Driveway road mirror (request ideas for a cheap workable mirror)

[Evan]

No, you would never even desire to learn the process you would have to gio through to attach something to a government owned guard rail -- i.e. you need engineering drawings done, traffic studies done, looking at buying approved materials with DOT ratings, going before a committee for approval, etc... If you do attach something to the guard rail without permission you will find that it will be mysteriously gone one day and zero sympathy about it when you call to find out what happened to it...

Learn how to back into your driveway or widen it to allow you to turn your vehicles around before stopping to pull onto the road way...

~~ Evan

[Evan]

Then prepare an area at the end of your driveway near your house on your land so you can turn vehicles around at the end of the driveway near the house...

You think that it will be any easier to get permission from the landowner on the opposite side of the road to attack the mirror, which could be removed by the landowner or the DOT. at any time..

~~ Evan

[Evan]

Dude... If you want to bolt it to the guard rail you are going to have to get permission to do that and it will have to be one of the expensive ones that has DOT approval, the filing fee for the request will be more than $25...

Figure out a way to turn the cars around up near your house...

~~ Evan

[Tony Miklos]

From what he said I take it that he pulls out of the driveway in forward as things are, and there is still a blind spot. I don't see (but I lost a few posts) anywhere that he says he now backs out of the drive. How is backing in going to help if he is already pulling out forward?

[Tegger]

Chuck Banshee wrote in news:jfpmrs$a4s$3 @speranza.aioe.org:

I don't really want to say it, but Google is your friend. I found this by searching the terms "traffic safety miror".

$27 for a 12" with no backing. Perfectly adequate for this issue.

I would not advise mounting the mirror to the guardrail, since it will quickly get filthy with road splash, and will probably get damaged as well.

Just do what's done by those in the hilly area near me: mount it to a pole or tree /behind/ the guardrail. Hopefully your town won't bitch that your mirror is on the road-allowance.

And speaking of road-allowance, have you tried simply calling your town councilman? You might be able to score a FREE mirror, since it's a traffic- safety issue, the driveway's legal, /they/ made the road, and the mirror would need to be on the road-allowance anyway.

[Tegger]

Chuck Banshee wrote in news:jfpng3$cbs$ [e-mail]:

Boy, are you going about this the long-way-around. See my other reply.

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

A couple of hundred feet long? Can you clear a wide spot somewhere along it to make a turn-around?

[Chuck Banshee]

I have never contacted a town councilman or a town anything. I will call the town tomorrow to see whom it would be that I would ask for the mirror.

Obviously, if 'they' put it up, that's the BEST situation.

I'll let you know what they say.

[Chuck Banshee]

Based on the input for the guard rail idea, I'm gonna give up on putting a strip on the guard rail.

As people said: a) Cost too much to do it with permits b) Risk too high of unintended consequences (e.g., blind other drivers) c) It will get 'filthicated' at that low level d) The town will remove it if they see it

So, I give up on the guardrail idea. :)

The only thing left (other than making a turnout) is the standard convex mirror ...

[Tony Miklos]

What am I missing here? Did he ever say he backs his car onto the road? You think he is backing up his gravel driveway around unlit curves and hills for a couple hundred feet every time he leaves? No turn around spot at the house? Nothing he said gave me that impression, did I miss a post or two? He said the problem was pulling out, not in.

[Evan]

It won't... His problems won't be solved by a mirror, he needs to negotiate the removal of some of the obstructions which sound like trees in his specific case... But OP's here never seem to actually describe the situation and location of the problem, leaving out key information, instead, they describe some Rube Goldberg device or solution and ask if it could work... A picture of the driveway in question would have been ideal...

Until well into this thread it was not disclosed that the driveway in question was hundreds of feet long and the entrance to the lost woods/hidden valley... It could have been two car lengths long for all anyone knew...

[Evan]

You are missing what everyone is missing... An incomplete story filled in piece by piece with each of the OP's replies after the general consensus of the replies in the thread poo-poo'ed his proposed solution...

[Tony Miklos]

Still no reason to assume he was backing out of the driveway. And it's funny that you know the mirror won't work, there are many thousands of them in use for the same exact purpose, I suppose none of them work either?

[Tony Miklos]

He has been pointed the direction of a parabolic mirror, a good suggestion, I've seen them hundreds of times used for this purpose.

[gpsman]

I don't think so. The OP only implied its purpose; avoiding stopping at the end of the driveway before entering the roadway.

Surely the purpose of some similar mirrors are related to improving "safety" of blind approaches, not merely avoiding stopping. -----

- gpsman

[Hoof Hearted]

**********************

Not easily done in a text only group.

[Chuck Banshee]

I agree I did not fully describe the situation. This is my fault. I fully understand why people who were trying to help me were suggesting alternative solutions (such as backing out).

It's still dark outside but I'll snap a picture or two in the daylight and post them so you can see the situation!

Thanks!

[Chuck Banshee]

I'm sorry. It was my fault for hastily writing the original post without fully describing the situation.

I'll snap a photo in the daylight to better show the situation!

thanks!

[Chuck Banshee]

At first I thought the strip of cheap reflective mirror on the guardrail was the best idea - but - people clearly showed it was not (due mostly to legal ramifications).

So, I do agree ... there is 'no solution' that fits my original requirement (cheap) ... but the parabolic mirror (which in the end, with posts, will cost about $100 since the cheaper 12" mirror is probably too small).

I'll try to see if the town will put it in (in which case a two-foot mirror would be fine) ... but otherwise, I'll keep searching for a cheaper two-foot mirror & post.

[Robert Macy]

Ok you drive straight in to come home, then you back ALL the way out?

What's the difference of backing all the way IN, then driving forward all the way out? Something got missed in the interpretation of the car's direction.

Do you drive forward all the way in, turn car around at house, drive forward all the way out? And still can't see at the corner?