Moving Camouflage

[Motofool]

Have no headlight modulator?

This is another way to make yourself visible:

Link to original page on YouTube.

Caveat: Both methods only work for car drivers that do try to see you.

[kaiserz]

Nice! I didn't even know that there's a name for this technique. I do this all the time. I've seen one guy do this once (I was riding my car then) And he was very visible when he did that, he definitely got my attention. And now I'm copying his technique to be much more visible.

[csmith12]

Great video find Motofool! Learn something new every day.

[Motofool]

SMIDSY: "Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You"

This a complementary study:

http://www.network.mag-uk.org/smidsy...oo%20Close.pdf

SMIDSY Avoidance and Evasion Strategies
"Duncan MacKillop is a Motorcycle Trainer and is also an aviation pilot. As a victim of SMIDSYs, he has
carried out research over the last ten years to understand the reasons for this type of accident and to
find solutions for motorcyclists through avoidance and evasion techniques. His research considers the
phenomena of ‘looming’ and ‘motion camouflage’."

[Alex]

I really like this link on motion-induced blindness on the MSF site. It clearly shows how easy it is for a driver to completely miss seeing us, and cements the point about how it's our responsibility to be aware of that fact.

http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html

[Motofool]

The dots really disappear!

Changed dots' size, grid speed and background color, and they still disappeared

Great experiment, Alex; thanks

[Motofool]

Good paper and deep study, Trixter; thanks

[JeffM]

I use the SMIDSY weave all the time and I have had it stop left turners in their tracks. A good arrow to have in your safety quiver.

Jeff

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by JeffM

I use the SMIDSY weave all the time and I have had it stop left turners in their tracks. A good arrow to have in your safety quiver.

Jeff

word!

Doing this has already saved me twice. It's harder at faster speeds though.

[JeffM]

Originally Posted by csmith12

word!

Doing this has already saved me twice. It's harder at faster speeds though.

You could always try something like this. For sure it will get the attention of those sleepy, cell phone yakking, cagers :

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by trixter

Its more fun then Depending on what you mean at "faster speeds" I do this at 50-55 or so when I get bored stuck behind someone. The roads I take have very few places to safely pass so if I am stuck behind someone I am stuck. I tend to just roll back and forth out of boredom. Just little presses on the bars doing a slalom in about 2-3 times the road my tires would normally use. I cant do this for very long because there are very few straight enough spots and I cant do it in a turn.

Yea, I am just saying that @ 55+ you can't expose more of the side of your bike/rider to the cage turning.

I am with you on the boredom part.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by JeffM

You could always try something like this. For sure it will get the attention of those sleepy, cell phone yakking, cagers :

lol, that is now on my list as a last resort, and already set up to fly over the bars. "An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

[Whiskey]

Well even if they do see you they may still pull out, kill you, admit it in court and be let off, just like this oxygen thief http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...306445993.html

She admitted that the weather was so bad that she "couldn't see anything in the distance", that she looked once in each direction "saw a single light on a sweeping bend", pulled out regardless and killed a biker.

(If you couldn't see anything in the distance, but saw the bike's lights it must have been close... pull out in front of it was the logical choice for the thick bitch, pity it wasn't an artic (semi) truck with a blown bulb)

She was unanimously acquitted by the jury & the judge was quoted as saying : “I wholeheartedly agree with the verdict”. Scary precedent to set.

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by trixter

You can kill travelers (Irish gypsies) when they walk on your property (Galway area case about 2007-2008). Somehow the US is the blood thirsty kill em all country though.

Sligo, Padraig Nally, (a national hero) shot John 'frog' Ward who was in the process of breaking into his farm, having threatened him on many occasions.

The travellers are well known for being absolute filth, they rob old people in their own homes, leaving them beaten & tied up until they're found (alive or dead, it doesn't matter to them)

The travellers are also known for metal theft, stealing copper wire & pipes from houses left un-occupied while the owners are on holiday, they have been known to do the backup generators from hospitals on occasion Case 1. And for running white slavery rings see
case 1, Case 2

They have obscene amounts of money (surprising as they claim that they are unemployable due to the institutionalised racism of the Irish, so live on social welfare, and anyone who complains about this is also a racist) google 'my big fat gypsy wedding channel 4' to see what I'm talking about.

On top of that general scumbag behaviour, robbing high powered cars & motorbikes for chop shop & export, drug import & dealing

not to mention incest, they are themselves crimes against nature, I can't go into too much detail here but trying to sort a traveller's genetic pedigree in a clinical setting is like trying to unravel the ball of xmas lights in the attic

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by trixter

Dont have to google that all went down when I was living in Cork :P

Ah well then I probably wasted a fair bit of time telling you what you already know about the knackers...

