SMIDSY - is there such a thing?

[shrub]

This is expanding a post in another thread because I think it's an issue that warrants discussion on its own.

SMIDSY events are something all motorcyclists have encountered, and all too often they end in pain and damaged motorcycles, but I'm not so sure that the perpetrators didn't see us, and if so I think they can be cut down and thereby make our lives safer.

I simply cannot believe that human eyes and brains are incapable of seeing a moving, and often noisy, object approx. 1.8 m tall by 1 metre wide with a shining light on it - right now I can see a bird sitting on a roof about 100m away and it has no lights on. I think that in most SMIDSYs the motorcyclist was seen but not acknowledged. As I understand it the human brain goes through the following three steps:
1) Things stimulate our senses and data is sent to our brains - eye detects bike, sparrow, road sign, 40 tonne truck, ugly girl etc and sends data to brain.
2) The subconscious part of the brain sorts the huge amount of information and decides based on prior programming which needs to be acted on - sparrow, ignore; sign, slow down; ugly girl, ignore; truck, avoid; bike, ??? and sends the information to be acted on to the conscious.
3) The conscious side of our brains then acts according to what has been identified as something to pay attention to. As motorcyclists our brains have been trained to read road surfaces, whereas my partner who has never ridden a bike just doesn't notice the roadkill on the apex, the damp shadow or the tar snake that I see very clearly because it means nothing to her - she's as likely to notice the flax bush on the side of the road.


Essentially human beings are motivated by fear or greed, and if they see something that is potentially a threat or to be desired they notice it - if 100 ordinary people walk past and one is a pretty girl in a bikini and one a big ugly Hells Angel, which ones will you notice? And when you buy something, have you ever noticed how often you now notice other people with what you bought? I believe so many of us get hit because people don't see us as having any significance by presenting a threat or being worth protecting, so while their eyes record us, their brain is not programmed to say "motorcyclist - pay attention, respond to him/her and don't pull out etc'.

I very, very rarely have to take evasive action on my bike, yet I do it all the time in my car, and I use my bike a hell of a lot more than the car which really only gets used to go to the gym and do the shopping. I put that down to a constant and focussed awareness of what car everyone else is doing, but also because I'm a big bastard (6ft3, 120 kgs) in black on a big, noisy black bike. Car drivers see me and when the image gets to their brain the brain says "threat, notice him and avoid him". When i worked in a bike shop I rode a lot of bikes, and I know from personal experience that when I rode 250s and even sports bikes, the behaviour of other road users degenerated.

I don't think we should all put on weight, buy big bikes and wear black, and that's why I want to see TPTB trying to get the message through to our fellow road users that hitting us is dreadfully bad form and results in killing people. As a marketer I know just how easy it is to change thinking, so I'd like to see the thinking of ALL road users changed so they realise that hitting another road user, especially a bike, is a very, very bad thing to do and brings nasty kharma in buckets.

[Katman]

If we've got our own eyes open and are making allowance for the incompetence of others the vast majority of these incidents would never become an issue.

[MSTRS:Me]

- if 100 ordinary people walk past and one is a pretty girl in a bikini and one a big ugly Hells Angel, which ones will you notice?

Depends, don't it. Are you looking to get laid, or avoid a monstering?
In terms of motoring, it is usually the threat angle that is acted upon, so the pretty girl becomes, conversely, the motorcycle, if you happen to be driving a car. And that vicious 1%er 'should' become that Mack about to T-bone you...

[Quasievil]

SMIDSY events are something all motorcyclists have encountered, .

What the fuck is SMIDSY ?

[Mully]

If we've got our own eyes open and are making allowance for the incompetence of others the vast majority of these incidents would never become an issue.

Agreed. Every time I strap my lid on, I acknowledge that I'm taking responsibility for my own safety.

The SMIDSY is much like "I heard you, but I wasn't listening".

Much like your brain registers that a 40 tonne truck in your bonnet will fuck you up - a ~200kg bike probably wont.

[shrub]

If we've got our own eyes open and are making allowance for the incompetence of others the vast majority of these incidents would never become an issue.

I agree, and that's why I ride with 100% concentration 100% of the time, but what about the noob who hasn't learnt that yet? Or who hasn't learnt the skills to turn a SMIDSY into a "fucking idiot, now back to riding" instead of a "Tell Laura I love her..."?

