Situational blindness. Interesting article.

MP said:

A subject that has come up here before is car-bike accidents where the driver says something like
"I just didn't see him, he came out of nowhere." I've often thought that this is due to the ability
of people to overlook something that's right under their noses, because they just weren't expecting
to see something like that. I'm not excepting myself, I know it can apply to me too.

I thought this article in the latest "Scientific American" shed an interesting light on this. It's
not about accidents involving cars and bikes, although it does briefly mention them. It's about
just how blind we can be to the obvious.

sciam.comarticle.cfmOpen ↗

I can't locate the articles right now, but connected to the SciAm article is the idea that in a fast-
moving field, the brain has to filter and focus on shapes and motions that are of the most
importance. On a road, this means large horizontal masses. A bicycle (or motorcycle) is a thin
vertical mass. So it gets filtered out, like light poles and stop signs (believe me, where I live
stop signs are definitely not seen by a large number of motorists).

"MP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A subject that has come up here before is car-bike accidents where the driver says something like
"I just didn't see him, he came out of nowhere." I've often thought that this is due to the
ability of people to overlook something that's right under their noses, because they just weren't
expecting to see something like that. I'm not excepting myself, I know it can apply to me too.

I thought this article in the latest "Scientific American" shed an interesting light on this. It's
not about accidents involving cars and bikes, although it does briefly mention them. It's about
just how blind we can be to the obvious.

sciam.comarticle.cfmOpen ↗

I believe it was ABC's show 20/20 that aired that tape about 3 weeks ago ... instructing viewers to
count the number of passes by the team in white. When they replayed it and said "now focus on the
number of people in the room," and I saw that gorilla walk through, I was just absolutely stunned. I
couldn't believe it was there the first time. It was a stunner.

Bob C.

In article <[email hidden]>,

psycholist said:

I believe it was ABC's show 20/20 that aired that tape about 3 weeks ago ... instructing viewers
to count the number of passes by the team in white. When they replayed it and said "now focus on
the number of people in the room," and I saw that gorilla walk through, I was just absolutely
stunned. I couldn't believe it was there the first time. It was a stunner.

If you ride in a gorilla suit, make sure it has some reflective material on it. And maybe a sign on
it that says: "I am not a gorilla".

Pit zips would probably help, too.

It's interesting that we can employ all kinds of seemingly overkill tactics to make ourselves
visible, and it still might not be enough. I guess this is what the "ride as if you're invisible"
people (some of whom I've previously argued with) mean. With this new enlightenment, I now formally
concede. You guys win.

I guess there's certainly a reasonable amount of making ourselves visible -- but beyond that point,
other smarts have to come into play. Maybe it's futile to light ourselves up like a Las Vegas
casino. (But I've maintained that idea all along.)

I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody else, too."

cheers from a guy who gets by with 1 rear blinkie (and 2 headlights), Tom

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<< I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody
else, too." >>

That's it exactly.

Safe urban cycling is about hording responsibility.

Robert

(R15757) said:

<< I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody
else, too." >>

That's it exactly.

Safe urban cycling is about hording responsibility.

I don't understand. "Hording"?

Hoarding responsibility: taking responsibility for *everything* that might go wrong in a traffic
situation?

Hording responsibly: congregating in large numbers, but not sacking, raping, and pillaging?

-Luigi

www.livejournal.com/users/ouij Photos, rants, raves

Quoted message said:

Robert

Tom Keats said:

It's interesting that we can employ all kinds of seemingly overkill tactics to make ourselves
visible, and it still might not be enough. I guess this is what the "ride as if you're invisible"
people (some of whom I've previously argued with) mean. With this new enlightenment, I now
formally concede. You guys win.

I guess there's certainly a reasonable amount of making ourselves visible -- but beyond that
point, other smarts have to come into play. Maybe it's futile to light ourselves up like a Las
Vegas casino. (But I've maintained that idea all along.)

I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody
else, too."

cheers from a guy who gets by with 1 rear blinkie (and 2 headlights), Tom

Actually, the problem may be much more acute in daylight than in darkness. In darkness, drivers are
looking for light sources. A light source attached to a bicycle probably triggers the same reaction
as a light source attached to a car.

