Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Own up who was it?

Excellent article thank you.

I remember a few years back them trying to identify what gave the special F1 drivers the edge - they monitored Schummacher's rapid eye movements and decided that was of significant importance.

About ten years ago I could have nobbled a cyclist one morning going to work, I was turning right at a T junction joining the main carriageway, as I pulled out as my car moved forward he only became clear to the right as the A-Pillar in the car moved relative to him revealing him! if I hadn't glanced back to the righthand side things could have been nasty, he showed no sign of slowing either at my car pulling out he just hurled some abuse at my apologies as he past in front of me (i'd stopped breaching the junction and was yards from him) it learnt me a lesson to rubber neck around my A-Pillars.

Quite important to take account of the various obstructions in differing cars.

Sitting low down in a Morgan can present quite a different view of the road too.

Research has shown that when we moves our eyes quickly from one side to the other the brain registers it as snap shots which it joins together much like a cine film. It can blot out things that it sees if your eyes move quickly. The other morning I was pulling off the drive I looked left, clear road, looked right clear road, pulled out and I was behind another car ! my brain had completely blotted it out. This is thought to be behind a lot of the "I didn't see it " collisions. The answer is to take more time looking to allow the brain to catch up.

I did quite a lot of training on this sort of issue with Biker Groups.

The "quick"look can blot out far more than you would think it would.

One main answer is to slow down the movement of taking in the panoramic picture. And split it into at least three sections

Sound kinda complex but in reality it is not.

Being a biker made me a better car Driver - without doubt.

I think anyone who is going to drive a car should have at least one year on two wheels and prove they have done it.

Yes and also more considerate of many other road users.

Too many people seem to be in a hurry and become aggressive/chancers these days.
The link I posted above was for cyclists. Intended, I think, to get them to understand and be aware of vision failures that humans have.
Go onto youtube and watch some helmetcam videos posted by cyclists. Enlighteninf!
Bearing in mind the vision issues and blanking out of areas I am amazed at some of the " filtering" that cyclists do. In and out of small gaps, cutting round vehicles, squeezing through.......
Surely vehicle drivers cannot see every spot in and around their vehicle and the out of the blue hidden cyclist puts them into danger areas. Trianing should be compulsory for cyclists so they become safer riders.
This is not meant as anti cyclist. It is meant as a common sense attitude to road use.

I agree with you Sospan. In London the most aggressive and shocking filterers are the cycle couriers. They are also the hardest to spot.

They seem to think it is acceptable to clip wing mirrors and then blame the car driver. The automatic insult is "you blind ****** didn't you see me?". They make my blood boil. They way they ride makes the Naples motorbikes look like Mr Magoo. It doesn't help that the mirrors on the Aeros are rather small and difficult to aim effectively due to the mounts.

I do think doing a stint on bikes and motorscooters would make us all more considerate. I had a lucky chance to visit Bermuda for a company meeting some time back and you cannot rent cars only scooters (there are not enough parking spaces etc etc) so the entire island runs at tourist moped speed as the roads are narrow and its a small place. It had the positive effect of reminding me not overtake to close as I was the squishy rolling roadblock on the 50cc bike in this case and did not have enough power to get out of the way. On returning I further extended my safety zone on bikes/scooters/horses etc. Wish they would do the same for me in traffic.

Everyone knows that the road rules don't apply to cyclists. Some of the rules that obviously don't apply are: the necessity to have front and rear lights, stopping at red lights, stop signs, pedestrian crossings, passing slow traffic in a safe manner, etc. etc.

They also seem to be exempt from insurance, registration, licences and tax.

Am I anti-cyclist? Yes, when they are on inappropriate roads and behave as though they owned the road. Even more so when they ride in squads, are dressed in Lycra, and block motor traffic by riding 2 or 3 abreast on busy roads.