Andrewmc wrote:
I am pretty certain that there is evidenced research that the "i didn't see them" is actually true
It applies to motorbikes.
Car at t-junction, driver sweara they saw nothing, pulls out and is broadsided
And its not people distracted, or "not paying attention" (they are paying attention but they are looking for the wrong things)
I think the research has demonstrated that drivers are looking for cars / vans / lorries and this is to do with the frequency with which they encounter them
So they make quick decisions, miss the biker and the rest is history
I appreciate that this situation is different and that there are many instances of rage against cyclists but there are incidents where people simply make a mistake, they dont see something they are not looking for and it goes wrong. I'm not sure what the appropriate penalty is but the defense that they did not see them is legitimate whether we wish to accept abd acknowledge it or not
This is absolutely true, there are times when very obvious objects can almost be completely invisible to someone. I am a psychologist and I remember going through this in school, although it was a long time ago so I don't remember the specifics. The premise is that human beings are cognitive misers, meaning our brains will use as little energy as possible for a given task. Our brains will take a situation and make assumptions based on experience, so anything that is different or novel to a situation will not be encoded information. It plays into the phenomena of driving home from work, pulling into the driveway and having no idea how you got there. We sort of go on autopilot. So, motorcycles and bikes could be difficult for drivers to see because they are not as common and therefore not within expectations for our blueprint of what to expect and be aware of. If memory serves, there was a psychology show that Philip Zimbardo (a psychologist) used to do that showed this point where they had a bunch of stuff going on and he'd tell you beforehand to try to pick out something specific like count how many times something occurred. During that, someone would walk out in a bunny or gorilla costume or something like that, dance around and walk off. Most people never saw the bunny, but when he made reference to it, it's crazy that someone could miss it because it was right in the middle of the tv screen. I believe part of the reason why drivers become so infuriated with cyclists is they aren't expecting them to be there, and they can feel stupid because they are difficult for them to spot. So, I am in the camp that people have mentioned that we need more driver education to make them aware and thinking about cyclists, as well as making yourself as visible as possible with lights, etc. Education will work because once most drivers are aware that cyclists are out there, they will be easier to spot. I believe cyclists and drivers can coexist and I ride the road as much as I can. I've seen it in our area where education has actually been effective and the area has become safer for cycling. The idea of a cyclist being almost invisible would sound stupid to us because most of us are cyclists and therefore are looking for them, but it's true. This situation is obviously different and this guy is just an asshole who was impaired, so who knows if he could see anything.