Interesting article on MCN..

[Virt]

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/ ... d-be-seen/

Granted most of it is common sense and I do the things automatically, as I'm sure many of you do. But I thought it was interesting to hear why it should be done and how beneficial it is, rather than the usual "it protects you"

[StormingHonda]

I think most of the article is common sense or things you learn with experience.

[Wicky]

Interesting - Ties in with what I've read on the psychology of perception bottom up theory i.e Gibson, but misses out on Gregory's top down processing model

http://www.simplypsychology.org/percept ... ories.html

“Perception is not determined simply by stimulus patterns; rather it is a dynamic searching for the best interpretation of the available data.” (Gregory, 1966)

i.e. Even if people see you they can still assume that they have time to pull out, in other words people see what they want to see (based on experience) and act accordingly.

Hence why I at junctions, defensively both slow down and move slightly laterally using the width of the road to enhance my chances to be seen and then even if they still pull out to either brake to a halt or to have an opportunity to have an escape route.

Attentional Blindness Experiment - not confined to Volvo drivers....

[youtube][/youtube]

[Virt]

Interesting - Ties in with what I've read on the psychology of perception bottom up theory i.e Gibson, but misses out on Gregory's top down processing model

http://www.simplypsychology.org/percept ... ories.html

“Perception is not determined simply by stimulus patterns; rather it is a dynamic searching for the best interpretation of the available data.” (Gregory, 1966)

i.e. Even if people see you they can still assume that they have time to pull out, in other words people see what the believe they see and act accordingly.

Hence why I at junctions, defensively both slow down and move slightly laterally using the width of the road to enhance my chances to be seen and then even if they still pull out to either brake to a halt or to have an opportunity to have an escape route.

That's interesting, it's more of less what I do at junctions too, as well as dropping down at least one gear so I can accelerate out of trouble rather than braking onto it.. But I guess that's just cause I ride an IL4, and it's not worth doing so much on a V2?

[VTRDark]

Our eyes are incapable of moving smoothly across a scene and seeing everything. They move in a series of fast jumps, called saccades, with very short pauses, and it is only during the pauses that an image is processed.

Our brains fill the gaps with peripheral vision and assumption. Test this by looking repeatedly from your right to left eye in a mirror. You will not be able to see your eyes moving. Now have a friend do the same. You will see their eyes moving quite markedly.

The bit regarding scanning ties in with a IIRC Prof Brian Cox lecture I watched. Basically our vision is like animation. Scanning from left to right the majority of what we see is made up by the computer (brain) in out head and is not real. So we only see keyframes.

Example: 1 <----> 2 <----> 3 <----> 4 we are only seeing and processing with our eyes the 1, 2, 3, and 4 the bis in-between (in animation this is called tweening) are not real and interpreted by the brain from the detailed snapshots (keyframes) from the shots either side ie 1 and 2, The <----> is not real and we don't see that! This is also why when we turn our head our vision does not go all wobbly like a video camera that is not mounted on a tripod and being handheld. Our brain does not have a steady cam built in. It aligns the in-betwwen frames <----> in a nice smooth line between 1 and 2.

Another example of this is like the old school animation flip books. You have have your keyframes and when we flick through the brain interoperates what's in-between which gives the motion. the images are not really moving, it's just the brain filling in the gaps. Modern day animation is the same accept the computer generates the graphics in-between instead of our brain.

The old saying "only believe in what you can see" is not necessarily true. If we where all in touch with our third eye maybe things would be safer. Or is that called instinct



(:-})

[tony.mon]

Bet the car drivers don't read it, though......
I'm still riding the way that works for me- like everyone else is going to try to kill you, and give them as little time to do it as possible by going much faster than they are.

I know, it's not very responsible, and what would I think if it was done to me, etc, but tbh I'm riding to get away from being a responsible adult, paid up member of society, grown up.

I have a car for those days.
I'm not proud, you understand, or asking for approval, just self-aware of why I choose to ride bikes in the first place.

There's gotta be some compensation for the cold and wet........

[adyf]

After riding since 16 and more miles than I can remember,I have to say riding defensive/aggressive has got me out of trouble more than once,many of the accidents I've seen are t-bone car pulls out on bike,I'm sure the bike has tried to brake,you rarely stop in time,I know ,when you're young you panic and sit it up on the anchors then slide into car.now after many miles I gun it hard ,real close to there window,frightens the wombles out of even the most stupid cager,I think this makes them take notice and be less inclined to do it again,as I say thats my way,don't suit everyone but works for me.

[benny hedges]

I gun it hard ,real close to there window,frightens the wombles out of even the most stupid cager,I think this makes them take notice and be less inclined to do it again

so do i. doesnt help much when they turn right on you though - doesnt exactly leave you much escape route.

[adyf]

Oh yeah Benny,forgot to add kick there f***ing door in,use boot mate not helmet!

[lloydie]

Oh yeah Benny,forgot to add kick there f***ing door in,use boot mate not helmet!

Lol