When you use your Driver Ed in a Box® course, we hope you notice and are using the two instructor mirrors that are included in the box. They’re two extremely valuable tools that will really help you while you train your teen in the vehicle. Maybe you you’re wondering why it’s so important to use the eye-check mirror, though.
You use that eye-check mirror to train your teen to check their mirrors before they slow the vehicle, to clear the intersections before they go through them, to keep your teen alert and aware of what’s going on in the traffic scene around them. Training your teen’s head and eye movement in this way is vital, because the fact is that, while people are are used to travelling at high speeds since we have been for decades now, our bodies are just not physically designed for it. Because of this, it takes extra effort to keep your peripheral vision at any speed that’s faster than a walking speed.
Moving your eyes and head to check your mirrors and clear the intersections does more than let you see what it is you’re looking at. Moving your eyes every couple seconds while you’re driving helps expand your peripheral vision, and therefore prevents you from getting a fixed stare, or “tunnel vision.” So, keep using that eye-check mirror to keep your teen moving their eyes and head!
Watch this video to see Patrick Barrett, the Driver Education Guru, explain more about the importance of the eye-check mirror.