Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

The phrase Objects in mirror are closer than they appear is a safety warning often engraved onto convex mirrors in motor vehicles. Despite its origin as a utilitarian safety warning, it has become a well known phrase that has been used for many other purposes.



The warning is used because passenger side mirrors must be convex to have a useful field of view. This makes objects smaller than they would appear if the driver viewed them in a flat mirror, or turned and looked at them directly. Since smaller objects appear farther away, the objects seen in the mirror look further away than they really are. If the driver does not consider this, they might make a maneuver (such as a lane change) assuming another vehicle was a safe distance behind, when in fact it was quite a bit closer. The warning is there to remind the driver of this potential problem.