The role of inattentional blindness in vehicle crashes

On Behalf of | Oct 12, 2024 | Motorcycle Accidents

Many different factors contribute to the large amounts of vehicle crashes that happen every day on our roads. One you may not have heard much about is inattentional blindness.

Inattentional blindness is a term coined by psychologists to describe why a person does not see something that they appear to be looking straight at. One of the most famous experiments they used is that of the invisible gorilla.

Participants were asked to watch a video of people playing basketball and count how many times they passed the ball. Partway through the video, someone dressed in a gorilla suit strolls across the court, stopping to thump their chest along the way. Amazingly, many viewers fail to notice the gorilla because they are so intent on counting the passes. 

What are drivers focusing on?

In the same way that the participants were expecting to see people playing basketball, not a gorilla, drivers expect to see certain things when they drive. They can miss spotting things they are not expecting to see. They don’t travel with a fully open mind expecting to see anything. That can change depending on where they are, and what they are used to seeing.

For instance, a dad with young kids who go about on scooters might be looking out for kids on scooters at every intersection, whereas someone who has no kids and knows no one who rides a scooter might not. Thus, if one does pop up, they may be more likely to drive straight into them than the dad who was expecting they might see them.

Motorcyclists are often a victim of driver’s inattentional blindness. Many drivers have never ridden a motorcycle in their lives, so when they drive, they are looking out for other cars, not motorcycles. They may look straight past, and hit a motorcyclist who sets off across their path, despite the motorcyclist having indicated and behaved appropriately.

Getting legal help to understand why a crash occurred may help you to get the compensation you need.

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