Safe driving and emergencies
How does the handbook tell you to check your blind spots?
- Look over your shoulders out the side windows, turning only your head. Correct answer
- Use your side mirrors, which are designed to cover the blind spots.
- Turn your upper body and the steering wheel slightly for a wider view.
Why
A blind spot is, by definition, an area you cannot see when looking straight ahead or using your mirrors, so the mirrors cannot be how you check it. On most vehicles these areas sit at the sides, slightly behind you. To see them, glance over your right and left shoulders through the side windows and move only your head; the handbook warns against turning your whole body or the steering wheel. Make that check before you change lanes, turn at an intersection, merge, back up, leave a parking space, parallel park, pull away from the curb or open your door.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Look over your shoulders out the side windows, turning only your head.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- At night, a vehicle showing only one headlight is coming toward you. What should you do?
- Your car has four-wheel antilock brakes (ABS) and goes into a locked wheel skid. What should you do with the brake pedal?
- You have just driven through water and your brakes are wet. How does the handbook tell you to dry them?
- On a cold, wet day, which part of the road tends to freeze before the rest?