How often should you check your mirrors while driving?

Checking your mirrors regularly, at least every 5 to 8 seconds, is important for maintaining awareness of your surroundings while driving. This frequency allows you to monitor the behavior of vehicles around you, spot potential hazards, and gauge traffic conditions. By incorporating this habit, drivers can react more effectively to any changes, such as another vehicle approaching from behind or a pedestrian entering the roadway, thereby enhancing overall safety.

In contrast, checking mirrors every 2 to 3 seconds may lead to distractions from the road ahead, leaving less attention for direct driving tasks. Checking every 10 to 15 seconds could result in missing critical changes in traffic, increasing the risk of accidents. Lastly, relying on mirror checks only when changing lanes is insufficient for safe driving; this approach neglects the need for ongoing situational awareness required in dynamic driving environments. Thus, the recommended practice of checking mirrors every 5 to 8 seconds strikes a balance between maintaining awareness and staying focused on the road.