we're talking about SIDE mirrors, not a combination of mirrors to make up for gaps in rearward vision... "only need to see the sides of the car when you're parking" is a fallacy... have you ever considered how a reckless driver approaching from "out of nowhere" could mean a crash because, suppose this situation: you're driving along in light traffic, you check your inside mirror, then your driver's side mirror... you saw no hazards in the inside mirror, as you moved to check your driver's side mirror, you didn't see the car or motorcycle zoom across the back of your car in your driver's side mirror, and they still didn't show up in the mirror (your "blind spot"), as you proceeded to start to lane change over... but it moved so fast that by the time you see it in your driver's side mirror, you have already halfway lane changed over, and crashed... keep in mind, both the inside and driver's side mirrors are properly adjusted in this scenario
or how about this: you're in heavy traffic, someone in front slams on their brakes, or a wreck is happening in front of you (regardless of speed)... the time it takes for you to check both the inside and driver's side mirror, and maybe combined with a head turn "blind spot check", you would have rear ended what's in front of you because you weren't sure it was safe and clear to move over... yes, the mirrors were adjusted properly, but because you needed to check both mirrors to be absolutely sure it was clear, because the narrow field of view of one mirror, necessitating multiple mirrors to complete the field of view, is highly inefficient, not confidence inspiring, and works horribly in heavy traffic, especially in emergency situations
these situations are probably unthinkable and unheard of for you, because you're in Manitoba, where population and traffic is low... Winnipeg, the largest city, NEVER gets the type of traffic you would see in Montreal or Toronto, especially the American cities
a video from an SAE engineer doesn't hold weight to me, considering that they are the ones that have helped written most of the safety regulations in North America, have not updated their standards, which follows technological advancements in lighting and safety equipment constantly invented from different parts of the world, but rather, very conservatively hold onto the outdated standards they have written... a good case of "not invented here syndrome", that permeates all the way to NHTSA in washington
a link to a "paper" written by an automotive JOURNALIST only goes as far as parroting what everyone else knowledgable about driving safety in North America says... it proves nothing to me except that the blind spot is shifted from critical to a less critical spot, and needing another mirror to make up for the gap in the field of view
what holds real weight are actual research papers, written by engineers, and other experts in automobile safety, that are actually taken into consideration by NHTSA in their rule decision making process (no time was spent to find these, a mere 10 second google search revealed these links):
https://one.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NRD/Multimedia/PDFs/Crash Avoidance/2008/810959.pdf
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/55077/811328.pdf?sequence=1
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.492.4891&rep=rep1&type=pdf
studies after studies show, that flat mirrors are statistically higher in driver side crashes, while it's reduced with convex, and finally with combination convex/aspheric mirrors... the same studies show that although convex mirrors cause more difficulty in judging distances, due to the minification effect, especially for older age group people, the benefits in a broad field of view that nearly or completely eliminates the blind spot, outweigh all else... NHTSA and ADR maintain, officially, that flat mirrors are "safer", because of "better" distance judging, and magnification effect of them... the same studies show that, drivers over estimate distances with convex mirrors instead, which in all practical purposes, pose no real safety hazard... the NHTSA is still considering allowing aspheric/convex driver's side mirrors, and possibly mandating them... their decision making process is typically US government slow, and greatly influenced by politics... don't count on them reaching one any time soon
so, thanks for the information on how to make the best out of flat mirrors, but to flat out argue and declare that the blind spot is gone, and that there's no problems with flat mirrors, is completely misleading