There’s an odd thing that can happen when someone is driving, where they won’t see a vehicle that is clearly in their line of sight. A common example of this is when someone in a car is waiting for a gap in traffic to make a turn. They may look to their left, where a motorcycle is approaching them, and then turn right in front of the bike.
Often, these drivers will simply state that they didn’t see the motorcycle. This happens despite the fact that they looked directly at it before crashing into it. The issue is known as inattentional blindness, and it involves the way that the human brain sorts and filters information.
Deciding what is important
Essentially, the brain has to work through an incredible amount of information every second. Even when someone is just looking around a room, their brain is taking in a ton of details relating to sights, sounds, smells and much more.
If a person was directly exposed to all of these details, it would be overwhelming. The brain only has so much processing power. To get around this, it tries to identify things that are important and filter out the things that are not.
One side effect of this is that people tend to see the things that they expect to see. If someone looks to the left, expecting to see either a passenger car or a pickup truck, but there is only a motorcycle present, their brain may actually filter it out. It doesn’t register, especially if the person just makes a quick glance to that side. They honestly believe that the road is open and that it’s safe to turn.
This is why it’s important for drivers to go slowly and be attentive, taking an extra second to really take in their surroundings. This gives the brain a chance to catch up and process all of the information. But many drivers don’t, and they can cause severe accidents as a result. Those who have suffered injuries need to know how to seek financial compensation.