Advocacy & Safety - "None So Blind" from Scientific American

"None So Blind," by the Skeptic, Michael Shermer, from Scientific American, March 2004 (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=000A011D-C17F-101E-B40D83414B7F0000)

This interesting essay shows why the guy coming out of a coffee shop looked straight at me, on a recumbant, with a light on, and did not see me. He was holding his coffee, and talking on a cell phone as he pulled out of the drive in front of me. It doesn't matter what you are wearing, how bright your light, or how contrasting the colors (although these help for people looking for us), it seems from this article that some will not see us. Mr. Shermer's experiment was showing a video clip, and having people focus on the activity of six people tossing two basketballs. The viewers were to count the number of passes made by the white team. In the middle of this, "a gorilla enters the room, walks directly through the farrago of bodies, thumps his chest and, nine seconds later, exits. Would you see the gorilla?" The answer is that about 50% of the viewers did not see the gorilla. As Mr. Shermer stated,

"We think of our eyes as video cameras and our brains as blank tapes to be filled with sensory inputs...This is not the case. The perceptual system and the brain that analyzes its data are far more complex. As a consequence, much of what passes before our eyes may be invisible to abrain that is focused on something else."

He goes on to discuss motorcyles and bicyclists being invisible, and of motorists looking right at them and not seeing them (from accident reports).

After reading this, I'm more concerned about bicycle safety issues than before. We must be very vigillent, and assume that we are not seen. In other words, we need to bicycle defensively. Look at the driver, make eye contact, and get some reaction from the person before assuming that (s)he's seen you.

How about you; do you have any examples of this "inattentional blindness" that would be helpful to others here at this forum?

John

This the same guy who did the great change blindness research & demo. You can find it by following the 'gorilla' link at the bottom. Have a look, as it is very illuminating as to how we see the world around us.

As far as examples, shoot, anyone who rides in traffic for long will have more examples than that they can count. You may think that they look straight at you, then make the dumb move, but it may be more like they look straight through you. Our minds work off of pardigms, filters for their perceptions. I belive this to be one of the reasons behind why it is safer the more riders there are in an area. Each rider is conditioning the 'filters' of drivers. If you have seen bikes, you expect to see bike, you are looking for bikes & you will see bikes.

Bikes & motorcycles do not have enough horizontal displacement to be easily seen by drivers conditioned by looking only for cars & trucks.

Eye contact & a reaction sounds like fine advice.

The good news is that as cyclists, we generally travel a great deal slower than motorcycles and cars, so our reaction time (and that of other operators) is much longer (motorcyclists are by far more accident-prone than cyclists or drivers.) But I advocate personal awareness (you are in charge of your "accident") and as much light and sound as you can muster. I've seen too many absent-minded motorists "awaken" at my prompting for me to take their awareness for granted.

This is the same Michael Shermer who used to do the RAAM (Race Across America) back in the 80's (along with Jon Haldeman and John Howard) isn't it? I believe he finished but never actually won the race.

One of the ER nurses here at the hospital where I work, who is a Harley rider, summed it up like this "Ride like no one can see you, if they can see you, they are trying to KILL you!". This is the way I ride, and believe me, I have had people pull out in front of me, all the while my light is hitting them in the side of the head so bright you would think they would have had a sun burn! :eek:

Well the example given in the article was flawed conceptually. If a person is concentrating on counting passes attempted, they probably see the gorilla, but they do not remember it because they are concentrating on the stupid passes.

When I am riding, I don't recall every turn in the road, but I must have seen them and responded to them because I got home without riding through a fence.

If you look at statistics on motorist/cyclists collisions most occur at intersections or when cars are pulling out of driveways. If cyclists were truly not being seen, you would have far more cyclists struck from behind. Generally, cyclists are struck from behind when they are functionally invisible, for example, riding at night without lights or reflectors.

