In our May newsletter I wrote of the death of my brother-in-law when he was hit head on by a truck turning left in front his motorcycle. The driver stated he hadn’t seen Michael, even though it was broad daylight and Michael’s motorcycle light was o
n. Among the many warm replies we received one that applies to sailing too. John Stone, who spent 25 years as a Marine and is now doing a lovely job of completing a 32 foot cruising boat from a bare hull wrote:
I started out with motorcycles and after too many close calls I gave it up. I understood it was not so much that people were not paying attention, though there was some of that, it is that they did not see me even when I could tell they were looking right at me.
I was taught many years ago in the military it has to do with a blind spot in your eye that is due to the attachment point of the optic nerve in the back of the eye. The brain compensates for the missing vision by filling in the blind spot with information derived from adjacent rods and cones. I don’t know if current science still supports that explanation but the end result is the same . . . there are things out there in your line of vision that you may not see.
Bottom line, all military pilots, and many other military personnel are taught to always keep scanning ones eyes and moving ones head. Just moving your eyes a little eliminates the blind spot.
Click this link for a demonstration: http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html
Guess that explains why, when we are looking for a bouy at sea, I have sometimes found that, if instead of staring straight towards where I think it should be, I instead sweep my eyes across the horizon I can spot it more easily.Rich Text AreaToolbarBold (Ctrl + B)Italic (Ctrl + I)Strikethrough (Alt + Shift + D)Unordered list (Alt + Shift + U)Ordered list (Alt + Shift + O)Blockquote (Alt + Shift + Q)Align Left (Alt + Shift + L)Align Center (Alt + Shift + C)Align Right (Alt + Shift + R)Insert/edit link (Alt + Shift + A)Unlink (Alt + Shift + S)Insert More Tag (Alt + Shift + T)Toggle spellchecker (Alt + Shift + N)?
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In our May newsletter I wrote of the death of my brother-in-law when he was hit head on by a truck turning left in front his motorcycle. The driver stated he hadn’t seen Michael, even though it was broad daylight and Michael’s motorcycle light was on. Among the many warm replies we received one that applies to sailing too. John Stone, who spent 25 years as a Marine and is now doing a lovely job of completing a 32 foot cruising boat from a bare hull wrote:
I started out with motorcycles and after too many close calls I gave it up. I understood it was not so much that people were not paying attention, though there was some of that, it is that they did not see me even when I could tell they were looking right at me.
I was taught many years ago in the military it has to do with a blind spot in your eye that is due to the attachment point of the optic nerve in the back of the eye. The brain compensates for the missing vision by filling in the blind spot with information derived from adjacent rods and cones. I don’t know if current science still supports that explanation but the end result is the same . . . there are things out there in your line of vision that you may not see.
Bottom line, all military pilots, and many other military personnel are taught to always keep scanning ones eyes and moving ones head. Just moving your eyes a little eliminates the blind spot.
Click this link for a demonstration: http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html
Guess that explains why, when we are looking for a bouy at sea, I have sometimes found that, if instead of staring straight towards where I think it should be, I instead sweep my eyes across the horizon I can spot it more easily.
Path:
I have been a merchant seaman for 37 of my 52 years and as a deck boy I was taught when looking for a light at night to always look just above the horizon. The light always appears earlier than when looking directly at the horizon. I forget the reason given to me, whether it was to do with refraction or something similar, but I have been using it ever since. Try it.
I think another aspect of drivers ‘not seeing motorcyclists’ is that they simply aren’t registering that they are there. The same can happen with pedestrians and bicyclists. Drivers’ mental framework is set to look for cars and trucks. More than once when I have been riding my bike I’ve been passed by a car … which then makes an immediate right turn into my path while I’m still coming up on the right. I’ve been turned into that way and the drivers are always surprised and say ‘they didn’t see me there’.
Sorry to hear about your loss. Years back I lost both a young aunt and uncle in separate motorcycle accidents. No way would my parents let me have one!
I am still around though after the uncountable hours I have spent on and in the ocean surfing, diving, boating and now sailing. This definitely supports your case in the Safety article that the oceans are safer than freeways.
Oh, something I have found invaluable for vision on my yacht are her tanbark sails and high clewed Genoa and Yankee. I personally find I don’t get the glare I would off white sails when looking forward.
There’s nothing worse than unnecessary instructions as evident in the sinking of the Gypsy”?