A person 6 foot tall will find that the rear view mirror is immediately in a linear path from the eyes creating a blind spot to cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists to the right centre of the vehicle when driving. Several times I have had surprises of people who I did not see who emerged from the blind spot from behind the rear view mirror. I basically have to crouch a bit to look under the mirror to avoid accidents. If the mirror was placed higher, this would alleviate the problem. In the same way, the windshield does not extend high enough to see traffic signals when stopping at intersections, unless the intersection is very wide. Here again, one has to crouch down a bit to look under the upper rim of the windshield to see when the signal changes to green. The windshield and mirror design is biased towards short people.
A person 6 foot tall will find that the rear view mirror is immediately in a linear path from the eyes creating a blind spot to cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists to the right centre of the vehicle when driving. Several times I have had surprises of people who I did not see who emerged from the blind spot from behind the rear view mirror. I basically have to crouch a bit to look under the mirror to avoid accidents. If the mirror was placed higher, this would alleviate the problem. In the same way, the windshield does not extend high enough to see traffic signals when stopping at intersections, unless the intersection is very wide. Here again, one has to crouch down a bit to look under the upper rim of the windshield to see when the signal changes to green. The windshield and mirror design is biased towards short people.
- Bill T., Calgary, Alberta, canada