The Science Of Being Seen...

Tantalus

Tantalus

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Conspicuity has a cost, and that's target fixation (Inattentive/intoxicated drivers subconsciously locking on to the dazzle). That said, I still wear hi-viz as a statistically acceptable trade off.
 
junglejim

junglejim

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Yes, it was good reading.
Inattentive, impaired, distracted, inexperienced, speeding, and just plain stupid drivers are big problem too. Some drivers fall into more than one category. I think his science applies to them all but in a slightly different ways.
Bottom line is we have to keep our head in the game and use lots of common sense. Lights, high-viz, lane positioning, speed adjustments and other tools we have all apply differently in different situations.
 
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Brillot2000

Brillot2000

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I watch DanDanTheFireman on YouTube. He covers many of these topics in his videos and after crash reviews.

DanDanTheFireman Channel

Listening to his channel has helped me identify several of my bad habits and make adjustments where required. He uses a 4 tier color-coded rider awareness chart. Rider 360° situation awareness is part of his program and quite important to rider safety. Which he calls it being a “SMART” Rider. I quite like his program and teachings.
 
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ST1100Y

ST1100Y

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Warren said:
Going too fast seems to be the common denominator.
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Well, if you back your car into a parking spot and ding the bumper on a fire hydrant in the process, the cause of that accident was "excessive speed"... ;)
In this moment and particular situation you where driving too fast for your abilities...

But sure, we as riders have to maintain situational awareness to compensate the possible errors of others around us... constantly...

I make use of my horns when observing someone drifting into me from the side, when he/she just honks back, pulling even further on their wheel, the fact of intent is given... Same goes for those peeling out a parking spot/entrance, running a stop sign or red light while "flipping the bird" to the priority traffic...

Fun was a "Karen" peeling out a shopping mall with the cell on her ear, her response to me stopping with blaring horns like 1 foot aside her door: waving with her other hand too keep it down as she's on the phone... WTF?!!:mad:
 
junglejim

junglejim

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Today it was my turn to be "invisible".

I was in the City of Ashland (pop 8,000) traveling at about 30 mph when a mother with 3 children (one walking, one in a stroller, and one in her arms) stepped out in front of me, not at a crosswalk or even an intersection. I went to maximum brakes with no time to down shift and barely got the clutch pulled in in time to avoid killing engine. I got stopped about 8' - 10' from them. She seemed a bit surprised but not as concerned as I was. So there I am stopped in 5th gear with cars approaching from behind me trying to down shift and get out of the way. The roadway was 4-lanes wide so she had 3 more lanes to cross yet. She did make it. As a guess I think I was about 100' or less away when she decided to cross the road.

!0 minutes later I was out of town and had to brake for a flock of wild turkeys who wanted to cross the road in front of me. Then 10 miles after that it was a flock of ducks in the road just outside of a farmyard that wanted to use the road. Yep, I must have been invisible.
 
Brillot2000

Brillot2000

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junglejim said:
Today it was my turn to be "invisible".

10 minutes later I was out of town and had to brake for a flock of wild turkeys who wanted to cross the road in front of me. Then 10 miles after that it was a flock of ducks in the road just outside of a farmyard that wanted to use the road. Yep, I must have been invisible.
Click to expand...
At least it is not cars crossing over into the carpool lane for their lane fully stopped. I get this more often than I will admit.

One morning, I had a knucklehead construction worker step right out of this truck to cross the street without looking into my path of travel. Lucky for him I saw him and started braking and downshifting quickly to stop in time. Otherwise, 2 people would be having a terrible morning.
 

Beermebeerme1

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Sep 18, 2021
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Warren said:
From what I have seen on YouTube videos most motorcycle crashes are the motorcyclists fault. Going too fast seems to be the common denominator.
Click to expand...
I understand going fast and did some of that in my youth. I imagine all of us have. Going stupid fast is a different matter and I never really crossed that line though, again, I imagine some of us did. For me, the reality of crossing the centerline on a Missouri backroad and realizing that I was fortunate that a car wasn’t occupying that same space helped me stay within my limits most of the time. More to your point, yeah, most motorcycle accidents have some degree of rider error.
 
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