Shoulder Check Driving: How and When to Look

What a shoulder check is

Shoulder check driving means turning your head to see the spaces your mirrors cannot show. Those spaces are your blind spots. A car, a cyclist or a motorcycle can sit there without appearing in any mirror.

Alberta's Driver's Guide explains it clearly. Your mirrors show traffic behind you. They do not show everything beside you, or just behind you in the next lane. That is why you must do shoulder checks as well as mirror checks before changing lanes.

The Guide describes the move itself. Quickly glance back over your shoulder, through the rear side window, in the direction you plan to move. If a vehicle has no back side windows or rear window, it needs outside mirrors with an attached convex mirror.

Set your mirrors first

Good mirrors make your blind spots smaller. They never remove them.

• Inside mirror. Frame as much of the rear window as you can.
• Side mirrors. You should see a small part of your own car on the side where the mirror is fixed. The horizon behind you should sit in the middle of each mirror.

Set all three before you move, while you are parked.

Find your blind spots

Try this while parked with the engine off. Sit in the driver's seat and ask someone to walk slowly past the rear corner of the car. Notice where they disappear from your mirrors and appear only when you turn your head. That area is your blind spot.

How to do it well

A good shoulder check is fast, and your car stays straight while you do it.

1. Look ahead first. Make sure nothing is changing in front of you.
2. Check your mirrors. Get a picture of the traffic behind and beside you.
3. Turn your head, not your body. Bring your chin toward your shoulder and glance through the side window.
4. Keep it brief. A quick glance is enough. A long look takes your eyes off the road ahead.
5. Hold the wheel steady. Many learners drift toward the side they look at. Keep your hands still.
6. Signal, then move. Change lanes when it is safe, keep your speed and turn off your signal.

If the gap closes while you wait, check again before you move. An old check is not a current one.

When to shoulder check

Lane changes are the obvious moment, but the Driver's Guide lists many more.

• Pulling away from the curb. Check your path, your mirrors and your blind spot before you move off.
• Getting out after parking. Check your mirrors and look over your left shoulder before you open your door.
• Turning right. Watch for cyclists riding beside your car, and shoulder check to the right.
• Moving into a turning lane. Check your mirrors and do a shoulder check before you change lanes.
• Turning left off a two-lane highway. Shoulder check left, in case someone is passing you.
• Merging onto a highway. Keep shoulder checking to watch the gap you chose.
• Passing on a two-lane highway. Check left before you pull out, and right before you return.
• Leaving a two-lane traffic circle from the inside lane. Check the right lane for drivers going around.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Trusting the mirrors alone. They leave gaps, even when set well.
• Looking too long. Traffic ahead can stop while your head is turned.
• Steering where you look. Keep your hands steady as your head turns.
• Checking the wrong side. Always look toward the side you are moving to.
• Checking too early. A glance from five seconds ago may be out of date.
• Forgetting smaller road users. Cyclists and motorcycles fit easily into a blind spot.

Watch other road users, too. The Driver's Guide notes that when a motorcycle rider does a shoulder check, they may be about to change lanes or turn.

Why it matters on a road test

Alberta explains that road test points are taken off for missing necessary driving skills, such as not checking mirrors. The Driver's Guide lists failing to yield the right-of-way during a lane change as an automatic fail. A skipped shoulder check is one way that can happen.

Good shoulder check driving is also easy for an examiner to see. A clear turn of the head before every lane change shows you know where your blind spots are. Our guide to the road test in Edmonton covers what else to expect.

Practise until it is automatic

A shoulder check should happen without thinking, every time. Shoulder check driving becomes a habit through repetition with feedback. Lane changes and road test preparation are part of what our lessons cover, one-on-one in our car. New Class 7 drivers can start with the Full Course. Already licensed but want to fix a habit? A Brush-Up gives you focused practice, by the hour or in one 2-hour session. For the highway, where checks happen at speed, read our highway driving guide.