How to judge the distance of the rear car by looking at the rearview mirror?
2 Answers
Here are the methods to judge the distance of the rear car by looking at the rearview mirror: If the rear car is closer to you: The less area of the rear car the driver sees, the closer it is to the outer side of the rearview mirror. If the rear car is farther from you: The more complete area of the rear car the driver sees, the closer it is to the inner side of the rearview mirror. There are four specific methods to judge the distance using the left rearview mirror: First, take the center of the left rearview mirror as the reference line; when the body of the rear car is on the left side of the reference line and cannot be fully seen, the distance is approximately 5 meters; when the rear car is on the left side of the reference line and can be fully seen, the distance is approximately 10 meters; when the car is on the left side of the reference line, and there is a width of one car between the car in the rearview mirror and the left edge of the rearview mirror, the distance is approximately 15 meters; when there is a width of two cars between the car and the left edge of the rearview mirror, the distance is approximately 20 meters.
After driving for so many years, I've always used the rearview mirror to judge the distance of the car behind me, and there's quite a bit of nuance to it. The method involves observing the size change of the following car in the mirror—the smaller the car appears, the farther away it is. On the highway, if the outline of the following car occupies a small part of the mirror, there's probably a safe distance of several dozen meters. If it fills the mirror, it might be just about ten meters away, which is very dangerous. I also habitually refer to the position of the car's lights—if I can clearly see the entire shape of the car, the distance is okay. If only the license plate is vaguely visible, it means it's very close and I need to slow down. Usually, I practice the three-second rule by timing how long it takes my car to pass a fixed point on the roadside. If it's less than three seconds, I need to be cautious. Developing good habits can help avoid rear-end collisions. I recommend that beginners try this a few times on empty roads to get familiar with the feeling—it will become accurate with practice. Remember, maintaining a safe distance while driving is more important than anything else—never crowd too close.