And if it had happened in TX it may have made a line in the local paper, like this

burglar with 80 previous convictions shot dead...



Gas reaches $3.50 a gallon!

Altho in the states anyone with 80 previous convictions would be serving a life sentence, or for that matter anyone who attempted to assault police with a bladed weapon would have 2 in the chest & 1 in the head for their trouble

[gfloyd2002]

Bump. A must watch for any rider.

[dooby]

(remembering that we Brits drive on the left)

Bit of a bump - I was riding along a single carriageway 60mph road the other day, behind a car. The car indicated and took the short exit slip to make a 90 degree left into a side road.

Waiting to turn right (i.e. across me then towards me) at that junction was a small truck. I had seen him, but I wasn't sure he'd seen me so as the car moved left to reveal me I SMIDSY'd. At this point I am a max of 110m away from the truck and probably doing ~50mph. The truck started to move out then stopped with its front wheels entirely past the Give Way line. The driver angrily shouted something (no idea what) and violently wagged his index finger at me in the "don't you do that" kind of way.

I have not seen aggression from someone when doing a SMIDSY before. Thoughts?

Cheers, Pete

[EternalNewb]

Originally Posted by dooby

I have not seen aggression from someone when doing a SMIDSY before. Thoughts?

I've had that happen over here in the US, where I SMIDSY and drivers get upset. Sometimes it's a waving hand and angry yelling, sometimes it's wagging a finger, sometimes it's a head shake. I've also had people around and behind me back off when I SMIDSY, then get all in a huff when they pull up near me at an intersection.

From what I can gather, drivers sometimes get miffed because they think we're being reckless or goofing off when we SMIDSY, as if we're treating the street like a playground and are about to start stunting or something. I once had the redlight conversation of,

"Yeah, we know you're riding a motorcycle. You don't need to be an ass about it."
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. But did you see me before I did?"
"No."
"That's the reason I did it."

This from someone who was making a left, then made a U-turn to chase and yell at me.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by dooby

.......... Waiting to turn right (i.e. across me then towards me) at that junction was a small truck. I had seen him, but I wasn't sure he'd seen me so as the car moved left to reveal me I SMIDSY'd ............

I have not seen aggression from someone when doing a SMIDSY before. Thoughts?

Cheers, Pete

Bad attention is better than none.

[spooph]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Bad attention is better than none.

Bingo!

Had a guy pull in front of me on a highway the other night. I saw him and had plenty of time and space to react. Instead I decided not to, having 2 other lanes to my left to escape to if I had, us 2 being the only headlights in sight distance... So I just kept going straight and passed him on the left, almost in his lane to show him how close that could have been...

To be clear. He stopped, then rolled forward, then stopped again, and then pulled out in front of me, probably thinking I was further away than I was.

I realize I was being a dick. I could easily have pulled over and given the driver the right lane, but I also believe that education opportunities should never be wasted.

[Rifleman]

Perhaps it's bad, but one technique i've used in the past when seeing a "creeper" (that is someone at an intersection who keeps creeping forward) is to pull in the clutch and wup on the back brake... the performance tiers on the TLR really howl when they are warm and forced to slide...

eyeballs big as saucers when the realize they have been looking right through you, I watch their eyes. If they aren't looking at you, they don't see you. be ready, the fecal material... is approaching the air propulsion device.

[capt_bugaloo]

I found this picture very interesting. It is part of an argument that daytime running lights can actually camoflage a motorcycle in certain situations.

I've been doing a "SMIDSY" or lateral weave when approaching intersections with possible left turn bandits since maybe the mid 1990s. I've found it works well: sometimes I see someone getting ready to pull across the intersection or turn out from a sidestreet, I do the weave, and they lurch to a stop as though surprised.

I've never seen anyone get angry or aggressive afterwards. If they did, oh well; obviously they didn't see me or it wouldn't have surprised them.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

Perhaps it's bad, but one technique i've used in the past when seeing a "creeper" (that is someone at an intersection who keeps creeping forward) is to pull in the clutch and wup on the back brake... the performance tiers on the TLR really howl when they are warm and forced to slide...

eyeballs big as saucers when the realize they have been looking right through you, I watch their eyes. If they aren't looking at you, they don't see you. be ready, the fecal material... is approaching the air propulsion device.

horns serve the same purpose, although... I see your point. The sound of a squealing tires automatically puts the brain on alert.

[NDspd]

I weave around all the time or flash my brights...the weaving though really works in low light to inner city environments.

[InvisiBill]

The MSF page for motion-induced blindness isn't there anymore. http://michaelbach.de/ot/mot-mib/ is the same illusion on the original creator's page. It's even a slightly newer version that's a little more intuitive to play with.

