Turning Vision Into Observation: the Mirrors

Raw vision becomes useful observation through discipline, and the handbook's mirror routine is where it starts:

• Check the centre interior mirror first, then the door mirror on the side you're moving toward. You met that order in Overtaking on the Right; here's the why — you're deliberately bringing central vision to the zones your forward gaze neglects.
• Read what the mirrors show, hunting the specific hazards the handbook names: vehicles close behind, vehicles approaching fast from behind, motorcyclists, cyclists — precisely the users most easily lost in peripheral vision and blind spots.
• Mirrors don't cover the blind spot. The physical head-turn from the near-side check remains non-negotiable, because it's the only way to put central vision where mirrors and periphery both fail.

Mirrors are how the Observe stage extends behind you — but only if read rather than glanced at. A mirror looked at without registering its content is central vision aimed at glass, seeing nothing.