why we are not seen

[tj189]

Like most of us I am always amazed by drivers that say they did not see the motorcyclist. I have found two explanations that really make sense to me.

Firstly, "motion camouflage"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_camouflage

Why Do Car Drivers Fail To See Bikes?
Sourced from Motorcycle News 21/06/2006, Written by Tom Rayner

THE PROOF THAT CAR DRIVERS DON'T SEE BIKES
MCN has teamed up with leading UK scientists in a world-first investigation to finally prove that car drivers can't see bikers. Professor Geoff Underwood from Nottingham University has received EU funding to carry out groundbreaking tests to find out why car drivers: "look, but fail to see motorcyclists".

Armed with a state-of-the-art EyeMark eye-tracker camera and a series of photos, provided by MCN, Professor Underwood's team is set to test car drivers in laboratory conditions to find out exactly what they do and don't see.
Professor Underwood said: "I want to cut the number of SMIDSY (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You) type accidents. I want to solve the phenomenon of the 'looked but failed to see' accident."

To do so he will show the participants a series of photographs of various road traffic scenarios and use the EyeMark camera to track their pupil movement.
The sophisticated technology can tell the Professor exactly when and where the car drivers are looking. In every image is a motorcyclist, in various levels of prominence. The test will attempt to discover when a rider is most visible.
The results will discover what a driver looks at first and why. For example, if bright colours attract the attention or if the drivers can spot potential hazards.

HOW CAN A CAR DRIVER LOOK AT YOU BUT NOT SEE YOU?
Professor Underwood has dedicated his professional career in cognitive psychology with the relationship between visual attention and skill.

He explained to MCN how a car driver waiting at a junction could look straight at an approaching biker and still fail to see them, thus causing an accident.

"The easiest way to explain this phenomenon is with the gorilla experiment," said Underwood. "A group of American students shot a film which asked the viewer to count the number of catches a group of basketball players in white tops made. Another group in black tops were also passing the ball to one another at the same time.
"You are so busy trying to watch the white team that you completely miss the fact that a man in a gorilla suit walks into the middle of the screen and waves at you. It's only when you watch the film for a second time and are told to look for a gorilla that you see it - you won't believe you missed it first time because it's so obvious.

"The theory is the same for car drivers - they sit at a junction looking left and right for oncoming cars, vans and lorries. Because they're not expecting to see a motorcyclist then they don't see a motorcyclist. "they have a hypothesis of what they think is going to happen in the world and stick to it. "it's for exactly this reason that I think the DfT's 'Think Bike' signs at the road side will focus the concentration of car drivers to consider motorcyclists."     

........and secondly, to back this up a video. If you have not seen this before then ensure you concentrate on the requirement of counting the number of ball passes between the white shirt players
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

Wartime pilots also referred to this as "target fixation"

Do what ever you can to draw their attention

What you wear can make a difference some of the time. You need to be within the other driver's line of vision and your clothing must stand out against the background.

In one recent New Zealand study, riders wearing any reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37% lower risk than other riders. Riders wearing white helmets had a 24% lower risk than those wearing black helmets. The study was conducted in mainly urban areas of Auckland (Wells et al, 2004).

By comparison, a summary of European research into safety measures for motorcyclists concluded that florescent clothing is effective during daylight but not against a bright background. They also found that retroflective clothing gives little improvement at night (Noordzij et al, 2001).

Day time headlights may also help but again, only if they make you stand out against the rest of the traffic. In the NZ study, riders with lights on during the day had a 27% lower risk.

Size does appear to make a difference. Small motorcycles have a smaller profile and are even less visible from the front or rear. You need all the help you can get to stand out.

♦  Do not ever assume they have seen you.
♦  Do not weave between lanes in moving heavy traffic.
♦  Learn to recognise each vehicle's blind spot and stay out of them.
♦  Try to stay long enough in each driver's rear vision mirror to make sure they have
    seen you before you move on.
♦  Use your horn or rev your engine to draw attention if you think you haven't been seen.
♦  Move within your lane to improve your chance of being seen.
♦  When riding in traffic and your lane is moving freely but the lane beside you has
    slowed or stopped, watch out for impatient drivers suddenly moving into your lane.

