vehicles. It is further aggravated by the fact that in the side view mirrors "objects appears farther than they really are"..

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

IRVMs have blindspot i know that,but we can predict the movement once we are used to traffic scenario.
ORVM does't have one side fold option

 

[TAIDhana]

One more thought on judgment of approaching vehicles.. this time from opposite direction, especially during night drives.

I have done extensive highway driving, especially in 2-lane highways with moderate to heavy traffic and wanted to share this small piece of observation. In the night I found it lot more difficult to judge distance and speed of oncoming traffic & hence would exercise caution while over taking the moment I see an approaching vehicle. What I realized is that, in the day time we are able to make more accurate judgments viz-a-viz at night because:
1. Easier to recognize what type of vehicle & what speed / acceleration it is capable of (for example in the night, we may be able to judge oncoming vehicle is a car - but in day light we can easily know whether it is a slow mover or swift mover)
2. Better visibility of road conditions - pot holes, speed breakers, other surprise hinderance
3. More importantly, we can better judge 'relative' speed since visibility of stationary objects like road, trees, stones are much higher in the day light

In short, my philosophy for overtaking is simple, you think you can or can't - you will be right either way. But if you are not sure, better to be safe and wait for next opportunity. Thank you for reading

 

[grand_driver]

Some tips and encouragement for newbie!!

Hi,
I bought my first car, a Hyundai Grand i10, in August, 15, and started driving alone from mid November, taking my car to office daily and occasional visits to other places.
I will admit that I face no problem driving in crowded road, even in market areas. So, I am quite confident with my driving now, specially moving forward, taking turns, U turns, perpendicular parking (still improving ).
But when new situations arise, like, while re-filling fuel, i wanted to check tyre pressure, i had to take a sharp U turn in petrol pump itself. And they made a separator kind of thing for vehicles queuing up. I took U, then reversed a bit, then again moved forward steep right and ended up my rear wheel touching end of separator. They moved the separator to right a bit and i was good to go. So i am still not sure what i had to do there. May be i had to go back a little more, to successfully enter that space.So when these kind of situations arise, i am unsure how to tackle. I dont have that judgement yet.
I have never done parallel parking till date. So i am really scared of that first day i will have to do that, since in my office area, the space you get for your car is very tight.

Does this kind of things happen to all new drivers? because sometimes i feel, after driving regularly for 3 months, i should have better judgement on few things, than i actually have and I get disappointed on myself. Few tips and experiences will definitely help.

PS. I am the first driver in family. So have got none from family to advice.

 

[pravin1987]

Re: Some tips and encouragement for newbie!!

All you have to do is keep on driving and be confident. Cars have blind spots with bulges and curves on their body. Only when you practice can make you perfect. Do not panic.

 

[chevrolet]

Re: Some tips and encouragement for newbie!!

Happens during initial months, our driving school wont teach such things.Also many places like underground parkings,ramps,petrol bunks are designed wrong.
Always keep cool,some morons will honk and make learners to commit mistake. Make good use of the side mirrors.
When you are free , park your car in your garage, sit in the driver seat, examine how things are from the seat ( things like visibility of objects from the car bonnet,rear, left and right end of rear bumper, Left end of front bumper.)
Then get down,see them from the outside and compare them in your mind. You will see there will be difference than you have seem from inside the cabin.
After this you will get a picture of your car with the surroundings.

Also if you have space try parking exercises.

 

[sethumurugan]

as chevrolet mentioned lot of things are not thought by our driving schools which we will learn ourselves on our daily activities.

regarding fuel statoin related, i could not understand more from your post, first try to fill in the same fuel station for some time which will help you to just go park in the correct place and fill. this will help you to fill fuel without much of issues. and if it happens to go to new fueling station dont go fast into the fuel station. go slow from. extreem left. this will give you time to study the q or bay in which you need to fill according to your fuel tank.

parking is very simple. as i have told go to left or right (not to extreem since you may block. the road) and in. first attempt park exactly. this comes by practice.

being a new driver learn how to drive slowly or stop without decsending or ascending. in a crowded bridge. now a days most of the mall and multiplexes have their. parking in under ground. always there will be a huge line piled up while exiting or. entering and if you. landup in the. ramp you. should be able to manage that just with clutch and accelator without breaks.

 

[chevrolet]

Last week a guy killed 2 persons in chennai, when he lost control of his santro which was coming out of a complex parking.