Failing to spot the second hazard.

[Bennet]

I often recognise a potential or developing hazard and as a result of watching it and planning for it, fail to see a second hazard developing until several seconds after the point when I should have been reacting to or planning for that second one as well.

Are there any recognised techniques to counter this tendency, other than just trying to be mindful of it?

[Reg Local]

Bennet said:

I often recognise a potential or developing hazard and as a result of watching it and planning for it, fail to see a second hazard developing until several seconds after the point when I should have been reacting to or planning for that second one as well.

Are there any recognised techniques to counter this tendency, other than just trying to be mindful of it?

You've identified the issue yourself - I've highlighted it for you above.

It's a common issue for many drivers - you're scanning ahead, but when you see the developing primary hazard, your scanning process stops and you focus solely on the developing hazard.

The trick is to keep your eyes moving. Look at the primary hazard, scan the rest of the road area & check your mirrors, look back at the primary hazard, scan around & behind, back to the primary hazard, scan around etc. This sounds long-winded, but can actually be done in a very short space of time.

Keep asking yourself the question "what's next?". When you've identified a hazard and formulated a plan, consider what's next even before you've reached the first hazard.

You'll get it - it just requires a little practice. Getting it wrong won't do you any harm (most of the time anyway!) - recognise your mistake, learn from it and when you see the same situation arising again, try to deal with it differently.

[Adamxck]

'Search satisfaction'

Yay! Ive seen a thing, arent I good! Oh st, a bus!

I can't suggest anything more than Reg has, but it's common enough that it's been given a 'name.'

[TheExcession]

I call it 'target fixation' (target being something that piques your concentration).

I'm struggling with a learner at the moment who focuses all her attention to the car that is just over the line at a junction on the left and so moves out to the right claiming 'it might have pulled out in front of me...' whilst failing to notice the afore mentioned 'bus' coming in the opposite direction.

It's a hard habit to break.

[Bennet]

Thanks, I'll put that in to practice.

[vonhosen]

What's fairly natural for drivers to do is that as they lift their eyes they stop lifting their eyes when they see the first thing of interest ahead & then look at that. Trouble is that first thing is often the closest thing to them & they may be onto it fairly quickly. When they are happy with that thing they start the process again & start to lift their eyes again, but predictably they repeat the pattern & stop lifting at the next thing of interest which again is now the closest thing. Their vision becomes a series of close quarter interactions & driving becomes like reacting to fires & having to put them out (with problems having been looked at once & having to be dealt with almost straight away). You go from one problem to the next with little time to assess accurately.

Try instead to think of utilising your vision in a manner like fly fishing. Instead of lifting your vision & stopping at the first thing, cast your vision over the top of everything to the horizon first and work it back (far to near, instead of near to far). Start as far away as you can & work back to yourself in a scanning fashion. You'll perform that scan in short time & then you prioritise what was within your full field of forward vision. You then check behind (as you should before you cast from the river bank again) & repeat the cast/scan process. In doing this you will have a rolling program of looking at hazards ahead many times before you actually get to the problem, noting how they are changing as you make your way to them.

Far better to have scanned and looked at a potential problem perhaps half a dozen times on your journey to it than once & then just having to deal with it. Your vision & scans become far more encompassing, taking in a far fuller picture of your surroundings & how they are changing as you move towards the horizon. Using your eyes in this way naturally results in them moving rather than fixating & you don't want to fixate because it reduces/narrows down your peripheral vision.

[Digga]

vonhosen said:

What's fairly natural for drivers to do is that as they lift their eyes they stop lifting their eyes when they see the first thing of interest ahead & then look at that.

Had a timely reminder of this on the way into the office earlier this week.

Approaching a blind right hand corner, I saw 'something' ahead - on pavement or at edge of road - on the left. Mr conscious brain focused on it and, while I was going through the "is it a pedestrian or a cyclist" thing and calculating that I'd be able to slow down and pass it, I realised it was a deer. It was almost counter-intuitive to begin scanning again, rather than remain fixed on the object, but subconsciously I knew it was a deer, I knew it was unlikely to be alone and, sure enough, as I hit the brakes another ran out, right to left, closely followed by a third. I'd have likely hit at least one if I'd remained focused on the first animal.