Inattentional blindness

Driver Inattention and the Rider – Inattentional blindness

It should come as no surprise to most of our readers, that motorcycles are harder to see than other types of more common road vehicles. SMIDSY – Sorry Mate I Didn’t See you – is a common term that relates to the drivers response to an accident that has occurred, which in the majority cases has left a rider injured on the road, awaiting the care of an ambulance and an extended hospital visit. For many riders that face such an unintentional accident at a traffic junction, this one accident could be a pivotal moment for the rest of the rider’s life. For the driver, this can also be a traumatic experience as they witness the unwilling flight of the rider over their bonnet or a sudden impact to the side of their vehicle. Every witness will have this embedded in their memory for quite some time.

It is thought that as much as 70% of driver at fault accidents at intersections relate to a driver either not looking, looking but failing to register the approaching motorcycle, or other factors that relate to the physical and visual reasons why drivers do not interpret the presence of motorcycles. 

For many road users, motorcycle speed is hard to accurately judge, so driver timing errors can cause riders to strike vehicles that move across their path. For the rider, hard braking and obstacle avoidance skills may assist, thus reducing the likelihood of serious accidents, but the short amount of time available to the rider in many of incidents, significantly limits the rider's actions. If riders do not practice emergency braking, they will most likely default to panic braking or take no action in the face of danger. Neither are effective solutions, however antilock braking does assist in keeping wheels rotating, so that traction can be optimised while the rider tries to quickly react to the unfolding situation.

Throughout rider training, it is mandated that riders switch on their headlights and wear brightly coloured clothing while riding. These visibility measures have been studied in some detail, and the results point to the fact that additional measures are more successful than just wearing Hi-Viz clothing. However, the elephant in the room is fairly obvious also...

Significant studies have focused on the incidence of cognitive perception failure for drivers in motorcycle accidents. If this could be remediated, the incidents of SMIDSY would significantly reduce. Scientific studies have explored the factors behind inattentional blindness and found that there are a number of contributing factors that we are probably not aware of as we drive a vehicle, including;

Saccadic masking - the phenomenon where the brain temporarily blocks visual processing actions during rapid eye movements, which occurs when turning the head quickly to avoid blurred vision;

Expectation bias - where your pre-existing beliefs and expectations influence a driver's perception and actions, causing them to overlook a motorcycle that they did not expect to see;

Cognitive load and distractions - it may come as a surprise to some that it is not only phone usage distracting drivers, but it can also be passengers, eating, smoking, adjusting the radio, texting, doing make up, dropping items and talking to others;  

Emotional or cognitive distractions - where the task of driving feels automatic and boring, so concentration wanders, or concentration has been affected by something quite personal.

For further reading on motorcycle visibility, search “how can drivers reduce SMIDSY?” - I highly recommend reading about the extensive research on this topic. However, despite significant research into road accidents and safety, it appears that the onus for the reduction of SMIDSY is biased towards the rider taking actions of avoidance, while drivers are encouraged to be proactive and pay attention while operating a vehicle.

For a rider who fears a SMIDSY accident every day during their daily commute, I can only wish that proactive driving means observing the road environment and maintaining awareness for the factors causing inattentional blindness.

Ride safe, GROM