Blindspot Complacency (9/17)

Environmental Blindspots are dangerous traps for motorcycle riders. We aren’t just talking about areas around vehicles where you can be missed. These happen when you can’t see past or around something—like signs, vehicles, trees, or curves in the road. These visual barriers hide hazards and increase risk in two big ways.

Hazards become more threatening when you can’t see them. If you can’t see a hazard, you can’t plan for it. With unfortunate circumstances, the rider can remain unaware up until the moment the hazard wipes them out. If it seems safe to proceed, then a hazard pops out of nowhere, a Blindspot is likely to blame. The only way to maintain control of risk is to assume there is danger in areas you cannot see. A black car pulled out from the Blindspot in the first image.

 A great general strategy to manage risk is to maintain distance buffers from danger. The greater the distance, the greater the safety. This is for two reasons:

1. The further away the hazard, the less likely it will affect you or your bike.
2. The more distance you have, the more time you have to react.

Imagine you are following a logging truck when it loses its load onto the highway—not a good situation. Would it still be life-threatening if this scene unfolded 10 seconds up the road? The situations carry two extremely different risk profiles.

Blindspots work double time on reducing safety because they hide hazards from view and limit your ability to react simultaneously. They come in different forms—big, small, near, far, left, right—and riders have to spot them all. When you are riding towards a Blindspot, both your ability to spot danger and the time you have to respond are reduced. Counter-act these effects by increasing distance from Blindspots when possible, and reducing speed when necessary. Scanning for Blindspots must be made a habit. Ignore them, and you could roll right into a collision with no warning.