Road Safety
Road Mirrors
We as the roads authority do not permit the installation of road mirrors on the public road network. While there may be some on the road network, these have not been installed by East Lothian Council and are generally located within private land. Whilst there is the seemingly obvious suggestion that any visibility is better than no visibility in this instance this is not necessarily the case. The less obvious disadvantages for a mirror are -
- in certain lighting a mirror can reflect light and interfere with a passing drivers visibili
- in winter conditions mirrors can become obscured by frost or snow
- it is difficult to accurately judge vehicle approach speeds in a roadside mirror if a mirror
- is not well aligned or if there is a wide approach it can be difficult to see approaching vehicles when they are further away
- pedestrians and cyclists may not show up well as they are often in the periphery of a mirror
- drivers using mirrors may unreasonably rely on the mirror without using normal caution (driving slowly, listening for traffic)
- if a mirror becomes dirty or damaged they become ineffective
A mirror can easily give a false sense of security to drivers by showing what is apparently a clear road even though there is traffic.