Practice finding a scanning rhythm

[Motofool]

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/fe...a_trained_eye/

"Practice finding a scanning rhythm before you even get on your bike. You can set a rhythm using your heartbeat or pulse rate as a timer for each shift of your eyes.
1) Move your eyes and refocus at another location in time with each beat.
2) Linger on the object just long enough to access your peripheral view. Even though our peripheral field is always alive, it takes a little internal “mental nudge” to switch it on. Don’t try to identify details, just have an awareness of it.
3) Once the wide view fills in, move on to the next object, and the next, etc.
You can also refocus every two heartbeats to find the scope of what seems to give an optimum rate of eye movement and wide-view access. That establishes your optimum resting scan rate. When driving or riding, use that same rhythm as best you can.

Consciously look ahead and consecutively spot objects to the right, left and straight ahead of you: painted lines, parked cars, telephone poles, discolorations on the road’s surface—anything that catches the eye. Don’t make this complicated; just look forward and think “there, there, there” as you sequentially choose objects that border the space you are in. Once you’ve got something spotted, linger on it just long enough to allow your peripheral awareness to open up.

Overly rapid eye movements defeat the purpose of doing the exercise—it isn’t a contest to see how many places you can locate per second. Just move on to the next one in a leisurely manner. Find a timing for your eye movements that suits you." - Keith Code

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/fe...us_code_break/

"Researching it, I discovered that the average human will move his eyes to about 20 degrees off-center horizontally before automatically turning his head in that direction. We have a comfort zone of about 40 degrees side-to-side with eye-only movement. That is a little less than 25 percent of our field of view. So perhaps the professional racer has learned to lead with his head to neutralize hitting that no-go zone response.

Within our field of view, which is about 170 degrees, we only have about 2 degrees of ultra-sharp focus area (known as “foveal vision”). That’s about a pinky nail’s width at arm’s length. We have another 10 degrees that is good but not as sharp. Visual acuity and detail fall off rapidly from there into our peripheral field, which is the remaining 158 degrees. While peripheral vision provides poor detail, it is very good at sensing movement." - Keith Code

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Don’t try to identify details

when i was new to maneuvering in traffic this was one of the things i didn't know. it takes a good second and a half to two seconds to identify something in your mind. but you don't need to be looking at it that long for the process to continue. checking blind spot during a lane change for example... a quick glance, come back... once it processes, another quick glance to make sure you accurately checked speeds of other vehicles and then go. what i used to do was look, keep looking until everything processed, then come back to normal view and continue. bad idea, you are basically blind for 2 seconds. a lot can happen in 2 seconds.

[Joshorilla]

While that all sounds lovely i'm sure, it's nothing we don't do as humans naturally.

Until we come complacant, and the element of danger has gone, hence why most crashes occur within a close proximity of your home.

To me that reads as stupidly as "try and blink on straights only keeping your eyes open in curves" no need, just let your eyes do what they've evolved to do and don't mess with it!

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

While that all sounds lovely i'm sure, it's nothing we don't do as humans naturally.

Until we come complacant, and the element of danger has gone, hence why most crashes occur within a close proximity of your home.

To me that reads as stupidly as "try and blink on straights only keeping your eyes open in curves" no need, just let your eyes do what they've evolved to do and don't mess with it!

i disagree with everything you have said in this post. ever heard of "target lock"? or "target fixation"?

[Joshorilla]

Ok.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by alex.s

i disagree with everything you have said in this post. ever heard of "target lock"? or "target fixation"?

+1

When I start drifting or not paying attention I find that talking to myself helps keep my scan going.

I see you minivan making a right hand turn...time to smidsy... Look at the oncoming traffic who is trying to go left....eyes up.... Look for gravel....

[Trailerboy531]

Originally Posted by alex.s

when i was new to maneuvering in traffic this was one of the things i didn't know. it takes a good second and a half to two seconds to identify something in your mind. but you don't need to be looking at it that long for the process to continue. checking blind spot during a lane change for example... a quick glance, come back... once it processes, another quick glance to make sure you accurately checked speeds of other vehicles and then go. what i used to do was look, keep looking until everything processed, then come back to normal view and continue. bad idea, you are basically blind for 2 seconds. a lot can happen in 2 seconds.

Smart man right here.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by Trailerboy531

Smart man right here.

