Brilliant Cycling Awareness Safety Video

by Matt O'Toole on March 30, 2008

This video of some basketball players shows brilliantly how we don’t see what we’re not looking for, but we do see what we are looking for — so we need to watch for cyclists. Courtesy of Transport for London, via Boingboing.

Tagged as: Education, film, Safety, video

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March 30, 2008 at 7:09 am

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Allen Muchnick April 4, 2008 at 8:59 am

This video is moronic, not brilliant. Bicyclists are generally quite visible when they operate in traffic as integrated drivers of vehicles. Most bicyclist visibility problems occur when bicyclists operate either at the edge of the roadway or entirely beyond it. The lesson to bicyclists is to generally operate as a vehicle driver, not as a moonwalking black bear.

Matt O'Toole April 4, 2008 at 12:36 pm

Allen,

While it’s true that bicyclists are generally visible, especially when they ride “vehicularly,” it’s also true that “I just didn’t see him” is still cited as the cause of many accidents, particularly in left hook situations where a driver “did not see” a properly driven motorcycle or bicycle. Drivers are subconsciously or semi-consciously looking only for the hazards they expect — other cars. Without conscious effort they may not notice anything else.

This video is brilliant because it demonstrates exactly this principle, in a way that text or still pictures cannot. Obviously it’s aimed at motor vehicle drivers, to remind them to make that conscious effort to “see” bicyclists.

Allen Muchnick April 8, 2008 at 8:18 am

Matt,

I fully understand the cyclist visibility issue, particularly regarding motorcyclists (who typically travel much faster than bicyclists). This video, however, fails to show motorists HOW or WHERE to look for cyclists, so I believe any educational value is minimal.

As recently as Saturday, I was right-hooked by a motorist traveling in the *inside* lane of a four-lane, 30 MPH road, while I was traveling in front and then beside him in the *center* of the outside lane at 25 MPH. I doubt this motorist failed to see me before he executed his right turn. Rather, he failed to appreciate my speed and/or right-of-way. (My defensive cycling skills prevented a collision).

The main problem isn’t cyclist visibility per se, it’s 1) motorist perception and understanding of cyclist movements and respect for cyclists’ right-of-way, and 2) non-vehicular cycling movements.

Greater motorist awareness to “look for cyclists” can’t fully compensate for the awful non-vehicular behavior of most (nearly all) cyclists, a problem exacerbated by bikeways (sidepaths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, bike boxes, etc.). For example, right-hook crashes are often caused by cyclists passing motorists on their right and are best prevented by discouraging such cyclist movements, not by increasing motorist awareness.

While probably having zero impact on motorists, this video has been widely posted on various cycling lists, reinforcing the false belief of many cyclists that their clueless non-vehicular cycling behavior is NOT the primary problem.

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