How should a driver use mirrors while navigating through traffic?

Using mirrors to continuously scan for safety is essential for maintaining awareness of your surroundings while navigating through traffic. This practice allows the driver to monitor positions and movements of other vehicles, pedestrians, and potential hazards. By integrating mirror checks into regular driving habits, the driver can anticipate and react to changes in the traffic environment, enhancing overall safety.

This approach fosters a proactive driving attitude, as it encourages the driver to be vigilant rather than reactive. Continuously scanning mirrors helps to identify blind spots, detect tailgating, or assess traffic flow, which is especially important in complex driving situations, such as merging onto highways or navigating through intersections.

The other options lack the comprehensive approach required for safe driving. Checking mirrors only before changing lanes can lead to missing critical information about the surroundings in the moments leading up to the lane change. Using mirrors sparingly undermines the essential function they serve in ensuring situational awareness. Relying solely on passenger input can lead to miscommunication and delays in responding to dynamic traffic situations, as passengers may not always have the same vantage point or perspective as the driver.