The blind guy theory

[jpgrfan]

Originally Posted by GlassGuy

Bumpity Bump. It's been a while. Should be required reading for all motorcyclists.

With Fast Frank posting again recently, I am reminded of this thread.
Definitely required reading, even for a second or third time, or more. Everyone please stay safe!

[radar]

Originally Posted by GlassGuy

Should be required reading for all motorcyclists.

AMEN

[jpgrfan]

bump

[Uncle Alpo]

Great thread.

One thing I've found is a loud aftermarket horn can cause many of the blind to pause and wonder. Not always, but often they get an expression like, "Where's that truck?"

[Dean Dinnetz]

Bottom line is, if they don't ride, they don't see us. We are aliens to them, a shape that does not compute/exist, in their eyes/brains. I have seen it first hand, riding along with a non riding friend in his car, who if i did not yell out, would have made a left turn into a bike. He pulled over to the side of the road after, and said "i never saw that guy coming at me"! I said yeah you didn't, because you don't ride the motorbike. Alien form to him, no brain recognition. Never saw it coming at him.
Dean

['Dumbdog]

Originally Posted by fast frank

The car is sitting at a stopsign, waiting to turn left.
Here comes the bike.
The driver looks to his left (right at the bike).
Here comes the bike.
The driver looks to the right. No traffic.
The bike is getting close now.
The driver looks back to the left.
The rider looks right into the eyes of the driver.
The driver pulls right out in front of the bike.
BLAMMO!

Now, how in the world could something like this happen?
Is this deliberate murder?

I think that the true answer to this question comes when you ask the driver why he (or she) just killed a rider.

And it's always the same answer. "I just didn't see him".

How could this be? We know that we were looking right into the eyes of that driver before he pulled out!

Is this a lie? I think not.


Fast Frank

appreciate the effort...

here's the truth:

Some people are self absorbed, self concerned, selfish, narcississtic AHoles that care for little of anything that doesn't matter to them...

the truth is:

"I looked before proceeding, and didn't see anything that might hurt me, I was only looking for Mac trucks or suvs, and this motorcycle hit me... It's his fault...he was speeding and came out of nowhere..."

They just don't look for pedistrians, bicyclists or motorcyclist, anymore than they look for bees, mosquitos, or junebugs, or anything else that can't likely kill them in a collision.

Originally Posted by Uncle Alpo

Great thread.

One thing I've found is a loud aftermarket horn can cause many of the blind to pause and wonder. Not always, but often they get an expression like, "Where's that truck?"

I had a friend that installed an air horn on his nighthawk 650... he got hit within a week... he hit the horn, she started whipping her head around looking for a transport truck and plowed right into him...

[RavenRider]

The same thing happens with deer in the head lights.

A hunter will see a deer well down in the ditch or even out in a field, where a non hunter just doesn't recognize the shape or form.

Some drivers think a biker is fair game, open season .

You really need to be ready to practice escape and evasion when in traffic.
Wish they would let us split lanes here. I think it is almost safer. A 50 cal on board might get you some extra room though. LOL.

[NickBrewer]

I used to teach people to drive Greyhound style motorcoaches for a tourism company and I was allowed to sit through a two-day class that Greyhound put on for their drivers.

The instructor for the course stated that Greyhound had done extensive studies about accidents and their causes and discovered that people were just as likely to pull out directly into the path of a Greyhound bus as they were to pull out in front of a motorcycle. The reason that this happened is that when a driver makes a quick look to the left to see if it is ok to go, their mind is looking for an image of a car and since a bus is not a car, they just didn't see it and took off directly into the oncoming bus.

The same issue holds true obviously for a motorcycle, it doesn't fit the mind's image of a car when they make that quick glance down the road, so it just doesn't register in the drivers mind and they proceed directly into the motorcycles path.

Just my .02, but it makes sense....

Another thing I learned in that class was to play the "What If" game, Greyhound found that you can cut your reaction time significantly by just thinking through your escape scenario before anything happens. So as you come up on an intersection, play "What If" that driver pulls out in front of me, "What if" another driver moves over, etc. By thinking it through your mind is mentally prepared to implement your plan rather than panicking and trying to react to an unexpected situation.

[Dean Dinnetz]

Yep, thats the way i ride in cities. Light turns green, i always wait a second, before i ride through a intersection. When i start out from stopped, i look both ways before i go through that intersection. Riding down a city street, and i see a car about to turn left, two fingers cover the front brake lever, and i slow down, waiting. It has happened more than once to me in 47 years of riding. THEY JUST DON'T SEE US!
Dean

[GlassGuy]

Bumpity Bump

[MikeFZ]

I missed this thread before, it is a good reminder to stay defensive and keep your guard up.

Here is a good hint, I think the blind guy usually drives a Prius...

[SoCalFZRider]

Always have an escape route planned while riding in traffic, assuming they will pull out in front of you. Have not had that happen in a while, but it worked as planned the last time I needed it.