I think motorists have real problems with cyclists. They see a cyclist at an intersection and they have a terrible time judging the speed of the cyclist. To motorists, things are either travelling at the speed limit usually over 30 mph or things are pedestrians and pedestrians are functionally not moving as far as motorists are concerned. Also, motorists think cyclists can stop instantaneously. So you have the problems of motorists pulling out in front of cyclists, motorists turning over cyclists, and motorists passing cyclists and making the right hand turn, the infamous "right hook", with the cyclist going into the car.

So if I ride wearing a gorilla suit, my chances of being struck aren't significantly reduced?

Dang. There goes another of my brilliant ideas. :rolleyes:

Having done both the powered and unpowered two wheeled experience. I must concur with the premise of the article. Many average motorists are looking for 4 wheeled vehicles when they pull out. They do look through us.

The reason for the relative lack of rear impact collisions is that the average driver is looking for a variety of road obstacles. We register on that account.

At an intersection I make an extra effort to make eye contact with the driver of the car. It makes me "feel" safer and I believe the driver feels better too because of shared awareness. Never felt like they were seeing through me. Maybe so. Hope not.

I'm convinced one element of this psychological filtering process is that, at least for some motorists, they filter out what they're unafraid to hit. I used to drive a bright red Honda CRX-SI automobile. Far, far more people would pull directly into it's path than ever did for our other car, an SUV. I plain don't believe it's harder to see a bright red sports car than a dark colored jeep. At some subconscious level, a lot of people choose to notice what might hurt them, and to threaten what they think they can intimidate into moving out of THEIR way.

I'm convinced one element of this psychological filtering process is that, at least for some motorists, they filter out what they're unafraid to hit. I used to drive a bright red Honda CRX-SI automobile. Far, far more people would pull directly into it's path than ever did for our other car, an SUV. I plain don't believe it's harder to see a bright red sports car than a dark colored jeep. At some subconscious level, a lot of people choose to notice what might hurt them, and to threaten what they think they can intimidate into moving out of THEIR way.

I used to drive a little Mazda 323, before the days of daytime running lights. I used to get cut off, pulled in front of, you name it, constantly. I found that leaving my headlights on all the time helped a lot. It just worked on some subconscious level.

At some subconscious level, a lot of people choose to notice what might hurt them, and to threaten what they think they can intimidate into moving out of THEIR way.

I really think this is the key.

In the middle of this, "a gorilla enters the room, walks directly through the farrago of bodies, thumps his chest and, nine seconds later, exits. I wanna know how they trained the gorilla to do this. Note that the article did not say "a guy in a gorilla suit enters the room...".


I'm convinced one element of this psychological filtering process is that, at least for some motorists, they filter out what they're unafraid to hit. I used to drive a bright red Honda CRX-SI automobile. Far, far more people would pull directly into it's path than ever did for our other car, an SUV. I plain don't believe it's harder to see a bright red sports car than a dark colored jeep. At some subconscious level, a lot of people choose to notice what might hurt them, and to threaten what they think they can intimidate into moving out of THEIR way. I drive a purple Saturn wagon with daytime running lights. My wife drives an old brown Ford pickup. I get cut off considerably more often than she does.

My most recent, and most remarkable, car-bike crash was about four years ago. Rainy March night. I had a 2.5W headlight, a reflectorized vest, reflectors all over my helmet, reflective leg bands, etc. Speed ~19 MPH (30 kph). Approaching an intersection where the cross street had a two-way stop, there was a car at the stop in the cross street. No cars parked on the street in our line-of-sight. I saw he was letting up on the brake, so I called out and rang my bell. He stopped. I kept my speed (I was going downhill). He throttled up and t-boned me. His comments to the cops were: "I heard something, but didn't know what it was, so I proceeded," and "I wasn't expecting a bike to be out on the road on a night like this." Psychological, perceptual, sensory, meteorological, legal and political interpretations are left as an exercise for the reader.

But it is also a question of hwere the driver is looking.

They habitually look well to their left, to see if a motor vehicle is too close for them to pull out. the angle they look at is predicated on the speed of the "expected" vehicle.

