Dopey driver, hope the cylist's on the mend

[midlandsgrimpeur]

its only a cyclist i can beat them to the junction mentality.

This is definitely something I encounter weekly, along with "it's only a cyclist I can overtake them with this oncoming vehicle approaching".

 

[presta]

Laziness and negligence maybe, but lack of education & training is also a problem:
RAF fighter pilot's explanation why you're blind, and what to do about it.
"Perhaps you were the recipient of that loud and urgent query, ‘Are you blind?!!’ Well, here’s the bad news - yes, you are. For small but significant periods of time you are completely incapable of seeing anything at all."

the 'invisible gorilla' syndrome

Real world example:
Two policemen chasing a suspect ran past another policeman beating up a black guy at the side of the road, and got jailed for corruption because they didn't report him. They were released after the psychologists got involved, and experiments showed that most people focussed on chasing someone through the streets will miss other incidents going on around them.

it's worth moving out from the side of the road if a car is waiting at a side road: even if you think they've looked at you, the brain can still delete you from their perception

The first car crash I had was when a car parked on the far side of the road set off just as I was passing by, and hit my drivers door. I saw him look over his left shoulder before setting off, but I was lost in his saccade so he was baffled how he hadn't seen me.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Laziness and negligence maybe, but lack of education & training is also a problem:
RAF fighter pilot's explanation why you're blind, and what to do about it.
"Perhaps you were the recipient of that loud and urgent query, ‘Are you blind?!!’ Well, here’s the bad news - yes, you are. For small but significant periods of time you are completely incapable of seeing anything at all."


Real world example:
Two policemen chasing a suspect ran past another policeman beating up a black guy at the side of the road, and got jailed for corruption because they didn't report him. They were released after the psychologists got involved, and experiments showed that most people focussed on chasing someone through the streets will miss other incidents going on around them.

The first car crash I had was when a car parked on the far side of the road set off just as I was passing by, and hit my drivers door. I saw him look over his left shoulder before setting off, but I was lost in his saccade so he was baffled how he hadn't seen me.

Many years ago I was walking through Nottingham - I was ay University there - and along a normal city centre road

I went past an entry sort of thing

then someone approached me with a questionair

they were asking if I had noticed anything unusual in the last few minutes

I hadn't

they pointed out that down the entry was a setup of a motorbike on its side and a man lying next to it
clearly they didn;t want me just going back and looking as it would spoil the set up

but when I crossed the road and looked from there is was VERY obvious
but people were just walking past oblivious

 

[briantrumpet]

Laziness and negligence maybe, but lack of education & training is also a problem:
RAF fighter pilot's explanation why you're blind, and what to do about it.
"Perhaps you were the recipient of that loud and urgent query, ‘Are you blind?!!’ Well, here’s the bad news - yes, you are. For small but significant periods of time you are completely incapable of seeing anything at all."


Real world example:
Two policemen chasing a suspect ran past another policeman beating up a black guy at the side of the road, and got jailed for corruption because they didn't report him. They were released after the psychologists got involved, and experiments showed that most people focussed on chasing someone through the streets will miss other incidents going on around them.

The first car crash I had was when a car parked on the far side of the road set off just as I was passing by, and hit my drivers door. I saw him look over his left shoulder before setting off, but I was lost in his saccade so he was baffled how he hadn't seen me.

The police one featured in Michael Mosley's series about the brain, IIRC. It was an excellent series.

 

[icowden]

Thats a well understood phenomenon and easily overcome by constant scanning and not lazily staring dead ahead at some indeterminate spot a short distance ahead of the bonnet like more and more drivers seem to do.

Last time I was in Florida (I think - could have been somewhere else) I was bemused when we went to a water park because the lifeguards were doing this strange walk. I asked one and they said "it's a scanning walk". Essentially if you just sit on a chair and stare at the water you can "not" see something happening much more easily. By walking in a pattern and changing the focus of your gaze with the pattern, you are constantly looking at new places and updating your brain.

 

[blackrat]

Going back to the incident (using it as a learning opportunity for others): It appears the cyclist was approaching a Y junction and was going to move into the right fork, was there any reason the driver might have not known this? If I was going to attempt the same maneuver, recognising oncoming traffic from that fork into the same lane the cyclist intended to enter, wouldn't it be safer and wiser as a cyclist to hold back to see what the approaching traffic was going to do? I hope I would have, I'm allergic to big cars heading straight for me.
And yes, I do understand the driver was at fault, so please not let us go over that again. I am trying to reason if it would have been wiser for any cyclist - and me in such a circumstance - to give way to any potential bully.

