It’s easy to get confused by the images created in one’s driving mirrors.
I noticed the other day what looked like a single blue car (1) in my door mirror -just about to pass me on a dual carriageway. Looking forward through the screen, a moment later, I could see it had overtaken (2).
Since it was apparently the only other car on the road. I was just about to pull out into the overtaking lane myself. Only then did I notice that the blue blur seen peripherally in my door mirror (which I’d somehow associated with the passing vehicle) was actually a second, almost identical blue car which had been following the first.
Today’s invention attempts to overcome this powerful, and dangerous, illusion (A perceptual blindspot: I’d looked in my mirror and still thought it safe to pull out).
The problem is that the mirror is insufficiently identified with the view backwards -especially when the colour in it is the same as that seen through the screen. The mirror is being misinterpreted as a window.
One way to stop this is shown in 3, where there is a gap between mirror and car and a bright support arm runs behind the mirror, making it almost impossible to see this as transparent.