Since the cyclist's speed is often lower, they are looking "behind" you. In other words, if they are looking down the road at an angle of, say 55/60 degrees and you are at an angle of, say 30 degrees, you are the gorilla.

It is made even worse where the road entering the other one is angled so as to enable cars to enter/filter at a higher speed so as to reduce the likelihood of car/car collision

If they are introducing roundabouts (UK)/ traffic circles (US) in your area, this phenomenon is particularly noticeable, so watch out.

But it is also a question of hwere the driver is looking.

I think this is very true. One of the problems with drivers seeing cyclists is that we are often not out in the street. Cyclists are too far to the right to be identified as traffic. Motorists are looking into the lane of traffic and not at the edges. This is one more reason for cyclists to take up as much of the lane as they legally can, IMO.

So if I ride wearing a gorilla suit, my chances of being struck aren't significantly reduced?

Dang. There goes another of my brilliant ideas. :rolleyes:

Yeah, it doesn't work. I've been trying that one for years.


Actually, I'm surprised nobody in this thread has mentioned education. I tend to think drivers don't look for cyclists because they are simply not trained to look when obtaining their licence. I know this because a common source of cyclist abuse around here is actually driving instructors (although it's not quite as bad as it used to be).

I'd guess that many learner drivers in a car with the instructor are probably instructed to cut cyclists off and so on.

Ever since I started running a 20W halogen, motorists wait almost too long for me to approach intersections. (They probably don't know what I am.)

Speaking from experience it's not just motorists that look through cyclists yet see cars - pedestrians do the same.

I'm convinced one element of this psychological filtering process is that, at least for some motorists, they filter out what they're unafraid to hit.

Maybe. I own a 250cc scooter, a 1200cc motorcycle, as well as an A class (looks like a bus) motorhome. The motorcycles offer some scary moments of people intentionally cutting me off. But by far the toughest job is driving Homer the motorhome. People act as if they're immune to getting crushed by a 15 ton vehicle. Homer gets cut off all the time. Closest call to a major crash was when a woman driving an Accord in the lane to my right decided to move into my lane on I-95 at the the Delaware Memorial Bridge. She drove right into my front bumper swerved back to the right and nearly lost it. The Honda sustained major damage. I don't think the problem is not being seen. Just old fashion rudeness. This woman saw me, misjudged my closing speed and moved to cut me off. She got caught, not the usual outcome.
Riding motorcycles has made me an extremely defensive driver and rider. Much of what is learned in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's basic rider course can be applied to bicycles. Some of that information, like making eye contact with a motorist who is waiting to pull into traffic is good stuff that many of can benefit from

ChrisL said:
Actually, I'm surprised nobody in this thread has mentioned education. I tend to think drivers don't look for cyclists because they are simply not trained to look when obtaining their licence. I know this because a common source of cyclist abuse around here is actually driving instructors (although it's not quite as bad as it used to be).


I believe this is part of the situation. When I learned to drive, my Dad would constantly tell me to look around. When we went out in the woods ("bush" to you guys in Australia, we have some pretty large trees here:D ), he would tell me to look to the sides of the road, and look for deer and other animals. He showed me how to pick out animals by their eyes shining in the lights at night, something not too many people know about. He showed me how to look through brush and trees, by focusing behind them, and actually see deer, people or things through the folliage. These are learned techniques.

I have seen bicyclists at night, for instance, by their dark silhouettes passing and interrupting lights behind them (foolish kids on unlighted bikes). Who is taught this kind of hazard recognition? Well, we were taught this in the US Air Force when we learned how to watch for survivors when searching from scanning seats in an HC-130 rescue aircraft. We would constantly move our eyes, to look for colors that were different that what was supposed to be there, or flashes that were out-of-place, or a whisp of smoke, anything that would indicate a survivor over land or water. I still use these techniques in my driving, and have been able to prevent accidents by doing so too. My wife also looks, and if I miss something, she will say so. These are some of the responsibilities of a good driver.


