For me, I'm 6'3" so I sit pretty high in the saddle and really have no problems seeing over the hump and farther down the road. I use the crescent shaped piece to see DIRECTLY behind me. I have it cut so that when I see a license plate in the lens I'm 3 feet from the plate which is usually mounted on the bumper. That's all. The last picture on my site that explains the VanEyes shows pretty much how much I see through the lens. I just didn't want this big rectangle blocking the rest of my view out the back. Truth be known, I'm so used to driving the little beast that I hardly use it but, it's there just in case.