I have a tendency to weave around a bit anytime I think someone might not be seeing me when they should. Like trixter said, it can even liven up boring straight stretches a bit too.

Another thing that can help your visibility is using additional lights to make your bike look bigger. It's easier to misjudge the distance and speed of a single headlight, since there's little frame of reference. Making a triangle of lights, as used on locomotives, helps provide some reference as to how fast you're approaching. There's also the simple fact that more lights simply have a higher probability of being seen (though the motion blindness applet shows that even multiple points can "disappear").

One more tip for spotting the creepers about to pull out in front of you is to watch the wheels of the car rather than the body. It can be hard to tell if the body is moving forward an inch or two, but the rotation of the wheels should be more obvious.

[Road Dawg1]

Just learning to ride at 48 years old, so dumb newb questions are my specialty.

What about additional flashing lights visible from in front of the bike? I'm thinking colored LEDs, maybe in a pattern to help register to the brain "something is moving this way.

Your power draw would be less than a headlight and LED systems are always getting cheaper and cheaper.

I will add this SMIDSY technique to my bag.

[Brian]

Funny old guy with British accent ✔ Check
Cheesy and unnecessary titles and transitions ✔ Check
Filmed with a calculator ✔ Check


But seriously this technique is great, and he brings up a lot of good points. I'm always looking for more ways to get riders to pay more attention to me, even if it includes throttling loudly. My exhaust has saved me plenty of times around the city, when people hear me behind them I watch the driver immediately check all their mirrors to see where I am. Ears > eyes.

Thanks for the bump!



Edit: Ears > Eyes a lot of the time. When I effectively see every driver / passenger turn their heads to scan for me when I'm far down the road it's a good sign that I'm making my presence noticeable. I'm happy to say that even though I've only been riding for a few months, I live in a crowded city, AC / windows up weather and I have yet to be cut off or have someone jump into my lane with out seeing me once. I'm sure it's not just because I'm practicing safe riding, but because I'm making myself more aware on the road for others.

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by Road Dawg1

What about additional flashing lights visible from in front of the bike? I'm thinking colored LEDs, maybe in a pattern to help register to the brain "something is moving this way.

Be careful with colored and/or flashing lights. There are usually laws against that sort of thing to avoid confusion with emergency vehicles. You really don't want to get pulled over because someone thinks you're trying to impersonate a cop...

[ally99]

Great video Hernan! This is good validation for something I have always done while riding on the street. Our job as a rider is to BE SEEN, but ride like we're invisible to everyone anyway.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by ally99

Great video Hernan! This is good validation for something I have always done while riding on the street. Our job as a rider is to BE SEEN, but ride like we're invisible to everyone anyway.

Thanks, Alison

During the last weeks and while driving in town for work, I have been trying the waving with my Company's car, for which they request to keep the headlights on.

It has amazed me how well the technique works for cars as well.
You don't need to do a dramatic swerving to immediately stop a big truck driven by a bully driver resolved to invade your right of path.

There is something in the unexpected slightest lateral deviation of the headlights beam that spooks this type of drivers, I guess.

[Worldtraveller]

Originally Posted by EternalNewb

I've had that happen over here in the US, where I SMIDSY and drivers get upset. Sometimes it's a waving hand and angry yelling, sometimes it's wagging a finger, sometimes it's a head shake. I've also had people around and behind me back off when I SMIDSY, then get all in a huff when they pull up near me at an intersection.

From what I can gather, drivers sometimes get miffed because they think we're being reckless or goofing off when we SMIDSY, as if we're treating the street like a playground and are about to start stunting or something. I once had the redlight conversation of,

"Yeah, we know you're riding a motorcycle. You don't need to be an ass about it."
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. But did you see me before I did?"
"No."
"That's the reason I did it."

This from someone who was making a left, then made a U-turn to chase and yell at me.

Ya can't fix stupid (but at least you can help protect yourself from it!).

[Motofool]

[DSomething]

This is great and something my MsF instructor actually told us during the course. Although, it was more like an after thought type comment but for some reason it really stuck in my head.

That being said, I was riding in a car with my mom down a major street and a rider did start swerving in their own lane. My mom turned to me and said, "if you ever ride like that I don't want to know". Mind you, I'm 40. However, I then turned to her and said, "but you noticed him, right?" She then realized what the rider's point was

D.

[crazymadbastard]

never miss an opportunity to practice your swerve!

[NDspd]

I do this all the time...

[LittleRedNinjette]

^^ Me too.

[snapshot]

Bumping this to the top because everyone needs to know it and it really does work!

Summer's coming!

Ride on,

J~