If you can't see my mirrors - I can't see you
Traveled down from South Yorkshire to Newport Pagnell to pick up Grandson. Wife (Joyce) and I decided to play a new game of spot the towing vehicle without extended rear view mirrors.I think the boys in blue are missing out on a Little earner? We spotted
33 and no they wern't all 4x4. One thing i'm not sure about is what is the situation with pick-ups pulling horseboxes or trailers of anykind because of none of them had them fitted.One thing we couldn't see is wheather they were club members?
Steve
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The law requires the driver to be able to see down and past both sides of the trailer so extension mirrors are not necessarily needed but usually are when towing something as wide as a caravan.
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In the years I towed Rice Trailers with horses - we never used extenders but those trailers are nothing like a wide as a caravan except possibly the wheels and mud guards so vision isn't blocked. Sadly the boys in Bue have more serious stuff to keep them busy these days - but it is such bad practice not being able to see behind you. I forgot mine the other day leaving a site - and it was only about 100 yds before I realised I couldn't see! Soon put it right!
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I keft a site last year and because of the twisty road made up of bends and no straights I must have travelled nearly 5 miles before I reached a straight bit and realised.
Write your comments here...Nice one Easy what did you realise? the van wasn't there.lol
Steve
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Please accept my mistake of a double post.
Steve
Moderator Edit:
No problems Steve. Your duplicate thread has been Deleted User.
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I have a bit of a habit of forgetting the mirrors on leaving a site, I think its going through all the have I's and did I's regarding the caravan and forgetting the car.
Always realise it within a few yards on a straight road when I check their alignment and find they're not there
mind you I never get a reminder from my wife neither 
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I dont think in nearly 40 years of being in the horsey world I have ever seen a horse trailer being towed by a vehicle with tow mirrors on. The legal requirement is to see all the areas within the required field of vision. Most horse trailers are heavy
enough to need a meaty, usually wide, tow vehicle and are, as has already been said, a lot narrower than most caravans.We tow with a wide 4x4 and could probably see most of the required field without them, but wouldnt tow without mirrors, it just seems madness to do so - but then I suppose its down to choices - like changing tyres 5 yearly or towing at 85% etc
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Traveled down from South Yorkshire to Newport Pagnell to pick up Grandson. Wife (Joyce) and I decided to play a new game of spot the towing vehicle without extended rear view mirrors.I think the boys in blue are missing out on a Little earner? We spotted
33 and no they wern't all 4x4. One thing i'm not sure about is what is the situation with pick-ups pulling horseboxes or trailers of anykind because of none of them had them fitted.One thing we couldn't see is wheather they were club members?Steve
Steve while i see what your saying do you really think the " the boys in blue" would be best employed harassing motorists on something as trivial as this ? Also its part of the road traffic act and therefore not a law.Also take the scenario that by just
turning the car a couple of degree,s off straight renders one of the mirrors completely useless now where does the "law" stand on that one i wonder.Many driver tow perfectly well without extended mirrors and thats their choice so i dont think its something
we should criticise or make an issue of.peter.
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Traveled down from South Yorkshire to Newport Pagnell to pick up Grandson. Wife (Joyce) and I decided to play a new game of spot the towing vehicle without extended rear view mirrors.I think the boys in blue are missing out on a Little earner? We spotted
33 and no they wern't all 4x4. One thing i'm not sure about is what is the situation with pick-ups pulling horseboxes or trailers of anykind because of none of them had them fitted.One thing we couldn't see is wheather they were club members?Steve
Steve while i see what your saying do you really think the " the boys in blue" would be best employed harassing motorists on something as trivial as this ? Also its part of the road traffic act and therefore not a law.Also take the scenario that by just
turning the car a couple of degree,s off straight renders one of the mirrors completely useless now where does the "law" stand on that one i wonder.Many driver tow perfectly well without extended mirrors and thats their choice so i dont think its something
we should criticise or make an issue of.peter.
Write your comments here...Hi Volvo i quite agree the boys in blue shouldn't be having to stop vanners for not having exteneded rear view mirrors but i think it is illegal to tow without vision down the side of your trailer/van.It could be as bad as driving
whilst using a phone I think this was highlighted last year by the plonker that tried exiting the M5 but didn't see the HGV at the side of him.Steve
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I really do not understand why caravanners (and others) tow without being able to see what is going on behind them, especially on motorways.
We have always (since 1971) used extended mirrors that hook onto the wing (beside the bonnet) and the wheel arch, this gives me an excellent view.
On our recent trip some other tower even comented on how good this type of set up was and that more people should use it.
Some of the other arrangements just do not give a good view of what is going on behind you.
We are towing a T/A Sterling Searcher with a Volvo XC90.
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I cannot see that the problem is trivial. Without extending mirrors your view is restricted and this is a potential dangerous practice.