I agree that it behooves motorcyclists to do EVERYTHING possible to minimise risk, but I also believe that it is the responsibility of TPTB to do their bit too, and given I think most SMIDSYs are the result of driver education and attitude why can't we demand that they make our lives safer? Might as well get some benefit from our taxes and registration costs.

[shrub]

What the fuck is SMIDSY ?

Sorry Mate I Didn't See You

[Katman]

I agree, and that's why I ride with 100% concentration 100% of the time, but what about the noob who hasn't learnt that yet?

Then I suggest they learn in a fucking hurry.

[shrub]

Then I suggest they learn in a fucking hurry.

How? The way I learnt by spending years riding? Or should we demand that every motorcyclist engages in intensive training when they get their licenses? Or do noobs not count?

[Katman]

How? The way I learnt by spending years riding? Or should we demand that every motorcyclist engages in intensive training when they get their licenses? Or do noobs not count?

You're confusing 'concentration' with 'riding skills'.

The ability to teach yourself total concentration has nothing to do with experience. It can, and should, be a learning process that begins at day 1 on a motorcycle.

When I started the couriering job in London the first few days I would come home totally shattered mentally (you can imagine the mental effort of riding 12 hour days in London traffic). By the second week I barely noticed the effort of concentrating at that level.

The brain is capable of so much more than we ever ask of it.

[Rych]

You're confusing 'concentration' with 'riding skills'.

The ability to teach yourself total concentration has nothing to do with experience. It can, and should, be a learning process that begins at day 1 on a motorcycle.

When I started the couriering job in London the first few days I would come home totally shattered mentally (you can imagine the mental effort of riding 12 hour days in London traffic). By the second week I barely noticed the effort of concentrating at that level.

The brain is capable of so much more than we ever ask of it.

This is true, I have found motorcycling very draining and come home wasted as I am constantly scanning taking in information, determining what is a threat what is not, being aware of what is around me 360 degrees...

Being aware is not necessarily linked to years of experience riding, it's common sense, most normal people know BIG TRUCK IS THREAT or car on side street waiting to pull into my lane is threat... Sometimes driving my car I can forget the last 1-2km of where I just was because by accident I have just zoned out and driven by habit, never has that happened riding. That doesn't happen driving these days as I think the riding habits come into driving keeping you alert no mater what you're in on the road.

But yea I have to agree with the OP, how can you not see my bright blue bike with a bright light on the front of it??? If you can't you should not be on the road.

[baptist]

Then I suggest they learn in a fucking hurry.

So you picked it all up in two weeks of intensive riding around London, good for you. How about the newbie, like me, who commutes and then rides at the weekend, we do not get that level of experience that quickly. And how about the first day or two out on your own. Katman, I have read so much of this from you but very little in the way of practical help. I think what Shrub is asking for is a little bit of help from the govnt to educate car drivers about how vulnerable we can be. I remember this advert from when I was a kid and the advice has always stuck with me. Not sure they were ever shown in NZ but maybe it is time to run a similar type of safety campaign instead of every ad being about drink driving.

[shrub]

You're confusing 'concentration' with 'riding skills'.... The brain is capable of so much more than we ever ask of it.

No, concentration is a skill and needs to be learned, or at the very least the rider needs to learn that concentration is critical to survival. And concentration is all very well, but you need to learn to spot the hazards. You and I know instinctively that a front wheel turning right means a potential U turn, or that cars don't just slow down and are probably going to turn and that tar snakes on a wet day are scary. Because we're concentrating we see the hazard and respond appropriately which means we get home to drink beer. New riders haven't learned those skills yet.

I agree, the brain is capable of more than we ask of it, so what's wrong with asking for other road users brains to be programmed into noticing us?

[onearmedbandit]

Compulsory defensive riding course for all new riders, targeting hazzard awareness and identification.


It's not a silver bullet, but it will help new riders realise just what they are getting in to.

[Rych]

Compulsory defensive riding course for all new riders, targeting hazzard awareness and identification.


It's not a silver bullet, but it will help new riders realise just what they are getting in to.

This, I did it for my drivers and learned some valuable information I had not been advised of by anyone else. After that one week I was scanning ahead, scanning driveways etc which I didn't think much of in my first months of driving.

Highly recommend defense course for new drivers/riders.