[Jared]

I've always ascribed to the "Everyone is intentionally trying to kill you" mentality. Same basic idea though and it is what I tell everyone thinking about getting into motorcycles.

[Wonger]

When I had my SV 650, it (and all other Suzuki's I think) had the yellow 'flash to pass' button for your first finger on the left controls. I would flip that a couple times when coming to intersections. Almost like a two or three pulse version of the strobes you see goldwings using all the time. I wish Yamaha had that instead of flipping the brights on and off.

[radar]

Originally Posted by Wonger

When I had my SV 650, it (and all other Suzuki's I think) had the yellow 'flash to pass' button for your first finger on the left controls. I would flip that a couple times when coming to intersections. Almost like a two or three pulse version of the strobes you see goldwings using all the time. I wish Yamaha had that instead of flipping the brights on and off.

I think you're missing the point of the thread = Blind Guys can't see flashing lights!

[95gtdriver]

Originally Posted by Desmo

I think you're right on about this. It's the same reason I don't get worried that I'm
wearing a black helmet or a black 'Stich. I get comments about "Oh man, you shouldn't wear black gear, 'they' won't see you."

Heh...yah, whatever.

[Jared]

Originally Posted by 'Dumbdog

appreciate the effort...

here's the truth:

Some people are self absorbed, self concerned, selfish, narcississtic AHoles that care for little of anything that doesn't matter to them...

It doesn't matter why they don't see us in the end though.

I attended a memorial service for the world's nicest man a few years back. He was originally from Tibet then moved to Boulder. He had too much faith that cars would stop for pedestrians, brought the attitude to New York and was killed stepping into the middle of the street by a guy who was driving quite legally, no charges were pressed and by all accounts the driver was a decent enough fellow, not drunk, not on a cell phone, and pretty darn traumatized by the whole thing.

It was a sorry, sad event to attend a memorial packed with crying college kids and crying Buddhist monks.

It doesn't matter why people don't see you, it just matters that they don't.

[SoCalFZRider]

I always consider "who will lose in a collision?" I don't care if I have a right of way or not. Those who expect the "right" to "get in the way" are asking for some eventual serious consequences.

What is worse, are those that get in your way because they can - in a crosswalk against a green light or jay-walking or whatever. They will be real surprised one day. If I am walking, I always watch out for vehicles, no matter where.

On a bike - expect that they don't see you. Have a plan to escape, anticipate what the drivers may do, and be ready for it to happen.

[stoggy]

I got blind-guy'd by a cop the other day. I honked at him, so he started running my plates to check for warrants or whatever. I explained to the ****ing pig how I felt about that with sign language.

[ezas]

First I've read this thread, so glad for 4 years of bumps... It was interesting to read some of the facts behind things you don't even think of like why we don't see colors at night, and holes in our vision, etc.

When I've listened to people complain about their near misses I always thought to myself "you have no right not to be hit". It's my variation of the blind guy theory.

I think that some riders feel like they can just ride and that everyone should avoid them, like they have some right not to get hit because we have laws and stuff. Cars can't even keep from hitting each other, roll-overs, single vehicle accidents, let alone see something that they don't expect to see like a motorcycle or apparently even a Greyhound bus.

Good post above about seeing deer if you are a hunter/woodsman. When I lived in Indiana I had a hunter buddy that would point out deer that I would never have seen even If I had been looking that direction. Sometimes he would just see the white tail in a stand of trees. It's like when you are looking for a house/apt to rent/buy. For a few days/week after you found a place you still notice every For Rent or For Sale sign you see.

Now that I live in the country I am always on the lookout for the shape of a deer in the brush during the day and two bright dots on the side of the road at night.

I think living in deer country makes you a better rider, just as lane splitters make people better riders in the city. Both require complete attention all the time. And I'm sure we all agree that being riders makes us better cage drivers because we are used to needing a higher level of attention. Cars don't have to worry about wet leaves or gravel in a corner, just to name a few things that need our attention.

I too almost took out some other riders. I looked left, looked right and as I started to make my right turn, I took that last check to the left and there they were. Three HD riders. I stopped with the front of my car about halfway in the lane and they drove past me and gave me that dirty look we all know how to make at stupid drivers. I don't think they even needed to hit their brakes but it was a closer call than I liked since I'm not usually surprised like that due to my higher vigilance from being a rider.

I was not in the right, but the fact that they were coming out of turn down the road at about 20 over contributed to this near accident. They 'appeared' and closed the distance quicker than my brain figured based on the speed of vehicles that travel on that road. In other words when you clear to your left and/or right, you expect it to remain clear based on the road, conditions, etc. Bike are often going quite a bit faster than cars do typically so that 'clear' condition closes faster than your brain 'pictures' while you are visually clearing the other direction. I hope that made sense.

Anyone else here ever been hit by another rider while riding? I was rear-ended and my bike knocked out from under me by another motorcycle during a panic stop on a city street.

Ok I've rambled enough for one night.