Anyone with a learner may have heard the term head check or blind spot check during lessons with an instructor. You may have asked yourself what do they mean? And why do them?
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For many of the older generation you may have been taught to check your side mirrors. I can certainly remember my instructor yelling at me to check the mirrors before you move. So why is this not enough anymore?
Mirrors are good to check, and we still instruct learners to first check their mirrors before moving in any direction, however they are more of a long-range view of what could be in your way.
For a long time now, we have taught blind spot checks or head checks to accompany a mirror check to look into a short-range view of what is hidden in the blind spot of the mirror and the car. These blind spots can hide many things including an entire vehicle, truck or motorbike rider or cyclist.
A good activity to do with your learner, or with anyone, sit in the driver's seat of your car, and get the other person to stand next to the passenger's front door, outside of the car. You will see them in the left side mirror. However, ask them to step one metre to the left and you will not see them at all. They are now in the blind spot of the vehicle. You only need to move the vehicle one metre to injure or kill someone. Trucks and buses have larger blind spot areas and it is not wise to travel in these blind spots as the driver will not see you in their mirrors.
Blind spot checks are performed whenever you move left, right or rear. They are also performed just before entering an intersection to check there are no vehicles running red lights or coming through a stop or give way. We require these intersection head checks to reduce the risk of injury or death and they are extremely important to teach the learners, as many P-platers are the innocent party in intersection accidents because they trust everyone will obey the road rules. They do not anticipate the unusual scenarios of ambulance, police and emergency services entering a red light, or a criminal running the red light.
The head checks are quick shoulder checks into the blind spot of the direction you are moving to identify any danger that may be in the space before you move into it. Please encourage learners to do these head checks to help them stay safe on the road.
