No replacement for defensive riding

[Lannis]

Lannis, yea that’s the way it evolved over the years I guess. However things has drastically changed in my part of the country. In The city I worked they have left the old uniforms of tall boots, bloused pants and white half helmets and gone to the europium style of dress including full black helmets and sport touring bikes.
Personally I like this uniform from the mid 30s at the WSPD:)

Just trying to imagine that old knuckle running 90 MPH chasing a new V8 Ford running 85, with not enough brakes between them for a modern moped .... !!

Lannis

[Ncdan]

Just trying to imagine that old knuckle running 90 MPH chasing a new V8 Ford running 85, with not enough brakes between them for a modern moped .... !!

Lannis

Lol, 👍👍👍

[Bert Remington]

RER reply #57

I for sure notice a bike with the headlight on when the bike is coming at me and moving from side to side. That's why I do it..a quick wiggle of the bars to a car at the cross road and I see the driver looking right at me when I pass.. I suppose just cycling the "press to pass" high beam switch would do the job....But truck drivers sometimes flash the lights as a signal to go on first at a four way stop or it's a signal to pass when following on a two lane road...

Your "quick wiggle" suggestion gave me an idea for my supplemental lights.  I will program a Timers.shop relay to "wiggle" (alternating left/right flash) the lights for 3 seconds after pressing a TBD handlebar switch.  I already programmed a Timers.shop relay to flash for 3 seconds the Amber LEDs of the supplemental Sirius NS-2332 on the Norge when I brake.  Thanks.

WRT to your reply #37

Your head always moving to get a wider field of vision.

The Fighter Pilot's Guide I cited explains this:

Well, first, it is an unfortunate fact that if you are converging on a given point with another vehicle at the same speed, and assuming that you are both traveling in a straight line, then there is no apparent movement noticeable by the occupant of either vehicle. That is, to the driver of each vehicle, the other will remain in exactly the same position in the windscreen up to the point of impact. There is no relative movement — so our peripheral vision is not suited to detecting it.
...
Clinically, you are blind in your peripheral vision.
...
To have a good chance of seeing an object on a collision course, we need to move our eyes and probably head, to bring the object into the centre of our vision — so that we can use our high-resolution foveal vision to resolve the detail.

Now for the really interesting part. When we move our head and eyes to scan a scene, our eyes are incapable of moving smoothly across that scene and seeing everything. This makes perfect sense: just like trying to take a picture without holding the camera still. The image would be blurred. So, our clever brain overcomes this by moving our eyes (really fast, remember) in a series of jumps (called saccades) with very short pauses (called fixations and it is only during the pauses that an image is processed. Our brains fill in the gaps with a combination of peripheral vision and an assumption that what is in the gaps must be the same as what you see during the pauses. This might sound crazy, but your brain actually blocks the image that is being received while your eyes are moving, which is why you do not see the sort of blurred image that you see when you look sideways out of a train window.

The author goes on with a deeper explanation and means for mitigation and compensation.  Recommended reading.

[bad Chad]

I used to wear a white helmet for years.  I figured that it attracted attention, which was good.

Then I got a smoking deal on a black Nolan.  I have been ridding with it for at least two years.  It's only my perception, but I have not noticed any plus or minus to the black over the white.   Cars don't seem to see me any less or any more.   What I have realized is that I, see white helmets immediately and I think that is for two reasons.  I like a lot of riders, think white helmets get seen more, so I am always looking for them.   And I, unlike the vast majority of drivers, I am ACTIVELY looking for motorcycles all the time.   I pretty confident that on average, I see motorcycles, any motorcycle, long before other drivers around me do.

[Lannis]

  And I, unlike the vast majority of drivers, I am ACTIVELY looking for motorcycles all the time.   I'm pretty confident that on average, I see motorcycles, any motorcycle, long before other drivers around me do.

That's a good point, and it means that it might be difficult for a life-long motorcycle rider, like many of us are, to "put ourselves in the place" of a non-riding driver.   I'll spot a motorcycle as far away as it can be seen, and I'm very aware of it .... (Is it a Guzzi?  Is it someone I know?   Is it an interesting bike?), whereas for a car driver, they just blend into the background.   

One more factor to say "You'd best pretend that you're invisible ...."

Lannis

[bad Chad]

That’s the spirit Lanis!

[TimmyTheHog]

The thing with white helmet is it is "un-natural" for the human brain hence will give out an alert to the brain to take extra notice.

Light unless you are flickering & abnormally lots/bright , human brain typically dismiss it as "just part of the surrounding".

This is very true with why a lot of car drivers who are not trained to look for 2 wheels will not "see you", since the human brain dismiss us "just something in the background".

I can't seem to find the article that mentioned the study of why there are so many drivers don't see 2 wheelers.

[LowRyter]

That’s the spirit Lanis!

Wait!  You can make Lannis invisible?  Go for it Mr Wizard.   

[Bert Remington]

Light unless you are flickering & abnormally lots/bright , human brain typically dismiss it as "just part of the surrounding".

Yes, that's exactly the point RER reply #57 was making.  And exactly the reason I'm implementing a "flicker mode" for my supplemental lights.

WRT

I can't seem to find the article that mentioned the study of why there are so many drivers don't see 2 wheelers.

there are a variety of articles.  Here's a useful one: https://www.portsmouthctc.org.uk/a-fighter-pilots-guide-to-surviving-on-the-roads/

[Ncdan]

The thing with white helmet is it is "un-natural" for the human brain hence will give out an alert to the brain to take extra notice.

Light unless you are flickering & abnormally lots/bright , human brain typically dismiss it as "just part of the surrounding".

This is very true with why a lot of car drivers who are not trained to look for 2 wheels will not "see you", since the human brain dismiss us "just something in the background".

I can't seem to find the article that mentioned the study of why there are so many drivers don't see 2 wheelers.

That’s over my head Timmy but heck yes I totally agree!!😂😂👍👍

[Lannis]

Wait!  You can make Lannis invisible?  Go for it Mr Wizard.   

The "spirit Lannis" is the one that posts here...the "material Lannis" is the one that shows up at rallies...

[John A]

Exactly.

"The car next to me". Dead giveaway. Pun intended.

There is a reason they call it the death zone.