Many drivers who hit motorcyclists had no idea that they were about to be involved in a collision. They just didn’t see the motorcycle at all, and that’s why they ran into the bike.
One reason for this is that bikes can just be a little harder to see than other vehicles. They are much smaller than cars and pickup trucks. Many riders have black or dark gray bikes, which tend to blend into the road and the background. A small bike traveling at a high rate of speed is simply going to be difficult for a driver to see, so they may not realize it’s there.
Inattentional blindness
But a bigger issue is known as inattentional blindness, where drivers do look at motorcycles – but they just don’t see them.
The issue is with the way that the human eye works. It is constantly moving around and gathering details. These are then compiled into a big picture, helping you see the world around you. But you’re not necessarily looking at all of those details at all times, so your brain simply fills in the gaps with relevant information.
This can be problematic, though, because the brain often fills in those gaps with the things that you expect to see. So a driver may only expect to see passenger cars, and they could look in the direction of a motorcycle without actually registering that is coming toward them. Just because they looked at it doesn’t mean that they actually saw it, in the sense that the information was not correctly processed by their brain.
This does not excuse motorcycle accidents, however. Drivers need to take the time to make sure they know what they’re seeing and that they are operating their vehicles safely. If a negligent driver causes an accident and you suffer injuries, you may be able to seek compensation.