The Science Of Being Seen...

[ST1100]

Posting this here over missing a "riding techniques" chapter...

Some good reading, whilst they've omitted the "ignorant egocentrics" who will try to run you over on purpose...

https://www.devittinsurance.com/guides/motorcycle-features/the-science-of-being-seen/

[MrDavo]

I’ve kept alive all these years by assuming that no one has seen me.

[Kelly E]

I’ve kept alive all these years by assuming that no one has seen me.

Yep, ride like you're invisible.

[andy120t]

Somewhere in the cupboard I have a Performance Bikes from the 90's with a 'Know your enemy' article...  Including things like 'farmerus muckus'  and a picture of a muddy tractor.. and 'mumus harrasedus' and a picture into a car with a distracted mum shouting at two kiddies.  However it's written it all keeps you focused and alert.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Reading the link about SMIDSY gave me a feeling of Deja Vous when I was 18 in 1966 I was a pilloin on my best mates bike when a tractor turned right as we were overtaking it - no signal but it was a risky overtake.

After 3 months in Hospital with a fractured left femur I was terrified that vehicles were going to pull out in front of me from side roads and such like to the point that I slowed down so much that they would! It probably saved my life in a strange way as my anticipation skills must have more than doubled that year.

[ST1100]

Frankly, we're as well not free of evolutionary impaired senses...
Alpine road somewhere in Italy, I close in on a slow farm vehicle going my direction, I peak ahead, don't spot any opponent traffic, flip the turn-signal, pull out, only to find a Fiat Panda heading at me... abort maneuver...
Seems the small Fiat managed to "hide" in my retina's blind spot (where the visual nerve exits), once the angle changed it became visible...
Since this occurrence I practice "wiggling" my head left<>right (like an owl  ) while peeking ahead for a passing, shifting the optical angle a little to compensate...

Another edit on this topic:

https://youtu.be/x94PGgYKHQ0

 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Wow very interesing link it explains a lot of stuff.

I sometimes suffer from Aural Migranes - no headache but my vision becomes really odd - it starts with everything to the left of my field of view disappearing (warning sign is a series of silver stars in a swirling edge of my vision). A large shop window SALE sign reads as ALE unless I turn my head sharp left. 

When I look at a persons face the right side will be normal but my brain tries to fill in the left side that is missing so faces look strange- as if its in pale water colour paint or just a pencil outline with no details such as eye lashes on one side of a face.

Luckily the effects only last for between 10-20 minutes - exarcerbated by tiredness. I have found no pattern or causal link but since I retired they have fallen from a weekly event to once every 3 or 4 months.

[Yoshi823]

My Mrs and I attended the free Biker Down course at the Kent Fire & Rescue HQ at Rochester (Kent) the other year and there was a bod there preaching about how yellow & blue hi-viz jackets are not as easily seen as a pink one. I saw his fifteen minutes only as a way of pushing his book. The rest of the course was top notch and my Mrs learnt a bit more than she already knew but specifically about how to safely remove a smack hat (as my Dad used to call them) from a casualty.

https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/road-safety/motorbike-safety-course-biker-down/

[Andrew-S]

How times haven't really changed(ish), this is an interesting look back to 70's safety riding 'tactics' and it's great to so many 70's bikes (road & trail) being ridden in period; shame they only used Hondas to crash test, even a K0 at 5:30.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFY3_JcUl-c&ab_channel=TrippOnTwoWheels