How often have you heard people say “the car came out of nowhere!” Quite often at junctions, people who have pulled out and collided with a car or motorbike report not seeing anything before they pulled out, although they stated that they did “look.”
It is essential that you look and especially so at junctions. Blind spots are often the reason why people claim “the car/motorbike came out of nowhere.”
Although having an eye test is very important, everyone will have a blind spot – regardless of how good your vision is, or how often you take an eye test.
Remember – cyclists and motorbikes are harder to see as they are not as wide as cars. This increases the chances of them ending up in your blind spot.
The human eye has a blind spot that lies on the point of the retina where the optic nerve leads back to the brain (around 20 degrees) the retina has no light sensitive cells at this point. To counteract this, the peripheral vision in the other eye will pick up this missing information, and also the brain will infill the missing information with what it expects to see..but not always! This is why these accidents occur.
Overcome Blind Spots:
1. Be aware that they exist!
2. Looking hard – move your head and eyes, don’t just glance.
3. Be aware of tiredness – the brain will take shortcuts in processing information and could fail to pick up on vital information.
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