Tom Cotter said:

People act as if they're immune to getting crushed by a 15 ton vehicle. Homer gets cut off all the time. Closest call to a major crash was when a woman driving an Accord in the lane to my right decided to move into my lane on I-95 at the the Delaware Memorial Bridge. She drove right into my front bumper swerved back to the right and nearly lost it. The Honda sustained major damage. I don't think the problem is not being seen. Just old fashion rudeness. This woman saw me, misjudged my closing speed and moved to cut me off. She got caught, not the usual outcome.

This is more common than some realize. Some people cannot judge closing speed. A Douglas County Sherrif's Officer once told me about seeing several accidents where drivers would pull out in front of a loaded logging truck, assuming that the truck would slow down the same as a car--not so! Some of these people died from their misjudgement.

So we have a need for perception, and in training on how to perceive driving hazards. We also need to judge these hazards, and apply different criteria for the different types of hazards. I was once "T-Boned" by a driver at night who did not realize how fast I was traveling, and figured that I could slow down quickly. On second thought, that's happened to me twice, once with little consequence, and once where it took me a month to heal.

These are important parts of driving skills, and are sorely lacking in some drivers.

John

I just went to a church choir practice on my bike, and it was obviously at night. One other tip about perceiving things is that you should never look directly at bright lights. The light "washes out" (chemically) the cone cells perception ability (which perceive black and white perception, if my memory is correct) in the area that it contacts. If that area is in the folvia (center portion) of the eye, then it will be much harder to see darker things. It will wipe out the night vision of that portion of the eye for several seconds after being exposed. If, however, you look down and away from the light, it will strike the retina in an area that is not important to our "seeing" ability. This is a tip that my Dad provided when I was young, and which was emphasized in my Air Force training.

This is also why I'm not too thrilled by the extremely bright, bluish lights now seen on some cars. They can blind people coming the opposite direction. These lights will also illuminate things very brightly to you, but not allow you to see in the shadows, for the same reason as is stated above.

John

This is also why I'm not too thrilled by the extremely bright, bluish lights now seen on some cars. They can blind people coming the opposite direction. These lights will also illuminate things very brightly to you, but not allow you to see in the shadows, for the same reason as is stated above.

I've noticed these too. I guess they're a product of the "screw everybody else" mentality that seems to go into designing and marketing cars these days, conveniently forgetting what might happen if everybody else out there adopts that mentality. On the other hand, I've never had one of them do the old "flash of the hi-beam lights" in my eyes the way more conventional drivers seem to.

This woman saw me, misjudged my closing speed and moved to cut me off.

This has happened to me on my bike more times than I can count. I remember a driver in a black Caddy. He flipped a U-turn right in front of me, causing me to lock up my brakes. I was so mad, I followed him to where he parked. (Stupid, I know, but I was hot!) I said, "Didn't you see me? I was in the bike lane wearing this bright red shirt and you looked right at me!"

He said, "I saw you, but you were way back there." His tone implied that I was at fault for somehow going faster than he expected. After a few seconds of speechlessness, I let fly with some choice language indicating that, if he couldn't judge speed and distance, he ought not drive a car.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if this isn't part of the same problem described by the gorilla experiment. He looked right at me, saw me, and then when he focused on traffic (which in his mind is only comprised of motor vehicles), I totally disappeared from his vision.

On the other hand, maybe the guy was just a jerk.

Isn't one of the most basic issues in safe cycling that you should assume no one will act as if they see you?

As I wrote in the thread, "How Bright?":

It happens all the time. Cars see me. I see them see me. They go anyway.

Closetbiker said:


Isn't one of the most basic issues in safe cycling that you should assume no one will act as if they see you?

As I wrote in the thread, "How Bright?":



Exactly this happened to me this afternoon going back to work. I was in the bicycle lane, approaching an intersection. This is a four-lane street, and the intersection was light-controlled. Approaching the intersection, I was going about 15 mph (don't remember exactly, but that is close), and had overtaken several cars. The cars gained speed, and several went through the intersection. A black sedan with a woman driving went by me, and I watched her closely. She looked left, then turned exactly in front of me as I was going to go straight through the intersection. She completely cut me off, forcing me to stop. When I did, my front wheel was less than two feet from her car. She continued through the intersection, then stopped on the road.

