The blind guy theory

[HallGE]

Glad you managed without serious injury. I try to practice a few panic stops but it does not stop the feeling of panic in new situations. Nothing works well on two wheels in the wet. Take care.

[fast frank]

Glad you're O.K. GSXRKILLER.

At least you had the sense to know that something was going on, and rolled off the throttle.

That probably made the difference right there.

On my Fizzie, I use the el cheapo organic pads on the rear brake.

They don't bite nearly as hard as the stockers and seem to reduce rear wheel lockup.

It might not have made any difference in the rain, but on dry pavement it stopped the unwanted lockup problem.

Fast frank

[FatDog]

The organic pads are a good tip, FastFrank. Thanks for passing that one on.

[GXRKLR]

Thanks Frank, that sounds like something I will be adding to my list this winter. It does make me wonder though. I run organic pads on my truck because they stop me better than the semi-metalic pads ti came with. They don't last as long though.

[swanski]

There was a good article in a recent brit mag (cant remember which) that studied how much the A pillar in a vehicle blocks a signifiant percentage of a driver's field of view, particularly at certain angles - a bike can easily be completely hidden for a brief second (or longer depending on the angle of approach) if the driver checks for traffic at the moment you are in that "blind spot" then quickly looks the other way - wham. the brits are experimenting with thinner A pillars and A pillars with a narrow window in them.

[Wiley75]

The blind guy theory makes sense to me. Fast Frank has a good point. I also think that cell phones enhance the "blindness" of people as well. I've had many people (clearly noticed as being in a in-depth cell phone conversation) pull right in front of me. Even after they looked right at me. Hell, I've seen cell phone users pull out in front of fire engines with their red lights on! So much for the "add lots of lights" theory....

[fast frank]

I'm going to bump this thread to un-bury it.

BUMP!

Fast Frank

[JasonC]

Originally posted by fast frank
I'm going to bump this thread to un-bury it.

BUMP!

Fast Frank

j/k

[HallGE]

Good idea to bump this back in circulation, FF.

I have some ideas about paired vs single lights on bikes. When I see a car approach at night with a busted headlight it seems that I have a hard time estimating their distance to me and have been surprised more than a few times. I admit to pulling out in front of a bike on two occasions as well. I remember "seeing" the cycle with a single light but misjudged distance. Fortunately no accidents. The shame a rider feels for pulling out on another rider is intense !!!!! It has never happened when the bike had twin or more lights.

I wonder if our vision is trained or more sensitive to multiple points of light of the same intensity rather than one single point of light in a background of lights and shadows of various intensities. This is what I think might be going on. Any other thoughts out there?

I first started thinking about this when I got the FZ1 and noticed that fewer cages were pulling out in front of me compared to my old single light bike also with a dimmer light.

There must be some research on these things somewhere that could inform manufacturers about headlight design to improve visibility.

In general, anything that helps a rider's visibility on the road is good. Trust your own eyes. Start noticing how far away you can see a white or bright colored helmet / clothing. If you pay attention to your own senses you would never ride with a black helmet. I also admit that it was very hard to give up the idea of a cool black helmet when I got my black bike several years ago and then a dark blue one for my FZ. So, I am geeked-out in white. That decision about a helmet is often the first one made by a new rider and I believe could help set a priority of safety in more decisions. After I got used to a white helmet then everything else was " so what ? ".

[Mighty Kentor]

Great post Frank!!! I'm going to post that in my local forum, cediting you of course. GOOD JOB!

[maddog]

Until motorcycles are perceived as a threat we will go unnoticed.

If monetary fines were enormous to drivers failing to yield to cyclists and made public knowledge and we as cyclists are allowed to somehow disable an offending vehicle (pick your method) we will never be seen as a threat and continue to go unseen. Sadly, neither of these thoughts will ever come to pass.

Since I've been riding I've always assumed that half the drivers out there can not see me and the other half are trying to kill me.
So far so good with the exception of one drunk driver in Florida.
(His idiocy fell below my radar gain settings)

Head on a swivel guys and gals.

