The Fender-Bender

I dont know if you have noticed but during a conversation on Road Safety with my mentor, we happened to touch upon a topic probably given less heed to. Often we come across cars with their side-view/fender mirror closed. Why are they closed when they help us substantially on the events occurring outside our peripheral vision while driving? As per commonsense, since it is located outside the vehicle, are more susceptible of being broken and probably to avoid such mishap the drivers choose to rather keep it closed. That is one probable and I guess a reasonable excuse I could think of.

(fender mirrors are susceptible of being broken)

But since I have now been more aware of this phenomenon when on roads, hypothetically saying perhaps every one in four cars I come across have their fender or side view mirrors closed. What can be interesting enough to see whether non-usage of these have led to any collision or traffic accidents? As keeping these mirrors closed do have a significant impact as one is unable to gauge what is going on behind and at the sides of the vehicle.

(the above car shown has its fender/side-view mirror closed)

Although nowadays the modern cars (the expensive lot) have these mirrors mounted normally at the ''A'' pillar (also called the windshield pillar) rather than the wings but the lower, middle and many high segment cars in India are still following the same trend. Is it the engineering or designing loophole that can be averted, probably designing these mirrors in such a way so that they serve its purpose and at the same time not vulnerable of being broken, also keeping the low-budget in mind? Think...