Very interesting : Why we don't see things when we drive.

[shropshire 0]

A Must Read for all Motorists

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Arvoitus 1]

That 'scary' test is ridiculously stupid. You don't need to see that kind details when you're moving. You need to be able to distinguish which moving objects are threat and which are not. You do not need to know useless details like license plates.

When I'm cycling I don't even recognize people around me. I'm constantly scanning my surroundings and everything around me turn into 'white blob moving at x m/s', 'red blob moving at y m/s', etc. I don't distinguish between a pedestrian, cyclist, motorist or anything else. Its just another object that can collide with me.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[jakee 1,563]

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You do not need to know useless details like license plates.

Not really what it's about.

Quote

I'm constantly scanning my surroundings

There's a whole section on how that works, probably after you stopped reading.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[ryoder 1,590]

Here is my must-read for motorists: http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[GogglesnTeeth 6]

Aren't we all taught when learning canopy control.... "Head on a swivel"

That's what I was taught, and at times, my video under canopy can make me about puke......

Goggles and Teeth

"You fall like a greased safe!!!"

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

Aren't we all taught when learning canopy control.... "Head on a swivel"

Contrary to what some may think, race car drivers are not taught "Head on a Swivel". Race car drivers are taught to look well beyond the car(s) directly in front of them, to look where they want to go and to use their peripheral vision to manage the traffic in their immediate vicinity. Now driving on a race track and driving on the public roads are different. Race tracks are highly predicable and repeatable whereas public roads are anything but. However most people driving on the public roads are simply not looking far enough in front of them and this is why they often get surprised by some sort of event. By the time the collision is upon them, they do not have enough time to react. But if they had been looking further ahead, they would have noticed the problem sooner and would have had more time to react.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[swisschris62 0]

In California recently the cops set up in a school zone to catch drivers going through the cross walk when pedestrians were in it.
I don't remember the number but they pulled over a lot of vehicles.
Guess what most people said?
They said they didn't notice anyone in the cross walk.
It gets better...the cop who was acting as a decoy in the crosswalk was wearing a big giant bright yellow chicken suit and looked much like big bird.
Driving has become an inconvenience that just happens to get you places. People do a lot of stuff behind the wheel besides focusing on the task at hand.
A good reason why the majority of accidents happen within a few miles from home...people thinking of everything but driving.
Complacency doesn't work behind the wheel either.
Obviously how far you look ahead depends on your driving conditions and at times isn't very far ahead.
Constantly being aware of your surroundings and moving your head to check your mirrors keeps you far more alert than keeping a fixed watch out the windshield?

[ryoder 1,590]

Mentioned in the book I recommended;
"Selective Attention" test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[yoink 321]

and for the cyclists out there...

this is how much truck drivers DON'T see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8&feature=youtu.be

[Andy9o8 2]

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the cop who was acting as a decoy in the crosswalk was wearing a big giant bright yellow chicken suit and looked much like big bird.

If I was in Reno and someone did that I'd knock him down just to watch him die...

[swisschris62 0]

That's really over exaggerated...
The blind spots aren't nearly that bad although for the sake of safety keep thinking that's how little we see and try and stay out of the " no zones".
Those zones are directly in front, both sides and right behind us.
It's true, if you can't see my mirrors, chances are I can't see you....stay back!
The worst place to ride is on the passenger side between the steer and drive axle.
The truck in my picture is my truck...peterbilt 379 with an extended hood. It's probably the worst truck when it comes to blind spots and I have very few and only very small areas. It's about setting your mirrors correctly.
Here are 2 pictures of either side. As you can see, my lower blind spot mirrors allow me to see the white line even when it's practically under my door on both sides. The big mirrors take care of the rest.on the driver side the upper blind spot mirror is there so I can see the top of my load when I need to.

[Nataly 38]

I really believe that we were not designed to move much faster that 20-30 mph... So to compensate for that, as a car driver you need to specifically look for bikes/pedestrians, and as a biker/pedestrian you need to be extra aware of the cars around you.

And even doing that, you can have an accident where you genuinely did not see or react in time... We are not capable of paying attention as much as we need to all the time in order to avoid all road accidents. We can greatly reduce accidents, but we cannot eliminate them alltogether unless we ban vehicles that go at "superhuman" speeds (ie: anything faster than 20-30 mph)...

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[Arvoitus 1]

Nataly

I really believe that we were not designed to move much faster that 20-30 mph... So to compensate for that, as a car driver you need to specifically look for bikes/pedestrians, and as a biker/pedestrian you need to be extra aware of the cars around you.

And even doing that, you can have an accident where you genuinely did not see or react in time... We are not capable of paying attention as much as we need to all the time in order to avoid all road accidents. We can greatly reduce accidents, but we cannot eliminate them alltogether unless we ban vehicles that go at "superhuman" speeds (ie: anything faster than 20-30 mph)...

You can prevent above 95% of the accidents by removing the cause. If you take away the human element you'll have significantly less accidents. I genuinely hope and believe that in the future all road traffic in congest areas (cities) will be controlled by computers.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[Nataly 38]

Arvoitus

You can prevent above 95% of the accidents by removing the cause. If you take away the human element you'll have significantly less accidents. I genuinely hope and believe that in the future all road traffic in congest areas (cities) will be controlled by computers.

