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> In the motorcycling world oncoming left vehicles are basically the "Jesus take the wheel" scenario. Years ago I nearly creamed a motorcycle after looking pre

> In the motorcycling world oncoming left vehicles are basically the "Jesus take the wheel" scenario. Years ago I nearly creamed a motorcycle after looking pretty much directly at him. The angles we were converging at meant that he basically disappeared into the background because there was no relative motion. Probably scared the crap out of him, and it certainly scared the crap out of me. That was when I started moving my head back and forth coming up to an intersection where I'm going to turn, because it introduces enough of a perspective change to make a moving motorcycle stick out. It's exactly the situation described in the fighter pilot article. The human brain is amazingly good at stitching together what appears to be a complete scene while actually losing pretty sizable chunks of it all the time. The other times I have close calls were 100% coincident with having a full car of passengers. I think we only have a certain amount of bandwidth, and taking up a bunch of it with noise reduces what's left to devote to vision. I also turn down the radio when I'm coming up to an unfamiliar area, or a situation that is obviously going to be complex to navigate.

foepys 5y ago
There is also a phenomenon where drivers (car and truck) just forget about motorcycles coming their way. They see it, they register it's there but then just... forget about it. Imagine a car wants to turn and waits and a line of cars pass with a motorcycle at the end, then it's extremely dangerous for the motorcyclist. Because our brains interpret dangers relative to us, it sometimes just filters out the not-so-dangerous things. The motorcycle is relatively harmless to a car or truck thus drivers sometimes filter it out as if it doesn't exist. What happens then is the car driver just waits for the cars to pass and then begins to turn while the motorcycle is still coming up, often resulting in a crash. There is an easy fix, though: just say "motorcycle" out loud when this situation occures. It's really as easy as that.
kibwen 5y ago
> The angles we were converging at meant that he basically disappeared into the background because there was no relative motion. This effect is demonstrated in this video about a particularly dangerous crossing in the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU
- WillPostForFood 5y ago
  Yikes, just 15 seconds into the video, a car absolutely blows through the stop sign.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    Yeah its terrifying. As he says "They are reckless & can see the main road is clear", blind spots are scary.
  - gambiting 5y ago
    I wonder if it's at least partially because in the UK stop signs are pretty much non existent. I have only ever seen a handful in my life and people don't have this ingrained understanding that you absolutely have to stop at them and look around before moving - it's just a weirdly shaped give way sign to them.
    - groundhogday2 5y ago
      It is a test failure if you do not stop the car and put on your handbrake in the UK. It is made quite clear what you are supposed to do. People just can't be bothered to actually stop.
      - gambiting 5y ago
        Yes, of course, but I think we have to acknowledge that it's a very uncommon sign in the UK, and the fact that you almost never come across it in your day to day driving might make you numb to it - and in like the car in the video, just blow right past it. Maybe someone who interacts with Stop signs every day and has to obey them on a regular basis wouldn't have done that. I don't know of course, this is pure speculation
    - mnw21cam 5y ago
      They're typically only used in situations where you actually do need to stop in order to adequately see what's coming. In the last city I lived in, there was one single stop sign, and we used to say that it was there just so that learner drivers could be taken past it and tested on it. Now I live in a small village and there is a genuine blind junction with historic buildings right down to the pavement, and there's a very appropriate stop sign there.

foepys 5y ago

There is also a phenomenon where drivers (car and truck) just forget about motorcycles coming their way. They see it, they register it's there but then just... forget about it. Imagine a car wants to turn and waits and a line of cars pass with a motorcycle at the end, then it's extremely dangerous for the motorcyclist. Because our brains interpret dangers relative to us, it sometimes just filters out the not-so-dangerous things. The motorcycle is relatively harmless to a car or truck thus drivers sometimes filter it out as if it doesn't exist. What happens then is the car driver just waits for the cars to pass and then begins to turn while the motorcycle is still coming up, often resulting in a crash. There is an easy fix, though: just say "motorcycle" out loud when this situation occures. It's really as easy as that.

kibwen 5y ago

> The angles we were converging at meant that he basically disappeared into the background because there was no relative motion. This effect is demonstrated in this video about a particularly dangerous crossing in the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU

WillPostForFood 5y ago
Yikes, just 15 seconds into the video, a car absolutely blows through the stop sign.
- rkk3 5y ago
  Yeah its terrifying. As he says "They are reckless & can see the main road is clear", blind spots are scary.
- gambiting 5y ago
  I wonder if it's at least partially because in the UK stop signs are pretty much non existent. I have only ever seen a handful in my life and people don't have this ingrained understanding that you absolutely have to stop at them and look around before moving - it's just a weirdly shaped give way sign to them.
  - groundhogday2 5y ago
    It is a test failure if you do not stop the car and put on your handbrake in the UK. It is made quite clear what you are supposed to do. People just can't be bothered to actually stop.
    - gambiting 5y ago
      Yes, of course, but I think we have to acknowledge that it's a very uncommon sign in the UK, and the fact that you almost never come across it in your day to day driving might make you numb to it - and in like the car in the video, just blow right past it. Maybe someone who interacts with Stop signs every day and has to obey them on a regular basis wouldn't have done that. I don't know of course, this is pure speculation
  - mnw21cam 5y ago
    They're typically only used in situations where you actually do need to stop in order to adequately see what's coming. In the last city I lived in, there was one single stop sign, and we used to say that it was there just so that learner drivers could be taken past it and tested on it. Now I live in a small village and there is a genuine blind junction with historic buildings right down to the pavement, and there's a very appropriate stop sign there.