Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

QUINCY, ILL. -- You've heard the saying, look before you leap?

That holds true when driving a car...make sure you check the lane before you merge over.

If you physically turn your head to see what's next to your vehicle, you have to take your eyes off the road in front of you...and that can be dangerous.

You have three mirrors on your car that help you to see what's behind you, but bet you didn't know there's a right way and a wrong way to set those mirrors.

KHQA has the answers in Your Safe Family report.

It seems simple...adjust your mirrors so you can see behind you, and you're good to go. But it's not that easy. Most people set their mirrors incorrectly, leaving blind spots. Here's how you take the blind spots away. Start with the rear view mirror. Most people set this correctly. You only need to see what's directly behind you. This is how you should set your side mirrors.

On the driver's side, lean your head to the left until it almost touches the window. Now adjust your mirror until you see just the edge of your car. Remember, you don't need to see the back end of your car in your mirror...you need to see the cars that are coming up from behind.

With the passenger side mirror, lean your head to the right until you're just about in the center of your vehicle. Again, adjust the mirror until you see just beyond your car. That takes away that blind spot.

This takes a little getting used to.

You have to rely on your rear view mirror first, and you have to get used to what your side view mirrors are looking at.

The bottom line, your blind spots now be gone...making travel safer for you and the vehicles around you.