Where are your eyes?

[CROSSBOLT]

What do you look at when you are driving, riding, walking down the road?

I am not an expert nor an authority except as what I have learned over the years and that is what I want to share. I welcome input.

Sea or Road story time: Wife and I lived for seven years in a Bounder motorhome, worked RV parks all over he country. She drove that bus about twice and I did all the rest. She drove a 50 passenger schoolbus many miles years back but could not get comfortable with the Bounder. Said it didn't have a "nose" so she could not gauge where it was in the lane. She was using the hood like the front sight of a rifle!

Riding or just walking one uses or should use peripheral vision to locate ones position on the roadway or sidewalk. this is true for driving as well. this leaves the central vision for more detailed observation.

Where are other drivers eyes? I am willing to bet they are using the hood ornament as a front rifle sight! Just observe when they react to things: last second or not at all. Are any of us on two wheels doing the same? Probably not because on two wheels are more like walking or running. This is independent of today's distractions like cell phones, kids in the back seat or hunting buddies telling lies. The "old school" driver class said we were to get the "big picture" and look around including to the rear. This was an attempt to get us to see and evaluate the dynamics of operating wheeled vehicles with motors.

Several on this forum alone have been victims of the DREADED LEFT TURN either ahead of or into us. Given the chance to tell I will bet in most cases those victims would do something different if they could replay the scene. Application of MURPHY'S LAW would play a big part. You know, "If anything can go wrong, it will." This intersection evaluation is independent of where you are in your lane or what trolley tracks are in your path. Independent of sand in the roadway or whatever "favorite road hazard" exists.

Karl

[ScooterWolf]

How I drive my bike and how I drive my car are, at times, are two different things. When riding my scooter the rider-radar is on. I’ve learned and was taught to look as far down the road as I can, processing everything I see: approaching vehicles, traffic conditions, pedestrians, parked cars, and anything entering and exiting the road. I ask questions as I ride. Does the dog-walker have control of their dog? Is that car coming down the road about to make an un-signaled left turn? Does the car ahead of me see the UPS truck on the other side of the intersection parked with its hazards lights on in the same lane as us? The person behind me is on their cell phone -- will they stop at the light ahead, or will they run into me?

My eyes are everywhere. I admit it’s a constant fight, because you'll also have things on your mind as you ride, and as you ride the same routes/commuter roads you become comfortable and complaisant, and less expectant of danger.

I try to remind myself that roads are alive, and change from day to day. What was safe yesterday, may not be the same today. Road hazards can appear, construction zones added, or debris and runoff from a light rain to a heavy storm may have spilled into the street.

Since my crash I’ve pushed myself to up my riding game, and to become a better rider. Crashing once is enough. As a rider, no matter the conditions or circumstances, I have to accept any crash is partially my responsibility because it’s my job to try and manage all the factors that can lead up to a crash.
It’s my job to see it coming. I know, that’s virtually impossible, but challenge accepted.

- Wolf

[GLV55]

^^^Exactly what Wolf said^^^

[scooterdad2324]

I feel exactly the same after my wreck. Well put Wolf

Sent from my XT1526 using Tapatalk

[LidoCA]

As wolf said, your eyes are always moving. Your mind is always wondering where the danger is. Sometimes it is tiresome,  riding in the city with the multiple fxxxksticks around you.
 The reward is being able to escape them and enjoy the ride.
 The DMW manual i read when i first started riding said to keep your eyes moving, avoid target fixation, and stay away from cars. I live by that. Some days, the dangers are many, some days i am alone.

[ScooterWolf]

Thanks guys. Between Black Friday and Cyber-Monday (and all days after) ride and stay safe.

- Wolf

[Stig / Major Tom]

I hate being a passenger in a car which is driven too quickly - sometimes that means with too much speed vs the surrounding traffic.

My biggest peeve is when the driver actually speeds up when approaching a busy, multi-laned intersection!....because this is where I would be slightly rolling off the scooter throttle and covering the brake levers.

I am a lousy passenger in a car.....and I ride my scooter very defensively and almost always during very low traffic times of day (except for my work-to-home commute through town - and that route is chosen for it's safe roads , rather than the shortest distance)

I pity the riders who cannot but ride in traffic.
My kind of roads....

Stig

[Mr. Paul]

My kind of roads too Stig! I choose my commute route based on safety and scenery first. I have many, many routes to choose from here in N. Metro Atlanta. When I drove a car to work I always just wanted the quickest way home. Now my priorities have shifted for the better. I actually look forward to the ride. Keep my riding my friend. Glad to know you're up there.

[paceneedsstides]

I'm a relatively new again rider but I'm always scanning ahead especially for any cars making a right turn on to my road in front of me which is how my brother passed away on his R1. I don't look much at my speedo and don't have a tach so in front and left hand mirror to help people wanting to pass me is about it.

[ScooterWolf]

Sorry to hear about your brother Paceneedsstides. My condolences.

Today my wife and I were riding back from a major multi-store complex, one with a Home Depot, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Cheesecake Factory and more (really don’t know what the name for places like that are). As we were rolling out we approached a major intersection. Up ahead the light was green. The speed limit was 50, but I kept my bike just above 40 as we approached. With my wife on the back I tend to never speed, but I knew the light had a chance of changing. When I approach an iffy intersection I try to keep my speed at a level where I won’t have to make any emergency stops. In slow, out fast as they say (Giggity!). At about 100 feet the light turned yellow. I squeezed the brakes and slowed us to a fast, but a controlled stop. Instantly, my wife noticed the guy behind us was none to pleased. About three feet away from our rear wheel was the bumper of a BMW two-door sportster. The driver looked pissed as if he wanted me to run the light so he could too. Looking back I saw him stewing in his seat wearing sunglasses with a cigarette in his hand hanging out the driver side window.

The first thing out my lips was “Tough sh**". At any intersection, if I try to run it, in a contest between my scooter and a four-wheel car, I’m not going to win. That’s why I stopped, but part of me was angry for not spotting the BMWer. Later my wife told me he rushed out of another exit from the the same complex we did, and tried to beat the light. We were lucky today. I’m glad he wasn’t fully behind me with a worked up head of speed. In hindsight if I had spotted him I would have pumped my brakes to warn him back.

One thing I’ve learned is it pays to have a tactic for ever changing situations. I’ll keep my eye on my back the next time I approach that same intersection. Luck is a good thing.

- Wolf