meic wrote:Meanwhile on a bike you just look wherever you like, easy peasy.
Not on my bike you dont ............
I ride a recumbent trike. I cannot just look over my shoulder and see right behind me because my back is up against a seat. Its why I have a mirror on both front mudguards.
meic wrote:Meanwhile on a bike you just look wherever you like, easy peasy.
Not on my bike you dont ............
I ride a recumbent trike. I cannot just look over my shoulder and see right behind me because my back is up against a seat. Its why I have a mirror on both front mudguards.
As I previously said I have been using mirrors on my rides for years. I know three are compulsory on cars and rightly so. However I'd stick at making them compulsory on an upright bike. On all three of my recumbents it was blindingly obvious to me that I needed mirrors to be safe, so I fitted them, one each side plus my glasses mounted one. A friend has problems looking over his shoulder due to a stiff neck and uses a helmet mounted mirror as well as a bar mounted one. The idea of introducing more compulsory equipment to bikes is liable to lead to yet more blame being attached to the cyclist in any collision if that equipment is missing or below par in its quality.
"I thought of that while riding my bike." -Albert Einstein, on the Theory of Relativity
Thinking about it, there may be regs with respect to goods vehicles, and perhaps vans and cars produced after 2000 and something. But other than that, I stand by my statement.
So, yes, Kwackers, it could be an age thing.
I've just tried to find something on the web about it, but I got lost!
So we're both right: Obligatory mirrors Obligatory mirrors are a. an exterior mirror fitted to the offside (right-hand side when seated in the drivers seat),
or
b, an exterior mirror fitted to the nearside (left hand side when seated In the drivers seat),
Under the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 a normal car must have an internal mirror plus an external one on the drivers side (there are caveats such as an external one on passenger side when internal one of no use). I think this has been the position since 1978; not sure what was in place before that.
And for completeness, vehicles which were first used before 1 June 1978 (or in the case of a Ford Transit motorcar, 10 July 1978) which is either a bus, a dual purpose vehicle, or a goods vehicle they must have at least one external on the offside and at least one either internal or external on the nearside. Cars first used before 1 June 1978 must have at least one mirror fitted either internally or externally.
