
A Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Surviving on the Roads (2012) [pdf] - tzs
http://www.slobc.org/safety/documents/road-survival-guide.pdf
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kctess5
Tldr: if a vehicle is on a collision course with you, it will always be in the
same position of your field of view, so there may not be enough apparent
motion to draw your attention. To combat this, slow down a bit as you approach
intersections to generate relative motion between yourself and anyone on a
collision course with you. Also scan left/right twice to double your chances
of seeing hazards. The brain is very good at stitching together a coherent
scene as your eyes dart around, but this might hide the fact that you have
blind spots where your eyes have jumped over potentially important details.

To improve your chances of being seen, turn your lights on and wear bright
colors to improve contrast. Be aware that if the sun is right behind you,
people ahead of you will have a very difficult time seeing you.

~~~
elorant
_To improve your chances of being seen, turn your lights on and wear bright
colors to improve contrast._

I guess that's why quite a lot supercars have vivid colors. Reds, yellows,
greens, whatever stands out.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
I always thought supercars did it for the attention, "Look at me! Vroom
vroom!"

~~~
OliverJones
Look at me! Give me a speeding ticket!

~~~
meddlepal
The speeding tickets are just the cost of doing business when you get into
luxury sports car and supercar territory.

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cyberferret
A good article. As a former pilot, I can attest that many things he speaks in
that article are analysed and optimised when we are in the cockpit. Using
direct vision (scanning instruments) vs peripheral vision (while landing) etc.

Another thing that I think he should extend upon with regards to saccadic eye
movement is the phenomena of going around a roundabout etc. in the dark or
where external references are not in high contrast - that can start your eyes
involuntarily darting around as your inner ear detect an imbalance/change due
to the sideways G forces, and thinks that you are turning your head.

I really believe that this article should be required reading for every
student who learns to drive or ride on the roads.

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rdtsc
Pretty neat.

Was just at a water park with my family and the guards there were doing this
constant head nodding. Kind of disturbing to watch if you are not expecting
it. But I looked it up and the explanation is they are "scanning" \- making
sure to move around their heads to observe their area better and not rely on
just the peripheral vision.

Owls do that as well. Even I do it when getting to an intersection somewhat. I
lean into the steering wheel and bob my head up and down a few times. I
imagine it might look pretty ridiculous to someone from the side.

Driving is probably one of the most dangerous things we do here in US.
Anything to make it safer is a good thing.

One of the tricks I learned from driver's ed in back in Eastern Europe is if
you drive at night, and incoming traffic is blinding you, don't stare directly
into the beam, but turn your head slightly to the right, such that you'd still
see ahead but it would be out of the corner of your eye. Obviously not ideal
as you're using your peripheral vision but if the alternative is to blinded
and not see anything at all, it is still better. I've used that trick enough
times since then and it seems to work pretty well.

~~~
jonah
Regarding oncoming traffic at night; my dad taught me to focus on the white
line. It does what you're describing but in addition keeps you positioned in
your lane and gives you something to focus on so your eyes aren't drawn to the
headlights.

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devenson
And avoid dangling ornaments from the rear view mirror! Otherwise you
condition yourself to disregard motion in front of you.

~~~
kpil
I think it's safe to say that people that have shit dangling from their rear
mirror are bad and unimaginative drivers that don't get the importance of a
working peripheral vision.

And there is research that shows that they have more accidents.

(Actually people that 'personalize' their cars, which includes funny signs and
other gadgets)

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woliveirajr
When overtaking another car or truck, I always:

1 - look to the other car mirrors: if I can't see his head/face, he provably
can't see part of my car

2 - look at its tyres: I find that it's faster to see if he will change lanes
by the position/direction of the tyres, specially trucks.

Note: yes, where I live, it's common that a truck decides to overtake another
truck right in the moment you're doing it too.

~~~
davedx
Yes - looking at tyres is a great general tactic. I learned that doing
motorcycle lessons.

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OliverJones
Here's an interesting point. Very rapidly flashing lights, like dimmed LED car
tail lights, show up on the human retina as dashed lines after a visual
saccade.

I wonder if visibility could be helped by leaving some flashing in the
tailights when they're full-bright : when the brake-light mode is activated.

(I mean LEDs that are dimmed by flashing them on and off at a rate faster than
persistence of vision.)

Another visual thing. This is a pet peeve. Emergency vehicles use flashing
BLUE lights. That's perceptually stupid. For one thing, human eyes, opened up
(wide pupils, typical at night) do a better job of focusing longer wavelength
light. This has two consequences: \-- it's slightly harder to locate the
source of the light because it isn't as neatly focused on the retina. \-- the
poorly focused blue light splatters all over the retina, desensitizing the
rods of peripheral vision and spoiling dark adaption right when it's needed -
entering into a zone where an emergency vehicle is active.

Secondly, red light-- deep red light -- selectively desensitizes the cones in
the fovea, leaving the rods in peripheral vision sensitized.

Conclusion: orange light would be a much better choice than blue for cop car
flashing lights. It would focus better, preserve dark adaptation better, and
preserve nighttime peripheral vision better.

~~~
josh-wrale
I think this (edit: blue lights) is intentional, at least in some cases. A
highway police officer on night patrol is probably well served by this
potentially disorienting effect.

~~~
OliverJones
I disagree. I once almost didn't see an officer who was standing in the halo
of her car's flashing blue lights on a rainy road. Intentionally disorienting
drivers is dangerous.

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jdietrich
It's also worth noting that the blind spots in cars are getting bigger.
Stricter rollover crash tests require large pillars to support the roof; many
modern cars feature curtain airbags, further widening the pillars.