Thanks to www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk and http://en.wikipedia.org for this information

[ST2UP]

Great find Trevor.....

[Biggles]

Valid points- a white bike is even better than a white helmet by itself.  They are a great combo.
Proves that people scan for cars, trucks, vans AND Cops!
Won't help them now Police are using unmarked bikes of any colour.

[STroppy]

Saw a Canberra Cop on a trail bike (in the suburbs) by the time you could read "POLICE" across the front of his pullover/polar fleece, if you were not behaving, you would be donating . .

[Kev Murphy]

I had a blind cage driver fail to give way to me as he was leaving supermarket carpark this morning. At least one of us was alert. I stopped less than a foot from his rear door.
He used the SMIDSY excuse as well.
Didn't go down too well with the occupant of the car immediately behind me, (unmarked ) who had to brake hard to avoid running into me.
Cop growled at him while writing ticket "When's your next optometrist appointment?"

[alans1100]

I must be the only one that rarely has an issue of not being seen on any one of my bikes over my riding life. The last one was about two years ago and it wouldn't have mattered if I was on my bike or driving a road train as this little old lady didn't look left or right as she went through a give way sign. Just as well it was in a shopping centre car park and not on a road.

[Biggles]

I had a blind cage driver fail to give way to me as he was leaving supermarket carpark this morning. At least one of us was alert. I stopped less than a foot from his rear door.
He used the SMIDSY excuse as well.
Didn't go down too well with the occupant of the car immediately behind me, (unmarked ) who had to brake hard to avoid running into me.
Cop growled at him while writing ticket "When's your next optometrist appointment?"

Excellent outcome- the best you could hope for.  Cop does something that helps everyone (including sight-challenged driver).   

[Biggles]

I must be the only one that rarely has an issue of not being seen on any one of my bikes over my riding life. The last one was about two years ago and it wouldn't have mattered if I was on my bike or driving a road train as this little old lady didn't look left or right as she went through a give way sign. Just as well it was in a shopping centre car park and not on a road.

I sat at a red and watched a women drive straight through the red on my left while there was a green arrow from her opposite direction (my left).  Just glad I didn't have a green at the time.
One very real hazard for all of us in the city are multiple traffic lights within a few hundred metres of each other. It's way too easy to be looking at the wrong light at the wrong time, which is what caught her out, I think.

[BigJohn]

There is another dimension to this of course which is the ignorance and hostility some car drivers have towards motor cyclists. 
Their default is they are protected in a metal box and in almost every synario are going to come off the better in a collision. 
Motor cyclists by their very nature are dangerous compared to other transport.  All the research in the world is not going to change that simple fact. What the research does is improves your changes so you can fill up your bag of experience whilst your bag of luck depletes.
John

[Old Steve]

Motorbikes are small so a car driver finds it hard to judge their distance by their relative size because they're used to judging distance relative to a car sized vehicle.  It's common for car drivers to estimate that the bike is further away than it actually, then after an accident claim that the bike was speeding or "Came out of nowhere."

It's also very difficult for a car driver to see a small motorbike against some backgrounds when it's off in the distance.

So a motorbike seems to "loom" when coming up to a car.  The driver has initially misjudged the bike's size, thus estimated that it is further away than it actually is, then suddenly it "looms" up in their side window just as they pull out of a aside street.

Whenever I can when I see a car on a side street I do the 'happy biker weave'.  I weave from side to side within the lane.  This moves my bike (and the headlight) sideways across their vision, this makes it easier for them to see me or at least have second thoughts "What, there's something down there."

[Biggles]

Whenever I can when I see a car on a side street I do the 'happy biker weave'.  I weave from side to side within the lane.  This moves my bike (and the headlight) sideways across their vision, this makes it easier for them to see me or at least have second thoughts "What, there's something down there."

That's exactly the best strategy.  You don't have to over-do the weaving.  A movement to the centre of the road and back to the middle of the lane should be enough, but I still have the brakes at-the-ready.