Quote: Originally posted by Biosdoctor on 02/6/2008
I use them, and can see a lot more with them on, although I use the car mirrors as well
I tried 3 or 4 types to find a set I liked, and settled on the ones HERE .
Some I tried made no difference, some vibrated that much it was impossible to see properly, which may be why some people don't use them.
Cheers
Paul
Thats the same as I have bought after trying a few on my car at the shop. Best of all I got them for a tenner less than Towsure, I only paid £14.65 for the pair from Waudby's HERE
Its showing as out of stock on the website, but . . . I'd been emailing them about stock of a load of things I wanted, and they said they were out of stoock of the mirrors. But when I went there, I found 4 more sets that had been stacked under a load of other different ones so was able to buy them after all!
Read this thread a few days ago. We have a 4x4 and a caravan a couple of inches narrower than a normal caravan. I can see down both sides of the caravan with the normal mirrors, and even with a low van and a higher seating position the view through the back window is limited. Had toyed with not bothering with the towing mirrors in the past, so interested to see how good they are. Did a long drive on Friday, on a quiet, straight stretch of the A1 it was amazing how much more I could see with the towing morrors, it was only then I realised that I did really need them. There are significant blind spots without them. I could see vehicles about to overtake before they pulled out. I do need a better set of mirrors that do not vibrate so much.
I can only conclude that the average car caravan combo does need good towing mirrors, yet there were an amazing number of caravans being towed without them. As has been pointed out above, those without towing mirrors probably never look behind them anyway.
would not tow without mine on.the law says a good view down each side of the van.i say i want to see all two lanes of motorway behind as well.if you dont have a nearside one on how do you see whats coming down the slip roads?
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Agree, there is no need to argue about the finer points of the law, what matters is how safe you and your family are and doing all you can to inprove it whilst towing. A good set of towing mirrors will improve rear view and improve safety.
Can't understand why people are against them at all, it's not as if they cost much or take long to fit\remove.
Precisely Tony. When mandatory use of seat belts was introduced some people found all sorts of reasons to argue against them. All competition drivers use them and the only downside to everyone using seat belts is that so many fewer people die in accidents as a result, that there are far fewer fatalities on the road to provide organ donations.
I have always used mirrors on the car, plus extension mirrors as it does give you an added viewpoint. At the beginning of this year I bought a pair of the mirrors from Argos, these are extremly steady and have a larger mirror size than most which gives me about 60% better rear view vision through the mirrors. (just got the new argos catalogue and they are in there again now so well worth getting a set! cat no. 018/0425 £16.99, not on the website yet)
Generally speaking if the car behind you cannot see your mirrors then you cannot see him, as already mentioned, if you look at most of the wagons and buses these days you will see they have additional mirrors to enhance thier view as well.
As far as legality goes it is down to interpretation of what is adequate or not if a Police officer stops you and he believes you do not have adequate vision then you will get fined and points added to your licence.
Another point about having extended wing mirrors is that it is also a good reminder of the width of your unit, if you can get the car 'ears' through then the back end should be just as easy! (-; Unfortunately unlike cats and dogs we cannot get the caravan to breath in to get through the tightest of entrances to sites etc! lol
On reading the latest CC magazine had to add it to this thread.
For those in the club page 33 will find the letter from a serving police traffic officer.
For those who don't have the magazine the gist of the story is that he and a colleague were on patrol in North Norfolk and received an urgent call to proceed quickly across country.
It was obviously the day everyone was leaving the CC Club national rally and yes you can guess they incurred many problems trying to overtake outfits.
Many drivers seemed to ignore the flashing lights, sirens etc and the common factor amongst these was that they were mainly 4 x 4's with NO extension mirrors fitted!
His advice is this if "I am sitting behind you at a safe distance and cannot see your extension mirrors you cannot see me".He is obviously perfectly correct in his comments and goe's on to say because of the lack of mirrors drivers therefore cannot pull over close to the kerb verge etc because they cannot see the full width of there outfit.
In summing up his advice is to buy mirrors if only to save scratching your van and also help him and his colleagues when they are ans wering someones call for help.
Before people "jump on the band wagon"sl*gging the police I might add that he opens his letter with the comment "I am always defending caravanners rights but today I was unable to defend their actions"
Hi Dave, I do not get the club magazine but agree wholeheartedly with the comments that you have posted from the Police officer concerned.
As I have always, wing mirror extensions do enhance your rear view.
Obviously in the case of emergency services trying to get somewhere fast we need to be able to see behind just as much as we do ahead of us.
I have met many Police officers both in a professional capacity and on caravan sites and this is one of the subjects that is often discussed along with bad loading, we as caravanner's should always try to do our best to be prepared for all eventualities and to my way of thinking missing out on an item you can get for around £20 to enhance both yours and other peoples safety is money well spent.
Thanks for letting us know about the article. Was it the CC or C&CC publication? cheers PP
Quote: Originally posted by Davebelcanto on 03/8/2008
The letter is on page 33 in the latest Caravan club magazine.
Would be interested in comments from the "don't need extension mirror brigade".
Dave
You and me Both Dave. Must try and get a copy of the article, will e-mail CC and ask for permission to reproduce it on my website as well, safety is uppermost in all things concerning roads as far as I am concerned!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Fun survey- 50% without mirrors