Wow, missed by just inches, and only because I was watching her through the whole thing. This is one I chalk up to being on a recumbant, as I could see her the whole time. I knew she was looking away. If I was on my regular bike, I would not have seen her head (too high, seeing the roof of the car).

I rode up beside to talk to her. She had seen me as she passed, and then said that she couldn't see me and thought I had stopped or something. Actually, she couldn't see me because she had dismissed me and was looking the opposite direction--I could see her though.

It was a close one, and makes me more interested in perception and driving. I'm also glad I was on my recumbant.

John

maybe we should ride bike swith porn on them?

It happens all the time. Cars see me. I see them see me. They go anyway.

As suggested above, could it be that the drivers are just jerks? I'm always amazed by the differences in that respect between where I live and other places I've been. In four weeks in Tasmania I never had the problem of being cut-off by drivers at any point, I never had to contend with people claiming not to see me. Yet around here it happens all the time. In Melbourne last year I noticed it wasn't nearly as difficult to be seen by drivers -- nor was it such a problem in Adelaide now that I think about it.

As I mentioned earlier, education is the issue here. The main reason drivers don't "see" cyclists is because they don't want to. There needs to be a fundamental change to licencing requirements -- if a failure to "see" a cyclist either on the road or on a simulation was grounds for instant failure of the driving test, you can bet it would be a lot less common than it is now.

I was in the bicycle lane, approaching an intersection... Approaching the intersection, I was going about 15 mph...A black sedan with a woman driving went by me, and I watched her closely. She looked left, then turned exactly in front of me as I was going to go straight through the intersection. She completely cut me off, forcing me to stop.

Wow, missed by just inches, and only because I was watching her through the whole thing.
Vigilance is what protects us.

John's experience represents perhaps the greatest potential problem with car lanes that turn across bike lanes at intersections. The key is to ride as if there is no bike lane when you are approaching the intersection.

Closetbiker said:


Isn't one of the most basic issues in safe cycling that you should assume no one will act as if they see you?


Exactly this happened to me this afternoon going back to work.
... missed by just inches, and only because I was watching her

...It was a close one, and makes me more interested in perception and driving.
John

So... you saw this car coming, missed her because you knew her perception would be different than yours and avoided an accident because you knew that you should assume no driver will act as if they see you.

The same thing happens to me not only on my bike, but in my small car as well (funny how it has never happened to me when driving large trucks)

That's just the way things work and a reason to be an advocate for making sure rules are followed on the road. We are traffic and have the same rights and responsibilities on the same roads.

Riding motorcycles has made me an extremely defensive driver and rider. Much of what is learned in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's basic rider course can be applied to bicycles. Some of that information, like making eye contact with a motorist who is waiting to pull into traffic is good stuff that many of can benefit from

I have to agree with this. I even use what I learned in the MSF course while driving my truck.

I agree with those that believe that it is a matter of, "it can't hurt me so I'm not worried." I believe that because I've been cut off on the motorcycle at night before. And when you are coming right at their driver door at night with a bright (60W) headlight, you can't believe that they didn't see you.

This week, I got the right hook, too. I know the guy saw me because he accellerated as he passed. He was just too impatient to wait his turn.

After the right hook, he quickly turned into his company parking lot. I followed him until he parked. I planned to give him "the lecture," but I was thought he might feel threatened by a ski-masked & goggled interrogator. I also realized the company whose lot I was in did military research, and I didn't want to deal with the kind of security those places have.

This week, I got the right hook, too. I know the guy saw me because he accellerated as he passed. He was just too impatient to wait his turn.


If it makes you feel any better, every time I've witnessed a right hook as a third party observer I always got the impression that it was just incompetance on the part of the driver (usually very bad judgement on the speed of the cyclist) and not an intentional "cut off".

I know it only helps so much when your the one heading towards the pavement but I know that I would be twice as angry if i knew the driver did it knowingly and not out of stupidity.