That's probably quite true, except that the human factor is still present (computors are designed/built by humans)... But the truth is people like to actively drive... And for the same reason speed is not limited in cars/bikes (people like to speed), car automation has not yet become a reality. Although there would probably be fewer traffic jams if cars were driven by computers...

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[ryoder 1,590]

Nataly

Although there would probably be fewer traffic jams if cars were driven by computers...

Absolutely!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13402-shockwave-traffic-jam-recreated-for-first-time.html

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Arvoitus 1]

Nataly

***You can prevent above 95% of the accidents by removing the cause. If you take away the human element you'll have significantly less accidents. I genuinely hope and believe that in the future all road traffic in congest areas (cities) will be controlled by computers.

That's probably quite true, except that the human factor is still present (computors are designed/built by humans)... But the truth is people like to actively drive... And for the same reason speed is not limited in cars/bikes (people like to speed), car automation has not yet become a reality. Although there would probably be fewer traffic jams if cars were driven by computers...

If people want to get their driving needs filled they can go to a closed track to do it. Besides, if you look at people on highways, most of them don't actually want to drive since they're doing anything but driving their cars.

Also with complete automation, there'd be zero traffic jams on the roads.

There is a chance that in few years all cars in Finland will be required to have a government approved/licensed satellite tracker in them at all times. Initially my reaction was the basic paranoid evil-big-brother watching and monitoring us at all times. But then I realized something wonderful. Imagine you knew the speed and location of every single car on the roads. And imagine your navigator had access to that data. So instead of guiding you to the traffic jam everybody else is sitting at, it could calculate the best route based on the current traffic flow rates and you could avoid all that.

However in reality what happens is that some bureaucrat's nephew's cousin's company gets to produce the device and it'll be total shit, it will cost the taxpayers millions and everybody will hate it and it will be of no use to the average road user. But still one can dream.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[ChrisD 0]

I've attached , again, something I did more than a few years ago.

I like the article you have posted but they so often just don't get it!

It's not a function of the eye or rod / cones or retina densitity, it is actually a combination of your cognitive processes. In other words what you actually "see" is a function of your brain and what your brain is doing at the time.

I'm currently working on something akin to what is known as the flicker effect. And I have to tell ya our peripheral cells in our eyes can outperform the center cells every time. Things like fidelity / frequency / luminosity and the range of intensities that our peripheral vision can perceive is absolutely phenomenal. Do you know that most of us can perceive low luminosities in our peripheral cells but as soon as we turn our attention to look at whatever our minds and center cells can't see the whatever anymore! It's like you can see, sort of something but when you look at it, it disappears....

In various cultures around the world and thru history this may in fact be the physical basis behind the genesis of "spirits" and "ghosts."

This doesn't bode well for many activities where so many are running around thinking they can see everything they need to see.

And the fact that if our minds are focused elsewhere, we literally can't see many events right in front of us.

C

In the article they say this:

"This might sound crazy, but your brain actually blocks the image that is being received while your eyes are moving. This is why you do not see the sort of blurred image, that you see when you look sideways out of a train window."

It doesn't work like this, close and I like the explanation for wuffos, but it is much more complicated than this. We actually don't see anything in these terms. Our mind actually tells another part of our brain what we "SEE." AND IF our brain doesn't like what it sees then it makes something up!!!!

Something like this makes me think of the past skydiving collisions that I have commented upon.

AND THE ONLY THING I CAN STRESS IS SEPERATION BETWEEN GROUPS CAUSE YOUR NOT GOING TO SEE WHAT HIT YOU!!!! (again sorry about the caps, ...


No I'm not...)

Thanks man (shropshire)

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[ChrisD 0]

Nataly

I really believe that we were not designed to move much faster that 20-30 mph... So to compensate for that, as a car driver you need to specifically look for bikes/pedestrians, and as a biker/pedestrian you need to be extra aware of the cars around you.

And even doing that, you can have an accident where you genuinely did not see or react in time... We are not capable of paying attention as much as we need to all the time in order to avoid all road accidents. We can greatly reduce accidents, but we cannot eliminate them alltogether unless we ban vehicles that go at "superhuman" speeds (ie: anything faster than 20-30 mph)...

You have no idea how true what you have just said is....

using a cell phone while driving is , when we take into the various limiting factors that so many people want to ignore,...insane. So are conversations, eating and a host of other activities.

C


Human beings suck at multitasking!

Despite what the Ma bell companies want you to believe....

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[shropshire 0]

Cheers Chris

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[ChrisD 0]

yoink

and for the cyclists out there...

this is how much truck drivers DON'T see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8&feature=youtu.be

This is why some of the pedestrian laws in this country are insane. The person least able to see is the one operating the car. The person most able to protect themselves is the pedestrian. But do we take this into account when making laws????

But we sure can punish drivers when they hit something they didn't see!!!

C

I think about this every time some dick steps into traffic shouting they have the right of way!!!

ya stuck in the middle of a crosswalk is one thing, but stopping a 5000 pound car by stepping in front of it? This is what we are teaching our kids???

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."