Most police forces are looking for a few easy targets to get their figures up and caravans without extending mirrors look like an easy target. Probably the problem is that it is the urban police who look for the easy arrests and it is the motorway where the problem is most visible and where stopping them is more dangerous.
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KjNell -- can you still buy those mirrors? They were the best! You didn't have to turn your head so far to keep checking behind - I find particularly with the nearside that I can't keep one eye on the road ahead and one on the mirror - especially difficult
hoping to catch the lorry flashing you in after overtaking on the motorway. Hmm if I clear out my garage I might find mine!0 -
As KjNell says those wing mirrors were far better and particularly in heavy rain where your vire was through an area swept by the wipers. I stopped using them when I had a car with insufficient space between bonnet and wing.
To top without being able to see up the sides of the van is dangerous. In my mind it is often the nearside that can present the biggest problem. On the last tow I pulled into the second lane of a motorway to let half a dozen cars on. I was doing just
over 60mph. The last cne had decided to accelerate hard and come up my inside at the time I was just about to pull over having signalled my intent. With my nearside door mirror I was aware and otherwise it would have become quite noisy.0 -
I used to have a set of 'wheel arch' mirrors. They were far superior to the type I have now which are forever slipping in blustery conditions.
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KjNell -- can you still buy those mirrors? They were the best! You didn't have to turn your head so far to keep checking behind - I find particularly with the nearside that I can't keep one eye on the road ahead and one on the mirror - especially difficult hoping to catch the lorry flashing you in after overtaking on the motorway. Hmm if I clear out my garage I might find mine!
Not sure Pippa, we bought a set at our dealer when we bought our previous van in 1998, we had a Volvo 940 at the time. I certainly have not seen them around for a while.
We did have a similar set way back in the 70s, not sure what happened to them......could well be languishing in the loft!
You are right about not having to turn your head so much, that is what I especially like about them.
When we moved to an XC90 in 2007 the old mirrors did not fit well so, at great expense, we ordered the similar Volvo XC90 ones. We still have them, but the heads are not the originals as 2 buses finished them off.
Luckily we found that the Milenco Aero heads were a good replacement with a little bit of DIY creativity.
Then, in 2010, visiting Norway, my cousin gave me an old set of the same type as he had sold his caravan, so I should have plenty of them to choose from in the future!
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Bring back the wheel arch mirrors!
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Mirrors need to be adjustable from the car
Really . . . ? No way can I reach over far enough to adjust the nearside mirror so it is a case of stop and get out anyway.
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I consider extended mirrors to be detrimental to road safety in as much that the field of vision of all the types I have had are worse than the car ones plus vibration makes them useless. I feel safer using the car ones
...As long as you also have extended mirrors fitted then you will be legal if stopped , ifyou wart to have quite large blind spot by not useing them thats on your conscience
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the reality is my clip on jobs have a much bigger blind spot than the car ones, plus as your eye is drawn to the extended ones you not only have a big blind spot but poor vision due to vibration
I don't find the Milenco Aero ones vibrate much at all. I think both the car and the extension need to be used in conjunction. Although not so good for things close too, the extensions allow me to see significantly further behind, when pulling out, or in, on a motorway.
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I consider extended mirrors to be detrimental to road safety in as much that the field of vision of all the types I have had are worse than the car ones plus vibration makes them useless. I feel safer using the car ones
Write your comments here...Hi spk i agree that some rearview mirrors are swine to see with,I've got a pile of them in the garage ones you strap onto the cars mirrors ones that stick on the mirrors now i've got milenco aeros and once set seem to be ok.It's
a pity they bring out these things that are supposed to protect us and we can't be bothered to use them?It's a bit like seatbelts who would have thought they would catch on I thought these are detrimental to road safety when they came out.
.Steve
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I consider extended mirrors to be detrimental to road safety in as much that the field of vision of all the types I have had are worse than the car ones plus vibration makes them useless. I feel safer using the car ones
I don't know what mirrors you use, but my Milenco are great, not completely vibration free, but almost .... far far better that the last set I had that strapped directly to the car's mirror
I was late with my reply
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lMirrors need to be adjustable from the car so wheel arch ones are no longer legal or so I am told. They also need to have EU approval for most cars and given the age of wheel arch mirrors they will not have that.
Write your comments here...Hi Wildwood one of the cars we saw towing had this type of mirror fitted.So was he legal or illegal.
Steve
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I wonder how a police officer would be able to determine what a driver could see in mirrors, extended or otherwise. I was once stopped by police for not having any additional mirrors but pointed out they were not needed to obtain the field of view required
by law. They wasted a lot of their time arguing until I told them exactly where and how they had turned around to follow me and they were totally lost that one could see right through a caravan from the interior mirror of a Land Rover.0
