Spidey Sense.

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
Post Reply
kwackers
Posts: 15643
Joined: 4 Jun 2008, 9:29pm
Location: Warrington

Spidey Sense.

Post by kwackers »

Saved by my spidey sense this morning as I'm cycling around a single lane roundabout and decided the bus approaching wasn't going to stop.
It didn't, the bus driver looked fairly alarmed though when he looked to his right as he passed and saw me stopped a couple of feet away.

I'm really going to have to get my camera set up again...
User avatar
Si
Moderator
Posts: 15191
Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 7:37pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by Si »

and your airzound?
kwackers
Posts: 15643
Joined: 4 Jun 2008, 9:29pm
Location: Warrington

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by kwackers »

Si wrote:and your airzound?

I've got a 'dink, dink' bell. I must admit to not trying it... ;)
old_windbag
Posts: 1869
Joined: 19 Feb 2015, 3:55pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by old_windbag »

Actually it can sometimes be simply bad timing rather than bad driving. I once approached a roundabout where I lived, in my car, as I was turning left it was only when at an acute angle did I see the cyclist who clearly could see me. Accident averted, but the cause was simply the A-pillar blind spot and the timing of both of us, cyclist crossing over roundabout, me approaching it, such that our relative velocities kept him in the blindspot until my angle changed dramatically.

That was in a car with a sleek profile but I've mentioned in the past that the worst car I've ever experienced in that regard was the vauxhall zafira which I've had the misfortune to have as a hire car multiple times. Not good.
kwackers
Posts: 15643
Joined: 4 Jun 2008, 9:29pm
Location: Warrington

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by kwackers »

old_windbag wrote:Actually it can sometimes be simply bad timing rather than bad driving.

TBH, I think that's what triggered my spidey sense. I reckon something inside my brain registered that he was hidden by the pillar and couldn't see me.

So perhaps being 1 second earlier rather than the horrific death I'd supposed would have meant he'd have happily pulled up and all would have been well with the world...
irc
Posts: 5192
Joined: 3 Dec 2008, 2:22pm
Location: glasgow

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by irc »

The old spidey sense is a funny thing. I was driving a while back and saw a car waiting at a give way on the left. Without any conscious though I KNEW she was going to pull out in front of me. I braked, not a full emergency stop but more than a casual tap of the pedal. She saw me after she had pulled out and was crossing my lane.

I can't say why I knew she was pulling out. Maybe she was only looking the other way? But if I braked for every driver who wasn't looking my direction I'd be doing it every other day. Maybe her wheels had started to turn a fraction? Maybe because she was an very elderly female? Maybe some combination of factors.

I wasn't even annoyed with her pulling out. We all make mistakes. The annoying thing was even when she looked at me and surely say I was at a near stop to avoid her she looked right through me and didn't acknowledge her mistake in any way.

The spidey sense is I think why some people in all walks of life including cycling are more accident prone than others. Though pointing out mistakes or ways a crash could have been avoided risks being accused of just seeing it with hindsight.
old_windbag
Posts: 1869
Joined: 19 Feb 2015, 3:55pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by old_windbag »

Yes but think of the person you've killed further down the timing chain from you missing hitting the bus. Those small delays etc cause someone elses timeline to cross the fatal point with something else. I've often wondered how many lives I've affected positively/negatively simply by my commute or daily routine. Every delay I cause to someone puts them in a new position relative to everyone else....... but perhaps therefore we have no choice as the decision is fixed and cannot be altered, that is the timeline we follow.

Actually on the spidey sense side of things I believe our concious thought lags the feedback from direct senses ( a lot of higher level processing before our concious thought gets it ). It may be the fraction of a second prior to your awareness has already triggered the alarm of what is happening.

just some thoughts( obviously delayed a little )
mig
Posts: 2702
Joined: 19 Oct 2011, 9:39pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by mig »

irc wrote:The old spidey sense is a funny thing. I was driving a while back and saw a car waiting at a give way on the left. Without any conscious though I KNEW she was going to pull out in front of me. I braked, not a full emergency stop but more than a casual tap of the pedal. She saw me after she had pulled out and was crossing my lane.

I can't say why I knew she was pulling out. Maybe she was only looking the other way? But if I braked for every driver who wasn't looking my direction I'd be doing it every other day. Maybe her wheels had started to turn a fraction? Maybe because she was an very elderly female? Maybe some combination of factors.

I wasn't even annoyed with her pulling out. We all make mistakes. The annoying thing was even when she looked at me and surely say I was at a near stop to avoid her she looked right through me and didn't acknowledge her mistake in any way.

