5.3 Scan

The best defense against danger is to see it coming and avoid it. Kung-Fu experts can walk down dark alleys and defend themselves, but for the rest of us it is easier to just avoid dark alleys! Your motorcycle risk sense is mainly based on vision, which here means scanning. Scanning is not just normal looking. Normal looking say at a photograph or a book is about recognizing things, whether faces, objects or words. It is like a searchlight that illuminates one object. In contrast scanning is like sonar that checks for danger all directions.

Scanning is all-round vision

Everyone has two types of vision:

1. Focal vision recognizes things in a small focus.
2. Scanning identifies things moving anywhere in your field of vision.

You use focal vision when you read a book and focus on letters and words, but one cant take in a whole page at once this way. The focus has to move from line to line. In contrast scanning takes in everything in the field of view in at once, looking for movement and object contrasts. In our book/media world we habitually use point vision, but all-round scanning is the key to motorcycle safety.

Scanning is what your eyes do when you look at nothing in particular.To activate it, just stop focusing.Try it now – look up and just look around without focusing. Now your eyes take in everything around you, not just one or two things. Scanning is the opposite of focusing, which gives “tunnel vision”, a major cause of motorbike accidents. Scanning tells you when anything changes anywhere, not just at some focus.

Try this. Next time you stop at a red light, don’t look at it. Look ahead down the road but keep the red light in your field of vision. You may want to focus on the light but don’t. When the light changes to green, your all-round vision will tell you. You don’t need to look directly at it to know the light has changed. You just need to have it on your “radar”. The desire to look at the light directly in case you miss it is your insecure conscious mind interfering. Ignore it, because it cant ride a motorcycle for nuts. If you miss the light, don’t worry – the cars behind you will honk to make you go, which doesn’t hurt. Try again until your natural scanning ability kicks in. If you use it, all-round vision will tell you when anything anywhere changes. That is its job. On a motorcycle, you need this skill.

Scanning is your radar

Radar first sweeps a broad area to detect all incoming objects. Then when an object is detected, a more advanced (but slower) recognition system focuses on whether it is friend or foe. The two steps are:

1. Scan for objects over a wide area.
2. Recognize selected targets.

It has to work this way because initially one doesn’t know where the danger is. Your eyes work the same way for the same reasons. First peripheral vision identifies objects and movement everywhere, then foveal vision recognizes objects when you focus on them. If you look directly at something, that is foveal vision. If you see a thing “in the corner of your eye” that is peripheral vision. Why is this important? Because peripheral all-round vision is critical to riding safely.

All round awareness. Matajuro Yagyu asked the famous swordsman Banzo: “If I work hard, how many years to become a master?” “The rest of your life,” replied Banzo. “I cannot wait that long. What if I become your devoted servant?” “Maybe ten years,” Banzo relented. “My father is old. If I work even harder, how long then?” “Maybe thirty years,” said Banzo. “First you say ten now thirty years. I will do anything to do this quickly!” “Well,” said Banzo, “in that case it will take seventy years. A man in such a hurry as you seldom learns quickly.” “Very well,” said the youth, recognizing the rebuke, “I agree to serve you.” Matajuro was told never to speak of or touch a sword, but had to cook, clean, wash dishes and tend the garden, all without swordsmanship. Three years later still he labored on, sad he hadn’t even begun to learn about swords. Then one day Banzo crept up behind him and gave him a terrific blow with a wooden sword. The next day as he cooked rice, Banzo again hit him unexpectedly. After that, day and night, Matajuro had to defend himself from unexpected thrusts. Not a moment passed when he didn’t think of the taste of Banzo’s sword. He developed concentration, speed and an all-round awareness that enabled him to avoid Banzo’s attacks. On this foundation he became the greatest swordsman in the land.

Peripheral vision activates when we look in the distance at nothing special. If you focus on anything, like reading a sign, it shuts off. When riding, focus on the cars ahead not down at the car in front of you. Set your scanning radar at maximum to give the best early warning. If you look to  the distance, your vision automatically takes in the car in front of you. If anything happens to it you will know directly. If a car unexpectedly comes towards you, you don’t need to know if it’s a Holden or a Ford! Recognition is irrelevant. You only need to know from where and how fast it’s coming! Your all-round vision will tell you this. Even better, it does so for your entire field of view. To ride safely, always look many cars ahead.

Road signs can distract

Reading road signs, or looking for street numbers, is dangerous because it deactivates your all-round vision. If you see a driver going very slow, or driving erratically, they are often trying to read signs or street numbers. Be very, very careful! Their all round vision is probably disengaged, making them literally blind to anything outside their focus. This tunnel vision means they may not see something as small as a motorcycle. In addition, their purpose may make them suddenly turn left or right. People reading road signs are dangerous because their all-round vision is disengaged.

The EZ-Pass fiasco. A good example of badly designed signage was the EZ-Pass fiasco. EZ-Pass is New Jersey’s electronic toll system. Those who don’t use it because they dont trust the state go to the Cash toll lane. As cars streamed down the highway, drivers without EZ-Pass had had to get in the right lane toll booth. The authorities put up signs above the toll lanes. The left sign said : EZ-PASS ONLY, NO CASH, KEEP LEFT and the right sign said EZ-PASS, CASH ONLY, KEEP RIGHT. The words CASH and EZ-PASS were color coded, but both appeared on both signs! You have to read it several times to figure it out, and drivers in traffic dont have time for that. So “cash” drivers would see the color word “CASH” and go left, then at the last minute swerve across four lanes to get back to the right cash lanes. Were they stupid? No, because drivers who read signs too much crash. The stupidity was in the signs. Eventually, after some months, they put up a “CASH KEEP RIGHT” sign earlier, which solved the problem. Road engineers who create stupid signage are a menace.