(By way of analogy: if a basketball player in a pink shirt suddenly tossed a ball, he'd probably
be noticed.)

Having said that, your interpretation of "ride as if you're invisible" is a better replacement for
the original. Really, if one were to ride as if invisible, they could never get anywhere, so the
literal advice is _still_ silly.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

I am not an expert on bicycling, but this sort of blindness happened a lot when I used to drive a
motorcycle in college. I assumed people would not see me, and did not enter traffic, etc until I
made eye contact. I cant count the number of times I saw people give a start when they saw me....it
was obvious that they were looking for a CAR, and not registering anything else. Half of the time I
felt invisible on a motorcycle; im guessing that it is even worse with bicycles.

Steve

"frkrygow" <"frkrygow"@omitcc.ysu.edu> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom Keats said:

It's interesting that we can employ all kinds of seemingly overkill tactics to make ourselves
visible, and it still might not be enough. I guess this is what the "ride as if you're
invisible" people (some of whom I've previously argued with) mean. With this new enlightenment,
I now formally concede. You guys win.

I guess there's certainly a reasonable amount of making ourselves visible -- but beyond that
point, other smarts have to come into play. Maybe it's futile to light ourselves up like a Las
Vegas casino. (But I've maintained that idea all along.)

I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody
else, too."

cheers from a guy who gets by with 1 rear blinkie (and 2 headlights), Tom

Actually, the problem may be much more acute in daylight than in darkness. In darkness, drivers
are looking for light sources. A light source attached to a bicycle probably triggers the same
reaction as a light source attached to a car.

(By way of analogy: if a basketball player in a pink shirt suddenly tossed a ball, he'd probably
be noticed.)

Having said that, your interpretation of "ride as if you're invisible" is a better replacement for
the original. Really, if one were to ride as if invisible, they could never get anywhere, so the
literal advice is _still_ silly.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

Steve Bernhardt said:

I am not an expert on bicycling, but this sort of blindness happened a lot when I used to drive a
motorcycle in college. I assumed people would not see me, and did not enter traffic, etc until I
made eye contact. I cant count the number of times I saw people give a start when they saw me....it
was obvious that they were looking for a CAR, and not registering anything else. Half of the time I
felt invisible on a motorcycle; im guessing that it is even worse with bicycles.

The main reaction around where I live is disbelief and an inability to judge what to do next.

I've had people slow to a crawl behind me so much that I had to motion them to pass (safely, of
course). Cars turning at intersections freeze. Some motorists are even more afraid of me than I am
of them. This is just as unnerving as the people who don't seem to see me at all.

When I lived in London, of course, it was a non-issue. I was just traffic, and I slotted in just
fine along with everybody else. Even big roundabouts were a doddle. I never did try anything on multi-
level intersections though, so.

-Luigi

frkrygow' 'frkrygow said:

Tom Keats wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's interesting that we can employ all kinds of seemingly overkill tactics to make ourselves
visible, and it still might not be enough. I guess this is what the "ride as if you're invisible"
people (some of whom I've previously argued with) mean. With this new enlightenment, I now
formally concede. You guys win.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I guess there's certainly a reasonable amount of making ourselves visible -- but beyond that
point, other smarts have to come into play. Maybe it's futile to light ourselves up like a Las
Vegas casino. (But I've maintained that idea all along.)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody
else, too."

Quoted message said:

Actually, the problem may be much more acute in daylight than in darkness. In darkness, drivers
are looking for light sources. A light source attached to a bicycle probably triggers the same
reaction as a light source attached to a car.

I've seen a study which concludes drivers are looking for the light signature of a car (two
headlights), and therefore don't see motorcycles (and maybe bicycles too). Also -- cars with one
headlight out have *greatly* increased accident risk, and, those motorcycles with two headlights
get clipped regularly by drivers who think they're a car, much further away. So light signatures
are just as significant as daytime visual cues, and situational blindness is just as serious a
problem at night.

