Conspicuity - more than lights on or color of clothing

[James R. Davis]

We motorcyclists have our jargon just like any other field of endeavor.  Not too long ago the word 'conspicuity' became the rage.  But it is too often thought that what it means is that we should ride with our lights on (cannot do otherwise for most of us) or that we should ride with bright colors or reflective material on our clothing.  WRONG!  It means, quite literally, VISIBILITY - from your perspective and from theirs.

Here is a brief discussion about what it really means and why you should pay attention to the concept.

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My guess is that every one of the readers here has heard of a motorcyclist who was
injured or killed when someone turned left in front of them and a
collision resulted.

That left turner was always the 'bad guy', right?

But surely you, like all the rest of us, have made left turns with our
vehicles and we would never cause such an accident - because we remain
alert, drive defensively, and maintain 'situational awareness'.

For example, let's say that we are driving our green car along a country road and
must make a left turn into our driveway when we arrive at home. We can
see at least 1000 feet in front and behind us. There is only one car in
the oncoming lane. We turn on our left turn signal and wait ...



The white car passes us ...



We turn left toward our driveway ...



And we discover that we have just KILLED A MOTORCYCLIST!

How can that be? We did everything right! We were not speeding, not drunk,
not talking on a cell phone ... but there lies a dead motorcyclist and
you can be absolutely certain that we will get a day in court to
explain why we killed him. Especially after we say "I didn't see him!"

Any thoughts on the matter?

Well, let me give you a hint. You would expect, I'm guessing, that the
motorcyclist crashed into the passenger side of our green car because,
after all, we have crossed over almost the entire oncoming lane. But
you would be wrong as what actually happened is that the motorcycle hit
our LEFT-FRONT bumper.



Have any other thoughts now?

Oh, he hit us at 40 mph, the legal speed limit. That is, he had not been
traveling at 100 mph and just appeared out of nowhere - there was 1,000
feet of unobstructed visibility both ahead of and behind us.

What I will demonstrate for you here is that motorcyclists MUST drive
defensively. Part of defensive driving is a concept called
'conspicuity' - visibility.

That does not simply mean 'drive with your headlights on', and it does not simply mean 'wear light
colored and/or reflective clothing'. It means 'SEE' and 'BE SEEN'.

In this particular scenario there is only one possible way for the
accident to have happened (unless we literally attempted to murder the biker) - the motorcyclist really was NOT visible to
us.

For example, he was 'tailgating' the white car ...



Observe that from our perspective (driver of the green car), there is no
motorcycle or any other traffic in the oncoming lane other than the
white car. This has been true since the white car first became visible
to us when it was over 1,000 feet ahead. The white car obscured our
sight lines.

Then, as the white car began to pass us, for merely a moment, part of the motorcycle becomes visible, but immediately
thereafter that 'A pillar' begins to obstruct the motorcyclist (that
metal column on the left edge of your windshield that supports the roof
and windshield).



Now let me ask you, "Why did the motorcyclist hit our left-front bumper instead of the passenger side of our car?"

Again, you know the answer to that question. New riders who have not, through
practice, internalized the concept of counter-steering and use it
instinctively, tend to NOT use it during a crisis. No rational thinking
person would turn their motorcycles toward the front of a left-turning
vehicle as in this scenario because that would result in hitting the
vehicle at its front, AND being run over by the vehicle after the
collision. They would, if possible, turn toward the rear of the
left-turner.

But new, inexperienced, riders - having forgotten everything they ever 'knew' or had heard about counter-steering, would
try to turn their handlebars to the left and find that the bike 'fights
them' - simply will not go to the left. In fact, the harder they try,
the more the bike turns to the right. The result, a collision with the
front of our green car instead of merely a close call.

Oh, it doesn't really matter whether or not our car is green. Just as it is
incorrect to assume that 'green' is the 'bad guy', so, too, is it
incorrect to assume that the left-turner is at fault.

Rider errors killed this motorcyclist.

[Andrew Kass]

Once again a great illustration of the configuration of an accident and more imporantly how it could have been avoided. It reminds all vehicles to wait the extra few seconds before turning as well!!

[Daryl Makk]

trying to spot danger zones and avoiding them is a great tip. thanks for posting this. Many of us know this but forget to practice it while riding.

[RIDEMYST]

The two wheel motorist is rarely observed. I attended a seminar a few years back. There were around 100 people in the room when we watched this video. Only two got it right and I was not one of them. The point being that motorist are looking for cars/trucks NOT motorcycles. Take the test and see how well you do. -JEP-
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