VISION

Vision is the most important component of riding a motorcycle. Learner motorcycle riders soon learn through licensing training that ‘vision’ for riding a motorcycle, is completely different to the ‘vision’ required when operating a car.

Car drivers tend to look for spaces, then steer their vehicles into spaces with the comfort of knowing that their vehicle will provide them with traction, stability and all-round protection. Modern vehicle sensors are also designed to inform drivers of possible risks around the vehicle, with some more advanced vehicles fitted with auto-stopping technology, which senses and reacts to a potential collision ahead. A driver’s eye movements and vision are limited by the width of their windscreen and visibility in their mirrors.

Riders, on the other hand, must use their eyes and vision skilfully, with very few aids to assist their hazard perception or accident prevention. In other words, their heads must constantly be on a swivel. Road surface conditions, forward planning and selection of cornering lines, must be combined with appropriate body positioning, lean and well selected steering movements to survive every ride.

It is vitally important for riders to get their vision checked regularly and corrected as vision diminishes with age, eye trauma or other degenerative causes. Having 20/20 vision and using your eyes to scan for hazards is the first pillar of safe riding. It is also important for riders to be trained in developing ‘good vision’ of riding conditions, as the requirement to visualise cornering lines and perceive potential hazards on the road ahead is not a natural skill.

Vision is also limited by one other factor, which we sometimes forget – visual discipline.

Visual discipline and the requirement to maintain proper vision are common rider flaws. As I age, my running speed has decreased, but my hazard perception and visual discipline have evolved. Faster speed requires larger vision and effective movements, so it’s important for riders to lift their vision. Once a rider raises their head, they are more capable of identifying potential hazards early enough to deal with them effectively. 

Another factor that has caught many riders off-guard is the old adage; you go where you look. In cornering, this means that a rider must look and scan for the corner exit as they approach a corner. To add more complexity to the riding environment, humans often fall victim to the spotlight model of attention, where we focus on a specific area of interest to illuminate details, while ignoring other surrounding information within our range of vision. As motorcycle riders, we increase our awareness by focusing all our mental resources on a specific aspect of the surrounding environment, however it does not assist the rider with a broad view of the road ahead. A perfect example of this is ‘rubber-necking’ past the scene of an accident and causing another accident due to the unfortunate combination of selective attention and limited vision of other hazards.

Another thing that is not always apparent is that our eyes have a visual ‘sweet spot’ in the middle of the direction of travel. To put this into the context of cornering, a rider must keep their head turned to observe reference points for entry, the degree of turning, the apex and corner exit. Once this skill is perfected, riding becomes less frantic. It is no surprise that the majority of single-vehicle motorcycle crashes involve corners - vision and speed have been linked as the main cause of this sad statistic. 

In closing, vision is a practiced skill that must be learned by riders in order to be better motorcyclists, and also better drivers, with the added bonus of being more aware of other motorcyclists while sharing the road. Keep your head up, open the range of your vision and stay focused on the riding environment to survive.  

Ride safe,

Grom