Not that anecdotes matter much, but my sister was in a motorcycle accident possibly because of this
situational blindness problem. She was on her motorcycle "just riding along" Wilshire Bl. in Los
Angeles in the middle of the night (almost no traffic), when a car coming the opposite way made a
left turn right into her -- as if she wasn't there. The driver was not drunk or otherwise impaired.
He claimed he just didn't see her. (She was seriously injured, but thankfully, made a full
recovery.)

Quoted message said:

Having said that, your interpretation of "ride as if you're invisible" is a better replacement for
the original. Really, if one were to ride as if invisible, they could never get anywhere, so the
literal advice is _still_ silly.

That's why we have brains, to judge when this advice applies.

Matt O.

I like my illuminated vest, available from safetypro.ussafetypro.usOpen ↗ for about US$30

Tom Keats said:

In article said:

I believe it was ABC's show 20/20 that aired that tape about 3 weeks ago ... instructing viewers
to count the number of passes by the team in white. When they replayed it and said "now focus on
the number of people in the room," and I saw that gorilla walk through, I was just absolutely
stunned. I couldn't believe it was there the first time. It was a stunner.

If you ride in a gorilla suit, make sure it has some reflective material on it. And maybe a sign
on it that says: "I am not a gorilla".

<snip

R15757 said:

Not exactly. More like "taking responsibility for as much as possible that might impact (!) your
physical well-being." It goes back to if you want something done right, do it yourself. ...

Cyclists are much more in control of their own fate in traffic than they realize.

I agree with the above. It's not that I never daydream, of course - but riding in traffic definitely
gets my heavy, undivided attention.

Come to think of it, it's much the same when I'm riding with a group of cyclists, as on a club ride.
I guess the traffic doesn't need to be motorized to make me careful.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

------------ And now a word from our sponsor ---------------------- For a quality mail server, try
SurgeMail, easy to install, fast, efficient and reliable. Run a million users on a standard PC
running NT or Unix without running out of power, use the best! ---- See
netwinsite.comsponsor surgemail.htmOpen ↗ ----

Matt O'Toole said:

I've seen a study which concludes drivers are looking for the light signature of a car (two
headlights), and therefore don't see motorcycles (and maybe bicycles too).

I'd be interested in reading that study, if you can provide a citation.

Quoted message said:

Also -- cars with one headlight out have *greatly* increased accident risk,

Again, I'd be interested in more details. There are lots of correlations without causation. In this
case, were the one-headlight cars driving perfectly legally, yet hit by other drivers? Or were the
careless drivers who can't even bother to replace a headlight running off the road because they
were drunk?

Quoted message said:

and, those motorcycles with two headlights get clipped regularly by drivers who think they're a
car, much further away.

Citations? I really am interested in the details.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

------------ And now a word from our sponsor ------------------ For a quality usenet news server,
try DNEWS, easy to install, fast, efficient and reliable. For home servers or carrier class
installations with millions of users it will allow you to grow! ---- See
netwinsite.comsponsor dnews.htmOpen ↗ ----

In article <[email hidden]>,

frkrygow' 'frkrygow'@omitcc.ysu.edu said:

Actually, the problem may be much more acute in daylight than in darkness. In darkness, drivers
are looking for light sources. A light source attached to a bicycle probably triggers the same
reaction as a light source attached to a car.

I've thought about that, and reasoned that various factors may well work to even-out visibility in
both daylit and dark environments. With adequate forward and rearward active lighting and good
passive reflectorization installed & worn in the dark, I wouldn't be surprised if daylight vs
darkness was a "different but equal" thing, as far as how visible we are to others goes.

But you raise a good point -- contrast is good. When riding around a grey urban environment with
lots of grey pavement, grey buildings, grey cars and grey weather, it's probably not such a good
idea to wear grey clothing. Up in the BC interior where I'll soon find myself, much of the landscape
is yellow -- yellow straw and yellow gorse/broom growing alongside the highways, and even the dirt
is yellowish. Much of my cycling attire is yellow. It contrasts and stands-out nicely in the
greyness of the city, but I guess I'm going to have to look for some blue or green or white stuff,
like old Seahawks colours.

Quoted message said:

(By way of analogy: if a basketball player in a pink shirt suddenly tossed a ball, he'd probably
be noticed.)

