Why Drivers Can't See Cyclists!

[G2EWS]

Thought you might find this interesting:

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

Regards

Chris

 

[MontyVeda]

an interesting read that Chris... thinks for digging it up.

i'm off to buy some pop-corn and shall return to this thread later, when it hots up a tad

 

[GBC]

Thought you might find this interesting:

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

Regards

Chris

A very interesting and informative article Chris, and what is described is something that I can certainly relate to.

 

[GrasB]

A nice article, but it's nothing new. Everything in there was taught to me in AD courses & tuition. One thing that was missed is a lot of drivers don't actually scan the road they're joining until they're about to turn into it. By starting to look for vehicles as you're approaching a junction is makes it much, much harder to miss movement. Obviously you can't do this at every junction, but if you get into the habit of looking pre-arrival then you become more aware that you're coming up to a junction with reduced vision.

 

[Drago]

Interesting, but old hat.

Car drivers don't see us cus they don't look properly, if at all. Well duh!

One serious oversight in the discussion about visual processing and judging a vehicles speed. Anyone spot bit?

 

[Over The Hill]

Article has a link to cycle jackets - click on it and it has three pictures of different cycle jackets - ALL IN BLACK !

 

[asterix]

Had to brake to avoid this tw4t pulling out a few days ago. He was driving a big white Audi. Did he apologise? Not a bit of it. I mean, how hard is it to see a white transit-sized van?

 

[Drago]

Ah, now, that the summer range of hi vis wear

 

[vernon]

There's also the 'motion camouflage' phenomenon as described in Bike magazine in 2005.

Sometimes the SMIDSY is genuine.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Had to brake to avoid this tw4t pulling out a few days ago. He was driving a big white Audi. Did he apologise? Not a bit of it. I mean, how hard is it to see a white transit-sized van?

Arrogance Unimpeded by Driver Intelligence?

 

[Drago]

Yep, the prize goes to Vernon who more or spotted the missing piece of very important data. There's a little bit more to it than that if anyone fancies a bonus point?

 

[GBC]

There's also the 'motion camouflage' phenomenon as described in Bike magazine in 2005.

Sometimes the SMIDSY is genuine.

It is and I have experienced it myself in that I've pulled out onto a roundabout or entered a junction when I certainly shouldn't have. Not often thankfully, no more than three or four times in forty years of driving, and none of them resulted in damage or injury. None of them involved bikes either, I'm glad to say, but that's only luck.

 

[Jezston]

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I think there is a Terry Pratchet quote that would apply here though I forget its exact nature; it goes along the lines of the fact that there is a difference between "looking" and "seeing".

Found it “Open your eyes and then open your eyes again.” ― Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30). Never has it applied as well to drivers seeing cyclists (or motorcyclists).

Most of advanced level driving falls between observation and perception/hazard awareness and that is what make the biggest difference with people's driving. Regretfully it is woefully lacking in the 'standard' driving test IMO.

 

[MontyVeda]

Yep, the prize goes to Vernon who more or spotted the missing piece of very important data. There's a little bit more to it than that if anyone fancies a bonus point?

is it the motion camouflage phenonomomonon?