Objects in Mirrors are closer than they apear?

Question

Objects in Mirrors are closer than they appear, You find this on the mirror aside of your car, why is that why they did not make accurate mirror little bit less risky...

Answer 1

The answer rests upon matters of SAFETY and OPTICS.

The field of view of a FLAT mirror would be very limited. You would not see sideways enough for some left- or right-hand maneuvers. In order to give you that extra ability to see more to the side, they have to give you a slightly curved mirror. In fact, if you look carefully, you might even see a fine vertical line in your side-view mirrors, beyond which it curves even more; that extends the sideways field of view further still, at the expense of slightly squeezing the images in sideways there a bit also.

So, it's not an inability to "make a more accurate mirror, it's simply the incompatibility of getting a wider field of view and having "regular" flat mirror imagesat the same time.

You can see the same effect at home by looking at a shiny chrome object like a tea kettle or a tree ornament. If you hold it up close to you, you'll notice that you can see reflections of things as you look closer to the edge, that simply wouldn't be
there in a flat mirror of the same size held straight on. That's the "extra field of view." However, the images of other things in the room will look MUCH SMALLER than they would in a flat mirror. Your brain is much more used to appreciating relative distances in a flat mirror, because the images then appear "the same distance behind the mirror" as they are in the real world. You are used to interpreting that, almost instinctively. The warning is effectively saying "Please don't apply flat mirror image interpretations to what you see in this (curved) mirror!"

Live long and prosper.

Answer 2

Basically because of the shape of the mirror. Flat mirrors show true size, and many cars have them, but they often cause "blind spots" where you cannot see. Spherical mirrors eliminate these blind spots, by giving you a broader field of view, but spherical mirrors distort images so they appear to be far away.

Answer 3

you might have airplane mirrors in case you prefer, however the US Federal Motor service secure practices administration regulations area 571.111 S5.4.2 says a convex mirror could desire to have the warning. little question some fool had an accident and effectively blamed the mirror for their blunders.

Answer 4

Because you have to consider the distance between yourself and the mirror. And then, add that distance to the distance between the mirror and the reflected object. Because, that's the actual distance. If they made convex mirrors, your distance from the mirror would have to be just right or the reflection would appear obscure.

Answer 5

I don't know, but they did warn you.