You often hear people say that you must move your head when you check your mirrors so that the examiner knows you’re doing it. Technically, this is completely untrue.
Only recently, I took a lad to test who was an absolute master at not moving his head, only his eyes. I’m not exaggerating, but he really only flicked his eyes. His head didn’t move even a millimetre. After his test I asked the examiner (in the lad’s presence) if he was happy with his checks because of the lack of head movement, and he said there was no problem at all.
Several years ago I had a girl who was the same. Again, she was not faulted once for mirror checks, even though she didn’t move her head one bit when she looked.
You see, examiners are trained to look for the mirror checks – not specifically the head movement. There is always the possibility that an inexperienced examiner might not pick up the checks, but I’ve never come across one. Obviously, head movement removes that particular doubt – but it definitely isn’t mandatory to do the nodding dog routine.
Far more important, though, is actually seeing what is there.
A few months ago I was on a lesson with a pupil and we were doing a reverse around a corner. At one point she looked down the road straight at a council jetting truck (the ones that suck drains clean), and carried on reversing. When she’d finished, I asked her if she’d seen it. She said “no”.
And some years ago now I can remember one lad who was busy looking down at the gearstick when I said “mirrors” at a junction. I cracked up when he waved his head from side to side, still looking at the gearstick. When I pulled him over he said “I know what you’re going to say”. And he did.
And it isn’t uncommon on early-stage lessons for pupils to do mirror and shoulder checks before moving off – and then I have to use the dual controls because there is something coming and they’ve not seen it. Personally, I like it when that happens because it is easier to expand on the risks and dangers without the worry that they think you’re just nagging them (and I base that on the fact that occasionally you get a cocky one who ignores you until he screws up – then you have a huge lever with which to get your point across once and for all).
When I’m reversing my brain is shouting at me that the most important place to keep looking is the next space the car is going to occupy (i.e. behind me in the direction I’m going). Pupils, on the other hand, often push that one right to the bottom of the list, and stare aimlessly down the road in front. It’s important to get the right balance.
Remember why you’re checking your mirrors and blindspots in the first place. It’s to see if there is anything there, so you can decide how to proceed. That’s all. The head movement is irrelevant.
Not looking, or not looking properly, is a fault. Not seeing is a fault. Ignoring what you see is a fault. Actually dealing with what you see is very easy – as long as you see it!