Research Discovers Why Some Drivers Do Not See Motorcyclists on the Road

Jim

Jim

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From here... Link.

" After careful review of the data, Shel Silva recommended motorcyclists to make minor lane adjustments within their lane before making a maneuver or a turn.
The idea is that drivers would have their attention captured by the additional movement, thus making riders more visible, VisorDown notes."

Actually makes sense to me. I know from flying that traffic is easier to spot when there's motion relative to you. An airplane moving across your windscreen is easier to spot than one that's flying straight at you and therefor fixed in place.
Imagine looking for your dog off in the distance against a tree line. If he's just sitting there, he'll be easy to overlook as you scan the area. If he jumps up and starts running, you'll see him. Even if you were looking somewhere else, the sudden motion will draw your eyes to him.


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Jim said:
From here... Link.

" After careful review of the data, Shel Silva recommended motorcyclists to make minor lane adjustments within their lane before making a maneuver or a turn.
The idea is that drivers would have their attention captured by the additional movement, thus making riders more visible, VisorDown notes."

Actually makes sense to me. I know from flying that traffic is easier to spot when there's motion relative to you. An airplane moving across your windscreen is easier to spot than one that's flying straight at you and therefor fixed in place.
Imagine looking for your dog off in the distance against a tree line. If he's just sitting there, he'll be easy to overlook as you scan the area. If he jumps up and starts running, you'll see him. Even if you were looking somewhere else, the sudden motion will draw your eyes to him.


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Makes sense to me
 
gggGary said:
It shouldn't need to be said but never ever sit in someone's blind spot, accelerate, decelerate but GTFO.
Not only are you invisible but that vehicle creates a blind spot ahead of you.
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One of my pet peeves.... asshats that pull into your blind spot and just sit there. Grrr.... :mad:
I been known to put the turn signal on and start into their lane just to get their attention (in my truck... not on a bike). Pisses some of 'em off, but hopefully they learn not to sit there.
 
I treat my side of the road like a race track. take the outside line going into corners and cutting the apex then letting the line take me across my side of the lane and looking at the net corner. Also makes for smooth riding. I'm always moving around in my lane and hardly ever stay in one spot unless i'm on a long straight and then i will weave around just to stop boredom.

@Marty Good point you bought up, I will add that into intersections ij built up areas.

@Jim, the other thing is when on the highway where you are crossing a t intersection and the person isn't looking for a bike, by moving about they may be more inclined to se you
 
Jim said:
Imagine looking for your dog off in the distance against a tree line. If he's just sitting there, he'll be easy to overlook as you scan the area. If he jumps up and starts running, you'll see him. Even if you were looking somewhere else, the sudden motion will draw your eyes to him.
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Reminds me of something Carlos Hathcock talked about. He remembered that in his hunting as a child often he wouldn't notice his game until it moved. Therefore he kept very still. In the same vein, hunter orange clothes might make you visible too... :) Another thing you can do, if you divide your lane into left, center, and right, a lot of times you'll be the most visible in the left, closest to the center line
 
When I was commuting daily in dense rush hour traffic, I used to practice “ the weave” all the time. I have become lax with that practice, I must admit. I also used to use my headlight flash switch ( it was a flash to pass finger lever on my Suzuki) whenever I was approaching an intersection and I could see cars waiting to make a left turn in front of me.
 
bosco659 said:
What about the strobe thingy’s people install on their headlights. Catches my attention.
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I’m not crazy about those. Some drivers are annoyed by them. I don’t like pissing people off, especially if they’re driving a truck. Loud pipes too. They annoy people, more than the blinking lights.
 
I have a 2018/19 Honda CB1000R - it has a feature which I think is downright dangerous. Both left and right blinkers (indicators) are solidly lit all the time until I use the switch to make a turn and of course they revert to just that side blinking. My concern is that a car driver may just quickly glance and see one of the blinkers (solidly lit) and think that I'm making a turn. One blinker could easily be blocked out by the angle of the bike. I dont understand how we can get get booked for having too short a tail tidy but the authorities (australian design rules) allow such a dangerous feature. The bike already comes with daylight running lights.
I recently read a report from an insurance company that the most common motorcycle accident was caused by car drivers making a right turn accross the path of the motorcycle. (remember we drive on the "right" side of the road" lol). When the car drivers were asked how/why the accident happened, the reason given (this is serious and genuine) was " I just didnt see him". They investigated why this happens and the experts in this type of subject reckon its because our brain/midset/conditioning is used to seeing a car and not something smaller like a bike.
Regards Ray.
 
I read an article a few years back about this. Originated in the UK, I think. They called it the SMIDSY - Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You.

If I have any doubt at all about cars coming from side streets or waiting to turn, I'll do a little dosido in my lane.
 
Amen, Marty; there are more road raged drivers out there every day, and loud pipes make targets. Back in the day we used to say that drivers would pull in front of a Sherman tank because they were looking for a car.

It isn't always an accident. In the late '60's, when the biker thug stereotype was fixed in some folks' tiny little brains, I experienced two deliberate attempts to maim or kill me. In one case, in town, a grey haired woman who could be anyone's grandma made eye contact with me and smirked as she pulled out from a stop sign in front of me. I put on the binders, released, shifted my line, and just cleared her back bumper. The other attempt took place in the early morning on an empty stretch of Kansas 2-lane highway. A car pulled up to a crossroad on the right about 1/2 mile away. It didn't move. At 1/4 mile I realized that the driver was waiting for me with no good intentions, so I started scoping the road shoulder. At 300 yards I started to slow, and when the woman hit the gas on her Lincoln Continental I took the grass shoulder, slowed a little more, and got back on the pavement. I had never been in that part of the country before. The respectable middle aged psychopath had seen an opportunity to murder someone and get away with it.
 
Downeaster said:
I read an article a few years back about this. Originated in the UK, I think. They called it the SMIDSY - Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You.
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Thats the article I was trying to recall! Here is a great little video demonstrating it , it also talks about the “looming effect” that a motorcycle approaching a car has. From the car drivers perspective a motorcycle appears to be a small distant thing, even as it approaches the car, then as It nears the car it suddenly appears larger and surprises the car driver.


Something I else I used when I was commuting, was additional lighting from the front. I tried to create that triangle of lights that helps you stand out from the background.
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This was especially helpful since I was riding in both pre dawn , and evening darkness. On my Suzuki I was running white LED visibility pods down low on my forks. These were not driving lights, just small pods that had 16 LEDs each. During the daytime they were not especially bright, but at night they really popped.
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I have made it a practice to 'weave' a bit left-right when approaching an intersection also, or when I see a car coming at me that 'looks like' they might turn in front of me. I have even had the satisfaction of having one or two abort their turns to allow me to go by them, which I took to mean that had I not done my little dance, that maybe they were going to turn and take me out. The movement does catch the eyes.

Taught my son the same thing, as he drives around a small city (Portland Maine).
 
Pretty good treatise on Defensive Driving.
Making yourself visible is always a plus to get noticed. Auto drivers are kind of inured to their surroundings once they get settled in. Comfy seats, tunes or conversation, thoughts elsewhere. The automobile itself has much to do with it. They've become havens, someplace to be comfortable and safe. The closer they get to be self driving the more so. They're built to create a separate environment and existence apart from the outside world.
 
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