Advocacy & Safety - Why drivers can't see bikes

Here is a video of 6 people throwing a basketball around. Three are wearing white shirts and three are wearing black. While you watch the video count the number of times the white team catch the ball. Do not read other messages in this thread until you finish watching the video.
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

Do not read on until you look at the video.




























just paging down

Did you see the person in a gorilla suit walk through the video and wave at you? if not look at it again. When people concentrate on something they miss things in their vision. If a driver is looking for a street sign or some hotties they will not see your bike no matter how many blinkies you have on.

Maybe I'm a little more aware than most people but come on, how can anyone miss that?

Maybe I'm a little more aware than most people but come on, how can anyone miss that?
Less than 30% of people see it.

Less than 30% of people see it.

I saw it, but I admit I was very close to not seeing it. So, if people don't see us, then they are being negligent for not looking for us, as required by the Motor Vehicle Codes.

This is why drivers might not see you on the sidewalk, or other unusual place.

It's also why I use a yellow xenon strobe, similar to what the electric company and garbage trucks might use, to grab motorists' attention. They are conditioned to notice it.

So is there anything a cyclist can do to increase his visibility while the driver is distracted? I would be interested to see the results if the gorilla was wearing a yellow or red suit. This is a good argument for banning cell phones, radios, CD players etc.

You know, this is actually pretty scary. No one bothered to point out that if someone whipped out this "test" in court, a driver can get off pretty easy with murder.
I mean think about it, you have a test where you can 70% of the time prove to the jury and judge that it's human nature to miss stuff like that. Unless I'm looking at this from a wrong point of view.

Sorry about this test. I blew it. The title gives you a clue that there is something fishy with the video and so it is easier to spot. I gave the test to 3 people before posting and none saw it. Try it on someone else emphasizing that they watch the white team without giving any hints that something is amiss. It is hard to hold your tung when the gorilla waves and they still don't see it.

I have to say that I didn't see the gorilla until he was standing still and waving.

Guess that makes your point, huh? :D

But the gorilla didn't wave, he beat his chest.

I noticed it, but probably because I'm usually pretty aware of my surroundings as a regular bicyclist.

I can see though how driving a car can be more distracting.

I don't drive much, but when I do I always get nervous about hitting someone who might be in my blind spot.

So if I hit a car and screw it up, I can claim this video as defense?

I saw him too though I did not worry about what he was doing so I would not loose count. I had my daughter and boyfriend watch it. she saw it and pointed he still did not see it till the second time.

I saw it (and thought how can you miss it). I let two other peope try and both missed the gorillia and had to watch it again to believe there was a gorilla. Maybe be they shoud have the gorilla wear a blinke!

Laurence Gonzales uses this very example in his recently published book....Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. (Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (October, 2003) ISBN: 0393052761). He uses this experiment as an example of how people die in the outdoors. They are usually focused on a vary narrow aspect while missing obvious survival signs around them. It's a good book check it out.

Wow, that's neat. I love this kind of stuff.
Geezer you're right about the tipoff; I was kinda looking for something odd to happen - but I still found it hard to see the monkey!

When I noticed the monkey, I think I lost track of the White Team's catches. You have to ask how many catches were made! Was it 13 or 14?

Lastly, wow people sure are a little defensive, aren't they? :) Look at these posts saying rather huffily, "Well, so what, if you hit me it's still your fault!"

I think the point of this was to show that when biking you should never wear a gorrila suit! :) Hehehehe

When I was taught to drive, oh so many years ago, my dear old papa hammered into me the fact that you were not to become fixated on any single task. The best drivers are the ones who are constantly moving thier eyes, from dashboard to windshield to the rear views and back.

For me, the point wasn't whether I saw the gorilla or not. I saw him, but I ignored him choosing to remain focused on my assigned task. Motorists might not have an 'assigned' task such as this, but they definitely have distractions aplenty(radio, makeup, food/drink, etc.). Nothing new about the message really--just a great visual to make it more easily understood(hopefully).

I was kinda aware of something but was so busy counting the number of times the white team caught the ball. When I watched it again I couldn't believe there was a gorilla at all.

Just shows to go you that you should wear a gorilla suit if you want to go unnoticed.

?!?!?

How many people notice the gorilla when they are told to count the times the black team catches the ball?

The way I see it is that watching the traffic, including cyclists, is the 'assigned task' for motorists. Experiments like this, while interesting, don't in any way excuse motorists for failing to see cyclists. If they do because they're focused on some other task, they are not performing the task of driving anywhere near adequately.

I'm more concerned about the 30% that did see the gorilla. Did they still manage to keep count of the passes while they were distracted from the task they were supposed to be doing by irrelevant activity? If not, it's they that are the true danger to cyclists.

I kept counting and saw the gorilla. though I did not notice what it was doing.

IMO It's kind of hard to miss the gorilla.

I did lose count of how many times they passed the ball though.

I'm more concerned about the 30% that did see the gorilla. Did they still manage to keep count of the passes while they were distracted from the task they were supposed to be doing by irrelevant activity? If not, it's they that are the true danger to cyclists.