The spidey sense is I think why some people in all walks of life including cycling are more accident prone than others. Though pointing out mistakes or ways a crash could have been avoided risks being accused of just seeing it with hindsight.


yes it is very odd. somehow i too can predict a daft manoeuvre from a vehicle. i can't quite put my finger on why. maybe i don't want to know as that very knowledge could affect the work that it works. it certainly saves me from harm on a daily basis.
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by Flinders »

I think some of us subconsciously register things that don't fit a pattern we are expecting.
I generally 'know' when a driver is going to pull out of a side road, overtake stupidly, or whatever, long before they actually commit to it, whether I'm driving or cycling. I don't think I have special powers, I just have subconsciously detected a very tiny deviation from the pattern I'd expect of a driver who was not going to do the stupid thing- something in the road positioning, braking speed, or whatever.

I recall walking past some scenery at work in the dark and going into the workshop, suddenly finding myself knowing something was urgently wrong and running back in time to catch a falling 12' flat. No special powers I'm sure, I just must have noticed subconsciously even in the dark that the brace on the flat hadn't been properly weighted, or that it was moving slightly in the draught instead of being rigid.
Whatever it was, it processed itself and got my legs running before I'd even had time to wonder why I was running......

Some people are oblivious to their surroundings and never notice stuff though. :|
jqdsffjdsoge
Posts: 76
Joined: 24 Jun 2013, 9:31am

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by jqdsffjdsoge »

Si wrote:and your airzound?


Are they any good?

I used to have one way back in I dunno, 2001 or something. And my experience was that car drivers are not expecting to hear a 'horn' coming from a bicycle. As such, when I sounded it, they either ignored it or looked away from me, searching for the 'car' that they had missed.

It's like walking past a person with a dog, and hearing a loud 'miaow!' Dogs don't miaow, so no one would look towards the dog owner.
--
Just a bloke
2008 Surly LHT | 2013 Surly LHT | 2014 Genesis Flyer | 2015 Giant Defy Advanced 3
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Most cars I AirZounded just stopped (correctly)
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
User avatar
ArMoRothair
Posts: 351
Joined: 20 Jun 2013, 10:55am
Location: Londinium

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by ArMoRothair »

Flinders wrote:I think some of us subconsciously register things that don't fit a pattern we are expecting.


Subconscious often acts quicker than conscious.

I was overtaken by a black Ford Galaxy a while ago and as it passed me I covered both brake levers, started taking up the slack and was getting ready to do an emergency stop.

As the car innocently carried on its way I started wondering why I'd had such a reaction. If I did that for every car which passes me I'd be permanently on the brakes. Then I remembered Addison Lee use black Galaxies and their depot is at the next left turn which we were approaching that night. My subconscious had already decided this might be an Addison Lee driver heading back to base.
User avatar
ArMoRothair
Posts: 351
Joined: 20 Jun 2013, 10:55am
Location: Londinium

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by ArMoRothair »

jqdsffjdsoge wrote:
I used to have one way back in I dunno, 2001 or something. And my experience was that car drivers are not expecting to hear a 'horn' coming from a bicycle. As such, when I sounded it, they either ignored it or looked away from me, searching for the 'car' that they had missed. .


I had the same experience once or twice, I also had the experience of drivers almost jumping out of their skins which was childishly satisfying.

I gave up using it because I felt that I was looking for trouble and it was just raising my blood pressure, causing confrontations and we all know that eventually confrontations will end badly. I've been resisting getting a camera because of this experience.
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I've only used mine occasionally - but one of those prevented a head on collision between two cars - the one overtaking me through a junction and onto a zebra crossing and the one blindly pulling out of the junction - expecting "their" side of the road to be empty, since there was nothing coming down the hill...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Spidey Sense.

Post by Flinders »

ArMoRothair wrote:
Flinders wrote:I think some of us subconsciously register things that don't fit a pattern we are expecting.


Subconscious often acts quicker than conscious.

I was overtaken by a black Ford Galaxy a while ago and as it passed me I covered both brake levers, started taking up the slack and was getting ready to do an emergency stop.

As the car innocently carried on its way I started wondering why I'd had such a reaction. If I did that for every car which passes me I'd be permanently on the brakes. Then I remembered Addison Lee use black Galaxies and their depot is at the next left turn which we were approaching that night. My subconscious had already decided this might be an Addison Lee driver heading back to base.


It's often just as well we take avoiding action first and think after- better safe than sorry.
Post Reply