But not if he was wearing a gorilla suit :-) I remember Morgana running bouncily out and giving
baseball pitchers big, sloppy kisses & hugs. She sure got noticed. Maybe women have an advantage,
visability-wise.

Quoted message said:

Having said that, your interpretation of "ride as if you're invisible" is a better replacement for
the original. Really, if one were to ride as if invisible, they could never get anywhere, so the
literal advice is _still_ silly.

Yeah, it can be taken too many ways. At least I understand what they mean, now.

cheers, Tom

--
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[point] bc [point] ca

In article <[email hidden]>,

(R15757) said:

<< I now take "ride as if you're invisible" as: "be prepared to do the seeing for everybody else,
too." >>

That's it exactly.

Safe urban cycling is about hording responsibility.

Or hogging it :-)

cheers, Tom

--
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[point] bc [point] ca

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 22:20:20 -0800, <[email hidden]>,

(Tom Keats) said:

Much of my cycling attire is yellow. It contrasts and stands-out nicely in the greyness of the
city, but I guess I'm going to have to look for some blue or green or white stuff, like old
Seahawks colours.

Pink. Real men can wear pink. It would be good except during those rosy coloured dawn hours when the
sage is purple and the sky is pink.

Out there you might get more respect in a highway workers safety vest, hard hat and 5 year old
Oakleys than any cycling garb.
--
zk

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 23:08:41 -0800, Zoot Katz <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 22:20:20 -0800, <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Tom

Keats) said:

Much of my cycling attire is yellow. It contrasts and stands-out nicely in the greyness of the
city, but I guess I'm going to have to look for some blue or green or white stuff, like old
Seahawks colours.

Pink. Real men can wear pink.

Especially if they're leading the Giro.

-Luigi

"frkrygow" <"frkrygow"@omitcc.ysu.edu> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Actually, the problem may be much more acute in daylight than in darkness. In darkness, drivers
are looking for light sources. A light source attached to a bicycle probably triggers the same
reaction as a light source attached to a car.

I have commuted at night in the city for years and I have also felt that riding at night was not
just different but safer than during the day.

But I felt that the reason had less to do with the drivers looking for light sources than the fact
that during the day they see cyclists all the time and so it doesn't register with them (situational
blindness). At night, they see a couple of rear blinkers and identify it as a bicycle and it gets
noticed just because it is unusual.

Just my opinion. Tom

frkrygow' 'frkrygow said:

Matt O'Toole said:

I've seen a study which concludes drivers are looking for the light signature of a car (two
headlights), and therefore don't see motorcycles (and maybe bicycles too).

I'd be interested in reading that study, if you can provide a citation.

I wish I could share it! Unfortunately, this one's proprietary. My NDA lets me discuss it somewhat
-- but I can't even say who the client is.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Also -- cars with one headlight out have *greatly* increased

accident

Quoted message said:

risk,

Again, I'd be interested in more details. There are lots of correlations without causation. In
this case, were the one-headlight cars driving perfectly legally, yet hit by other drivers? Or
were the careless drivers who can't even bother to replace a headlight running off the road
because they were drunk?

No one car accidents, just collisions. Interestingly, there were two versions, for both alcohol or
no alcohol involved -- with little difference between the results. Apparently, people make the same
mistakes drunk as they do sober. Alcohol just increases the risk. Data was pulled from thousands of
police reports and insurance company interviews, from one of those Orwellian (and very expensive)
insurance industry databases.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and, those motorcycles with two headlights get clipped regularly by drivers who think they're a
car, much further away.

Citations? I really am interested in the details.

Another chapter from the same study. Again, data from police reports and insurance interrogations,
"I thought he was a car, way off in the distance... and then he was RIGHT THERE!"

Again, it's a shame this stuff isn't available for all to read.

Matt O.

Thomas Reynolds said:

I have commuted at night in the city for years and I have also felt that riding at night was not
just different but safer than during the day.

According to this CPSC study, "Riding under non-daylight conditions (e.g., at night, dusk, or dawn)
was about 3.6 times more risky than riding during the daytime."

cpsc.gov344.pdfOpen ↗

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