Mirror, Indicate and Shoulder Check. Three words every driving instructor will use countless times a day. But what exactly is Mirror, Indicating and Shoulder Checking and what purpose does it serve?
Mirror, Indicate and Shoulder Check is the process a driver needs to complete before merging or changing lanes. As you can see for the image below the green highlighter area is the vision a driver would get from a mirror check. The reason for the shoulder check is to attain the red portion in the image known as the blind spot. A good way to think about it is that using your mirror will give you 90% of the information you need to make your decision and a shoulder check will provide you with the remaining 10% the mirror misses.
A common fault a learner driver will make is completing what I like to call an aggressive shoulder check. This is when the driver will turn there body in order to complete the shoulder check.The below link (although from America) demonstrates the correct method for a shoulder check.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uC3nCBq5X8
Mirror and shoulder checking is also important when you are in a right lane and a left lane is merging into yours. It is always a good idea to complete a quick check before the other lane ends. As we would all know some drivers get impatient behind a learner and will look and the left lane ending to get in front of the learner.
Safe Driving