Does such a law specify it HAS to be on the outside of the vehicle? A mirror on the back of each wheel fairing might actually work pretty well, and have no aerodynamic impact.
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Mirrors And Other "cheap" Stuff
- Thread starter Proud to be
- Start date
In my state, and many others, the law simply states that mirrors must be able to reflect to the drivers view 200 feet of road to the rear. As you can't actually see the back of the fender from the drivers seat a mirror there would likely not meet the legal requirement however if an officer did question you and you pointed to that mirror you would very likely get away with it.
I had always just assumed you could see the front wheels from the drivers seat. Not sure I love the idea of having the wheels protruding from the body if you can't see them for tight manuvering and/or near misses. Guess I can live with it, but would rather be able to see where the wheels are...In my state, and many others, the law simply states that mirrors must be able to reflect to the drivers view 200 feet of road to the rear. As you can't actually see the back of the fender from the drivers seat a mirror there would likely not meet the legal requirement however if an officer did question you and you pointed to that mirror you would very likely get away with it.
CRUZR
Elio Fan
If you raise the seat (for shorter folks) you can see a portion of the front fenders... :-)
zelio
Elio Addict
I suspect it is like anything else. Once you get used to it, you won't even notice that you know what you are doing. It will be automatic. :-) Z
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
Not reall "cheap", but could definitely add to the 'safety factor'.....me like!
Only problem I see with that idea is that they're attached to the suspension, not isolated from the bumps and vibration like they are on the body. Would probably drive you nuts trying to see what's behind you with them bouncing around.
Only problem I see with that idea is that they're attached to the suspension, not isolated from the bumps and vibration like they are on the body. Would probably drive you nuts trying to see what's behind you with them bouncing around.
Let me clarify a little bit to avoid confusion. If you are sitting in the P4's drivers seat the only part of the fender you can see is the very top which of course is not where you would want to mount a mirror if you wish to improve aerodynamics.
Because you can see the top of both fenders it is my opinion the Elio actually has better visibility of both front edges of the vehicle than most cars where, especially on the passenger side, you have to estimate where the edge of the vehicle is.
You are correct that mirrors on the fender would be useless. However we were discussing using them after removing the side mirrors and replacing them with cameras. The mirrors on the fenders would only be there to comply with laws requiring mirrors.
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
Gotcha! Guess I should've scrolled back a couple of pages before I threw in my 2.5 cents.
Okay, granted, the Elio is not a fighter jet, yet fighter jets have rearview/sideview mirrors. They're in an arc pattern (one center, one on either side) inside of the canopy. I wonder if "Johnny Law" would allow such a configuration in an Elio, possibly mounted on the A pillars. They'd still have functional sideview mirrors (skip the center one, unless you like checking yourself out while you're driving), but they'd be out of the airstream, easily adjustable, and out of the weather (no icing). Just throwing it against the wall to see if it sticks. o_O
That could possible work.
If I were to do this conversion I would likely just mount the camera and a small mirror to comply with legalities into the area vacated by the existing mirror bracket mount. This would create minimal air disturbance as I would likely just choose a thin vertical mirror with the camera mounted either above or below the mirror.