Are the round front-view mirrors necessary?

[cadillackid]

the Fisheye mirrors (Bus Boy makes them).. arent designed for traffic(but they are helpful).. if you try to use them for backing you will always back the wrong direction.. they are designed and EXCELLENT for seeing pedestrians or objects possibly left around your bus in front and along the side.. they are also really nice for parking.. they are also a great resource for noting traffic in lanes beside you though not good for judging distance.. I use them functionally for noting traffic but not as precise judge of it.



for lane position they help a bit, but really you should adjust your lower part of your main mirrors for blind spot and lane position.. my upper mirrors are adjusted for further back viewing and also can just see the top of the bus too so I can use it for backing where i want to be concious of tree branches , etc..



since my busses are still busses, I have clear view of front to back inside, and I have my Student mirror adjusted to be of use as a rearview mirror out the back window..





while the hard-core truckers and bus drivers will say "use your side mirrors", "dont use the windows", etc.. However the main objective is to drive, maneuver, park, and operate the bus without running into things, so I am of the mind to use all of the tools available to me for making sure I dont hit stuff...
-Christopher

 

[CalDayton]

My left side fender mount mirror was held on with janky bolts/nuts instead of the rubber and brass grommet things that the right side has. It would be a pain to put it back on so I'm going to try driving without it.

I will keep the right side mirror, though, for a few reasons.

My left side blind spots for merging are covered by the body mounted mirror combo. The convex mirror view cone overlaps with my peripheral vision out the driver's window so I don't need a fender mount for that. I haven't needed the left fender mount to watch the bumper yet and I think I have a good enough view from the driver's seat to see what's coming in a reversed right turn.

The right side fender mirror is helpful for the intended purpose of seeing the front bumper, as well as seeing the corner of the bumper in a reversed left turn.
Besides that, I have it angled as far to the right as possible to see traffic coming from the right rear at an acute angle. Since my walls don't have any windows yet, my only visibility comes from the entry door, which gives me 90* off the nose at best. I don't have that problem from the left since I can lean over and look out the window.