Indeed he is !!!

[alex.s]

ohhh thhtop it!

[JeffM]

Motofool.

Over the last year or two, I have been honing my peripheral skills to place an additional tool in my riding toolbox (next to scanning). Scanning as mentioned, with the addition of looking as widely as possible (soft focus) really slows down the visual perception of speed and lowers my mental workload while riding. Also, my scanning tends to go from way out front, back to in close, then back to very wide and soft focus. All this in and out scanning is based on the situation. Intersections are scanned differently than say a flowing mountain road.

It's kind of a Zen thing - slowing the visual perception of speed allows for more soft scanning which, in turn, allows me to see a much bigger picture.

I learned this soft focus thing years ago as a skier. If you focus right in front of your skis your legs typically do not react to the terrain and you fall. Soft focus down the hill with a relaxed body and the hill flowed to you. Same with riding.

Good stuff

Jeff

[NathanUc]

Originally Posted by Motofool

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/fe...a_trained_eye/

"Practice finding a scanning rhythm before you even get on your bike. You can set a rhythm using your heartbeat or pulse rate as a timer for each shift of your eyes.
1) Move your eyes and refocus at another location in time with each beat.
2) Linger on the object just long enough to access your peripheral view. Even though our peripheral field is always alive, it takes a little internal “mental nudge” to switch it on. Don’t try to identify details, just have an awareness of it.
3) Once the wide view fills in, move on to the next object, and the next, etc.
You can also refocus every two heartbeats to find the scope of what seems to give an optimum rate of eye movement and wide-view access. That establishes your optimum resting scan rate. When driving or riding, use that same rhythm as best you can.

Consciously look ahead and consecutively spot objects to the right, left and straight ahead of you: painted lines, parked cars, telephone poles, discolorations on the road’s surface—anything that catches the eye. Don’t make this complicated; just look forward and think “there, there, there” as you sequentially choose objects that border the space you are in. Once you’ve got something spotted, linger on it just long enough to allow your peripheral awareness to open up.

Overly rapid eye movements defeat the purpose of doing the exercise—it isn’t a contest to see how many places you can locate per second. Just move on to the next one in a leisurely manner. Find a timing for your eye movements that suits you." - Keith Code

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/fe...us_code_break/

"Researching it, I discovered that the average human will move his eyes to about 20 degrees off-center horizontally before automatically turning his head in that direction. We have a comfort zone of about 40 degrees side-to-side with eye-only movement. That is a little less than 25 percent of our field of view. So perhaps the professional racer has learned to lead with his head to neutralize hitting that no-go zone response.

Within our field of view, which is about 170 degrees, we only have about 2 degrees of ultra-sharp focus area (known as “foveal vision”). That’s about a pinky nail’s width at arm’s length. We have another 10 degrees that is good but not as sharp. Visual acuity and detail fall off rapidly from there into our peripheral field, which is the remaining 158 degrees. While peripheral vision provides poor detail, it is very good at sensing movement." - Keith Code

EDIT: Oops. Misread.

Keith's the man. I read a similar article from him in Motorcycle Nation (I think that's the magazine I get?). Tips like this can really save people and their bikes. I wish more of these tips were gone over during the MSF course rather than repeating things from the written test.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by NathanUc

EDIT: Oops. Misread.

Keith's the man..........I wish more of these tips were gone over during the MSF course rather than repeating things from the written test.

Nathan,

I agree that he has researched and communicated much on performing and safe motorcycling.
Many great riders have taught others, but his main credit is to have written so much since the 60's for the generations to come.

It seems that not all the MSF basic courses are alike.
I was lucky enough to have a young instructor who was both an active racer and daily commuter, dedicating a lot of time to teach us all his own practical experiences.

http://msf-usa.org/downloads/Street_..._Tips_2010.pdf

That instructor went beyond his duty and introduced us to a vital and forgotten road survival skill: quick steering.
It is actually a complement to proper scanning: how good is to spot trouble if a proper reaction does not follow?
I love how the technique has worked for me, reason for which I post this link so frequently:

http://forums.superbikeschool.com/in...?showtopic=109

"Can you steer your bike as quickly as you can a car? What does quick turning your bike have to do with your safety? How quick can it be done? Where can you practice it?" - Keith Code

[Motofool]