[DTfz]

Originally posted by maddog
....Head on a swivel guys and gals.

To ride any other way is lunacy.

[Webman12]

<font color="#0000FF" size="2" face="Tahoma">Great Post Frank!!!!

My take is that the "blindness" is actually a lack of "focus" but not in relation to sight more in the usage of their brain power. I won't go on about the 10% brain power myth but more on the fact that people become complacent. It's a natural process that everyone "suffers" from. When doing a repetitive task that you've done a thousand times the functions you perform are now a distant thought. Sort of like a background application running on your computer.

Think back to the first time you ever rode your motorcycle, clutch, gas, brake, balance, etc... it's all second nature now isn't it? It's a background app now! Back to cagers, while driving people think less about signalling, turning, pressing the gas pedal because it's all second nature. So while driving around other things become the "foreground" apps, like the screaming baby in the back seat, the reaming your A=>0 boss just gave you, the cell call you need to make to order Chinese food on the way home, the list goes on... All of these simple distractions cause us to focus on things other than the important task at hand.

I've done it myself at times, driving along and crossing an intersection where I think "damn was that light red or green? I can't remember!" Chances are it was green but I've become so accustomed to that process of green=go that I didn't even think about it!

What it comes down to is other drivers do see us but that "image" is relegated to the background application running in their brain!

The only solution is to practice EXTREME DEFENSIVE DRIVING.

[JasonC]

Originally posted by HallGE
I wonder if our vision is trained or more sensitive to multiple points of light of the same intensity rather than one single point of light in a background of lights and shadows of various intensities. This is what I think might be going on. Any other thoughts out there?

You are poking at the right vein, so to speak. Part of my training as an optician was learning about the visual cues of depth perception.

The phenomenon you are referring to is a monocular cue known as relative size. We have a mental perception as to the distance between the two headlights on a car. At night, if the lights are close to each other, we can tell that the vehicle is a good distance away. The closer the vehicle is, the farther apart they are. (I.E. a truck's headlights appear close at 500 feet than they would from only 50 feet. A vehicle emitting light from only one point eliminates this visual cue; thus making it harder to judge distance.......


Jason

[Architeuthis]

Originally posted by NewtotheThrill

The phenomenon you are referring to is a monocular cue known as relative size. We have a mental perception as to the distance between the two headlights on a car. At night, if the lights are close to each other, we can tell that the vehicle is a good distance away. The closer the vehicle is, the farther apart they are. (I.E. a truck's headlights appear close at 500 feet than they would from only 50 feet. A vehicle emitting light from only one point eliminates this visual cue; thus making it harder to judge distance.......

And of course, if the object has two small lights, close together, the brain will conclude that it is truck hundreds of feet away instead of a motorcycle only seconds from impact.

I'd rather be invisible.

[fast frank]

I believe I covered all this.

Now, we can debate the causes all day. We can talk about sun blinding, optical illusions, differences in size causing mis judged distance, distraction by way of cell phone, drunks, alien abduction, or whatever.

The line that came right after that was the one that counts!

It makes no difference, and changes nothing. The fact is that the blind guy is out there.

Fast Frank

[fast frank]

BUMP!

[addicted]

In reply to the original premise, "trust no cage driver". I still would advise making yourself become as conspicuous as possible, and driving in such a way as to increase your presence, as well as your margin of safety.

[fast frank]

BUMP AGAIN!

Just in case somebody that hasn't seen this yet cares to take a look.

Fast Frank

[FazerChic]

I think sometimes it goes back to initial drivers training. In drivers ed, they teach you about looking for VEHICLES, and not motorcycles. We are trained to look for cars and trucks, and if we do not ride motorcycles, we may see past them because we are not 'trained' to look for them. May sound like a cop out, but sometimes I believe this to be true. I tell everyone I know to LOOK for motorcycles, because the day they DON'T see one, may be the day it's me they don't see.