No. The task in the video is like being asked to count red cars only, or read every license plates instead of having an overall view of surrounding traffic. But whether we see the Gorilla or not is irrevelent. That video has nothing to do with driving.

yea but a cyclest isnt as small at that gorilla is either
if you had a biger video and ran it on say a 24" TV or bigger, most would spot the gorilla
or it is was life size, come on people use a little sense here
they made it small so they could make their claim
it's like stats if put to you in a certian way they hope you will see their point of view

but if someone points out the obvios like I have done then they will jump all over them and try to discreidet them

Wow, defensive, defensive, defensive!

People, a bike is harder to see than car - especially if the bike is doing something different (not following traffic laws), like the gorilla. What if the gorilla joined the game?

Jeez, I'm a little dissapointed by the defensive attitudes evidenced in response to this video! I mean, come on!

yea but a cyclest isnt as small at that gorilla is either
if you had a biger video and ran it on say a 24" TV or bigger, most would spot the gorilla
or it is was life size, come on people use a little sense here
they made it small so they could make their claim
it's like stats if put to you in a certian way they hope you will see their point of view

but if someone points out the obvios like I have done then they will jump all over them and try to discreidet them


Actually they ran this video at work recently. It was projected onto a wall so the figures were quite large. The results were the same.

In the theatre, there is an axiom that "If it's black, it isn't really there" or something to that effect. The gorilla is easy to miss because he's flat black.

To me, the video illustrates the importance of making oneself stand out, using high-vis colors and effective lighting.

This trick works because we are looking for people in white passing the ball. The gorilla is black, and very similar in size to the people in black who we are purposely ignoring.

If the gorilla were white, we would notice him quickly, I think. The lesson is to get noticed on a bike by looking like something motorists are scanning for already.

The lesson is to get noticed on a bike by looking like something motorists are scanning for already.

Yup, like a vehicule. That's another reason why my lights are standard colors (white/amber on front, red on rear. See it here (http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=19727)). And by acting like a vehicule.

Nice photo. What did you use for your front yellow safety lights?

Planet Bike BRT 3F from mec.ca. (http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=669215&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=17917&bmUID=1101865766153). It's the same kind as the one on the seatpost but amber (the red is sold under many brands).

I love my amber light from mec!

you know the same people that claim to have seen the monkey the first time are the same people that say "that wasn't scary" as they exit a movie theater, where the movie they just saw scared the **** out of them.

:)

yea but a cyclest isnt as small at that gorilla is either
if you had a biger video and ran it on say a 24" TV or bigger, most would spot the gorilla
or it is was life size, come on people use a little sense here
they made it small so they could make their claim
it's like stats if put to you in a certian way they hope you will see their point of view

but if someone points out the obvios like I have done then they will jump all over them and try to discreidet them

I saw this a few years ago in a large seminar room at a convention - the seminar was on driver distraction and the entire room missed the gorilla. The screen was at least 10 feet wide. Larger than life. We all missed it.

I noticed the gorilla. I figure if you don't wear a gorilla suit when your on your bike you will be okay.

Planet Bike BRT 3F from mec.ca. (http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=669215&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=17917&bmUID=1101865766153). It's the same kind as the one on the seatpost but amber (the red is sold under many brands).

Thanks. Mine have 5 LED's but on one light one of the LED's failed and don't think it is waterproof, only water resistant.

"Situational awareness" or, not focusing on the right thing, or focusing too much, changes with different people. It is a difficult (or impossible) thing to control.

One of the things you CAN control is how visible your bike is. If you are easy to see it is an advantge.
I am the first one to agree that the motorists not really "seeing" a bike is the biggest problem. It does not register some times, they look right at you and don't see you.
Same problem with a motorcycle. They are expecting cars so they are looking for cars.The guerilla video is a good way to illustrate this, but:

If the guerrilla had an orange vest and a red blinking light on him, would more people notice him? What about if there were only white shirt players?
If you contrast more with the background, it's better.

I have watched my friends ride away in traffic to test this. It almost seems as if they blend into the background. At night with a huge powerfull blinking tailight contrasting the darkness, there are times when it's easier to notice the bike. When my friend used an orange hunters vest during the day with white reflective material on it, I was impressed.

Some motorcycles and cars have the lights on all the time. This was started because of statitics that show that having your lights on decreases your chance of an accident.

Did you see the person in a gorilla suit walk through the video and wave at you? if not look at it again. When people concentrate on something they miss things in their vision. If a driver is looking for a street sign or some hotties they will not see your bike no matter how many blinkies you have on.

The first time I watched the video, I just watched what was going on, not trying to count any passes or anything. I saw the gorilla. After having seen the video several times (I was making an effort to get Java to work properly with Firefox on my Linux box), I finally tried to simply count the number of passes for the white team. There were fourteen passes, and I didn't see the gorilla! I went back and tried counting the black team's passes, and saw the gorilla that time. Missed the number of passes there, though.

well I guess I might be wrong but then I think the point is not to blend in or not to look like a car the point would be to stand out
wonder why someone dont do one with say a gorilla wearing a yellow muscle or T shirt