This is a particular problem with the A-pillars at the front of the car, which
are often large enough to completely obscure a motorcycle or bicycle at a
junction.

Alongside saccades, A-pillar blind spots are a leading cause of the accidents
that British bikers call SMIDSYs - "Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You".

~~~
lamontcg
^ yeah this comment is what i was looking for in this thread.

the same argument about vehicles on a collision course with you being fixed on
the windscreen applies equally to being fixed behind your pillar. particularly
pedestrians crossing in a crosswalk. it makes sense to always look 'around'
your pillar when you go past a crosswalk or when your pillar is lined up with
the corner of an intersection.

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Natsu
I wasn't sure what to expect, but the part about missing cars near the edge of
the windshield is so true. There's a particular corner close to home with very
low speed traffic. Somehow, I've missed more than one vehicle coming up the
road, such that I had adapted to moving my head habitually before that
intersection to compensate. This gives a much more complete explanation of
what's going on.

~~~
rossjudson
Rings true for me as well -- I remember one near miss from many years ago
where I was in disbelief for a long, long time -- how the hell did I miss
seeing that car? This article + probability starts to explain it.

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bo1024
This is why you should actually stop at stop signs and red lights, which
nobody does.

It happens all the time to runners, especially when people roll up and through
stop signs. The speeds often line up well. I had always attributed it to being
in the pillar blindspot (and when the speeds match as described in the
article, you stay in that blindspot the whole time). After reading the
article, it makes more sense.

I can't count the number of drivers who have rolled up to a stop sign with no
intent of actually stopping, taken one final look out their window as they go
through and had a huge jump of fright to see me staring back at them through
the window angrily, having stopped just in time to avoid getting run over.

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durzagott
I was hoping this article was going to mention about remaining calm and not
getting angry on the road. He kind of alluded to it in the beginning with
'What’s wrong with you - are you blind?!!'

My wife has terrible road rage and I'm often suggesting she should be more
like a fighter pilot on the road; remain calm, focused and let the stupid shit
go. I was hoping I could forward this on to her as an 'I told you so' ;-)

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upofadown
> ... look at the head of the driver that is approaching or has stopped.

That isn't really that possible these days. Car windshields are steeply
inclined for better fuel economy which better reflects light. Smoked windows
are now popular so that the interior of the car is relatively dark. If you
look at the windshield of an approaching car you usually just see the sky.

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trankas
Interesting article with good tips.

Most of the pictures come from intersections in Portugal and that just goes to
show that road building here does not take into account lighting factors,
especially regarding sunlight in the morning or the afternoon.

There are some particularly tricky patches of road that everyone would benefit
reading this.

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proactivesvcs
I'm always on the lookout for more roadcraft tips and techniques, as a
vulnerable cyclist. An excellent read and I will be using the "lookout scan"
methodology on future rides.

~~~
anonymousDan
Yup. I'm sure you're aware of it but as someone who has spent many years
cycling around a big city (London), the number one thing for me is to be
really careful going up the inside of long vehicles at intersections.

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mohsinr
Tips about high contrast clothing/jacket and flashing LEDs are great for
bikers on the road...

Must read for drivers, explains lot of stuff in simpler understanding way.

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mohsinr
Tips about high contrast clothing/jacket and flashing LEDs are great for
bikers on the road...

Must read for drivers, explains lot of stuff in simpler understanding way.

~~~
Too
As an every day biking commuter I can't agree with the flashing led part.
First of all it makes it very hard for others to estimate your speed, second
they might actually not see the light if the eyes happen to sweep by quickly
during an off-period of the light, third they blind oncoming trafficants
because it's hard to adjust the eyes to something that is constantly blinking.

Bonus:If blinking lights would be a good idea wouldnt cars also have them?

~~~
benjiweber
Flashing doesn't need to be on-off. Many bike lights now pulse - e.g. constant
light of 700lm with pulse of 1500lm. twice a second.

Patterns are also common e.g. strip of 5 LEDs with 2 on at a time, sequence
changes a few times a second.

Anecdotal, but in my experience pulsing lights signfificantly reduce SMIDSYs
over solid lights along. (I ride around 2hrs a day, in the dark in winter
months)

Even more effective than pulsing lights is helmet lights. When you scan the
road you're creating moving light and much more likely to be seen. A quick
glance at a motorist waiting at a T-junction to pull out and you've maximised
your chances of having been seen.

~~~
alonmower
I second movement being the most effective. When motorcycling at night one of
the biggest dangers is cars making left turns across your lane. It's really
hard to judge how far away and how fast a motorcycle is moving because there's
only one headlight, with cars you can extrapolate based on how far away the
headlights are from one another and how much that distance is widening.

The most effective strategy I've found is to do a little waggle if you see a
car ahead lining up to turn. The movement catches their attention and makes
them realize you're not a car that's really far away

~~~
cjrp
> The most effective strategy I've found is to do a little waggle if you see a
> car ahead lining up to turn. The movement catches their attention and makes
> them realize you're not a car that's really far away

My instructor called it the "SMIDSY weave", but cautioned that the car waiting
to turn might see your light going in/out of their vision as you flashing your
lights and giving them permission to turn across you.

He also talked about creating a triangle of lights (headlight + 2 aux lights
either side) as it helped people judge your closing speed, vs. the standard
headlight alone.

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sunshiney
OMG I am now sooo glad I live rural. The biggest issue I have is waving to
other drivers and watching for cows or deer.

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douche
Please, for the sake of everybody else, don't install those blue-spectrum high
intensity headlights. They glare more and wreck night vision more than the old
yellow incandescents.

