Many motorcycle accidents are called “looked-but-failed-to-see” (LBFTS) accidents. Some sources claim this is the most common type of motorcycle crash. The driver will claim that they never saw the bike, but it’s clear that they looked directly at it.
There are some cases in which the bike just blends into the background or is hidden by another vehicle. But in many of these instances, the driver’s brain just doesn’t register that the motorcycle exists. They do look at the bike, but they honestly do not see it. How could this occur?
Inattentional blindness
This is the issue known as inattentional blindness, and it has to do with what people expect to see.
Essentially, as you look around, your brain pieces together all of the information that it is processing. But this is an incredible amount of work, and the brain has been conditioned to expect certain things. It will try to fill in the gaps with things that it expects, and it may ignore things that are unexpected.
In other words, a driver may look left and right before pulling out of their driveway, checking for cross traffic. But if they are only expecting to see cars and trucks, it is likely that they will look at a motorcycle without registering that it is approaching. They will then pull out in front of it, on what they think is an empty road, and the collision will be inevitable.
Have you been injured in a motorcycle accident that another driver caused? If so, you need to know how to seek financial compensation for medical bills and more.