 

[Alex321]

Going back to the incident (using it as a learning opportunity for others): It appears the cyclist was approaching a Y junction and was going to move into the right fork,

Not really, going by the lines on the road. Yes, the Left turn for the cyclist would not have been a sharp one, while it is a sharp turn to go right where the car was.

But it is very clear from the road markings that the cyclist was just continuing on the same road, and could not reasonably have been expected to turn left.

 

[mustang1]

My irritation is these are billed as momentary lapses. But they’re not. I suspect drivers do this constantly and eventually it catches some of them out.

They're while lives are momentary lapses. It should be classified as momentary brain wave because most of the time they're just living their lives as zombies.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Looking at this again it is kinda simialr to a collision I had a few weeks ago

Basically I was approaching a single track - but very good - road,while on a wider road and ntendign to turn right into the smaller road

A car appeared round the corner in the single track road as I was getting close and was moving from the kerb to the centre
(for one I didn;t signal as I was turning - I normally always do just in case)
the car stopped and I could see her look both way for traffic

I continued on past the front of the car and swinging right into the road - leaving clearance and all that

and as I passed he front wing she just started off turning right
and so basically swinging her car into me so I got hit and then she carried on for a few yards


it was weird - she was clearly not intending any malice and stopped when she realises
but that was a second or two AFTER she hit me as one I was hit I pretty much stayed where I was
but I started by her front wing and ended up past her back door

she was very apologetic
and said "I just thought you were going straight on"

which was weird - she had seen me but then her mind must have blanked me as "not longer needing to be considered"

dunno if I scratched her car with my bike as I was bumping down the side trying to stay uprightish

but the way her mind had just decided to not consider me further was weird

In the video - he MUST have seen that there were cyclists - but his mind just ignored the one he hit

 

[briantrumpet]

Last time I was in Florida (I think - could have been somewhere else) I was bemused when we went to a water park because the lifeguards were doing this strange walk. I asked one and they said "it's a scanning walk". Essentially if you just sit on a chair and stare at the water you can "not" see something happening much more easily. By walking in a pattern and changing the focus of your gaze with the pattern, you are constantly looking at new places and updating your brain.

It's essentially making the visual scanning active & conscious rather than passive, I suppose. The way the brain deletes visual 'clutter' is essential most of the time to make the huge amount of incoming information subconsciously analysable in real time for split-second decisions/reactions (just think how long a laptop takes to process a single big image in photo editing software), but it's essential to override that 'decluttering algorithm' on roads, where our perception tends to be focused on the things that are a direct physical threat and also most numerous, i.e. cars & lorries. (Apologies for that 82-word sentence.)

 

[DRM]

Thats a well understood phenomenon and easily overcome by constant scanning and not lazily staring dead ahead at some indeterminate spot a short distance ahead of the bonnet like more and more drivers seem to do.

Next time youre following a car in good daylight look to see how often the drivers head moves. It wont be often. Mirrors go largely unused, and the greater landscape ignored bar a small section dead ahead.

Its lazy, and to not put in the effort required to not only look button actually see is wilfully negligent.

Exactly this, the amount of times I've seen people who just stare ahead while driving, especially on A Roads & motorways is frankly, terrifying

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Exactly this, the amount of times I've seen people who just stare ahead while driving, especially on A Roads & motorways is frankly, terrifying

On Motorways I probably spend as much time looking in the mirror and side mirrors as I do looking forward - that is generally where the problems come from!

 

[Webbo2]

On Motorways I probably spend as much time looking in the mirror and side mirrors as I do looking forward - that is generally where the problems come from!

On motorways I spend as much time looking in the mirror to see if I have any embarrassing hairs growing out of my nose. As do looking at how to get the right track on Spotify.

 

[blackrat]

Exactly this, the amount of times I've seen people who just stare ahead while driving, especially on A Roads & motorways is frankly, terrifying

It's tunnel vision! My wife is like that. I can stand on the side of the road waving like a banshee and she will not see me.

 

[DRM]

It's tunnel vision! My wife is like that. I can stand on the side of the road waving like a banshee and she will not see me.

It's not as bad as my daughter, who having just passed her test a few months previously, actually stopped at the zebra crossing to let me cross, waved to me, then promptly drove off without offering me lift home!