Mirror blind spots

Motorcycle mirrors have “blind spots”. Sometimes you look in your mirror and see nothing in the lane next to you, then a car goes by in that lane from “out of nowhere”. It came from the mirror blind spot. It is scary when a lane you thought was empty produces a speeding car. The blind spot is about 45 degrees out from the mirror. By all means use your mirrors, but never fully trust them. For critical moves like changing lanes on a busy highway, use direct sight.

A Newark public service. I was in the middle of the road, stopped, and waiting to turn across the oncoming traffic. With indicator on, I let the oncoming traffic pass and then began to turn. As I turned, I heard the screech of brakes just behind me. It was a Newark electrical repair truck, with flashing lights overtaking me on the other side of the road at the intersection. I didn’t hear it, as it had no siren, like Police do. It was a blind spot because I didn’t expect a flow from that direction in that situation. Now, as I turn across oncoming traffic, I briefly turn my head back to direct sight there anyway.

Direct sight

Direct sight is when you turn your head and look over your shoulder to see traffic behind directly, in your peripheral vision. I always direct sight when changing lanes. Once I did an experiment, first using my mirrors then direct sighting to check before actually changing lanes. Within a month the mirror said “clear”, and I turned my head to see an oncoming car. This isn’t very frequent, but on a motorcycle it only takes one case. Direct sight is the best sight because it is 100% sure.

Direct sight sounds simple but turning your head without turning the bike takes practice. When beginners turn their head, the bike also moves that way, which is bad! Practice turning your head but not turning the bike. While riding straight, briefly turn your head to sight back to the area behind you. Don’t focus behind, just turn your head and use your peripheral vision. Just a glance tells you 100% if anything is there. As you turn your head, keep your body and shoulders straight so the bike doesn’t move. When you direct sight, the bike must not wobble. Decouple scanning done by the head from control of the bike by the body. When you can direct sight back without the bike wavering, you have a 100% reliable behind check (unlike the 99% reliable mirror check). Since turning your head can unsettle the bike, its not really for beginners. If you cant turn your head without wobbling then dont do it. I dont direct sight if the weather is so bad it is dangerous to turn your head, even for a moment. The alternative then is The Slow Move.

Safety is about you. When I rode through Newark to university every day, colleagues would say: “Isn’t it more dangerous?” It was true that in New Zealand I would experience a watch out event about once a month, while riding here it happened about three times a month. But in practice it made no difference, as I could no more afford to crash once a month than three times. Safe riding is about what you do, not what other people do.

The riding skeptic

Our brain is good at telling us what we want to know. In the picture you see a young lady, but look again and it is an old lady!  In the same way, your brain can tell you all is clear when it is not. A skeptic is someone who doesn’t believe but has to see everything for themselves. A riding skeptic is the same – they work on direct sight not assumptions. So while a green light should mean that other cars are stopped, you still look either side as you go. This is a healthy skepticism.

A bad assumption. I once watched a sad accident. A woman was waiting to pull out into a line of traffic. She was in a hurry, and saw a gap after a large car. As soon as it passed, she quickly pulled out behind it. Unfortunately what she didn’t see was that it was towing a trailer. The front of her car smashed into the heavy trailer. She was unhurt, but the car was a wreck. After the crash, all she said over and over was “What will my husband say?” This was before no fault insurance. She had to tell her husband why their money would have to pay for her mistake. What you assume is a beautiful all-clear could be an ugly accident.

Two bad assumptions. Even sadder is a case where an experienced rider was killed in a motorcycle parade. Traffic waited as the parade crossed the main street of Auckland then at the end a car took off right into the last rider and killed him. Obviously he was in a hurry, maybe angry at the bikes, and the last rider had for some reason fallen behind the group. The car driver seeing the stream of motorbikes finish assumed it was past and went. Meanwhile the tail-end rider who had fallen behind also assumed he was still part of the parade, so cars would stop. Two people assumed it was all clear when it wasn’t, so the police called it an “unfortunate accident” and no-one was charged. This is why the riding skeptic never makes assumptions.

Dead space

When scanning the world, one needs to know where the scan doesn’t work. Dead space, like blind spots, is space you cant see so you don’t know what is there. It is called dead space because it can make you dead. When turning a corner into a cliff you are going around into dead space. When going up a hill and you cant see the other side that is dead space. In the city, dead space is called a blind spot, a spot where something could be hidden, e.g. parked trucks can easily hide a pedestrian standing between them.

Accidents happen when dead space is assumed empty but is not. The answer to dead space is not x-ray vision but to approach with caution. Don’t assume dead space is empty. If you come to a hill and cant directly see the other side, recognize it as dead space. It is probably clear but there may be a broken down car or even a cow on the road. If you cant see directly then drop a gear, slow down and cover the brakes.

Live cars

You see lots of cars parked on the roadside as you ride along. Those with no-one in them are “dead”, and those with someone in them are “live”. The difference is that live cars can suddenly pull out or fling open open doors, so you give them more distance.

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