Peripheral "Wide Screen" Vision
Discussion
Something I've been trying to work on is use of peripheral vision.
The idea being that good use of peripheral vision may allow quicker and more detailed visual processing and require less movement of the eyes.
A lot of drivers appear to have tunnel vision.
I've always noticed unusual things (not necessarily just road-related) that others don't as I'm driving along, so I must have reasonable peripheral vision and observation (and I'm quite inquisitive). The difficult part is maintaining the wide view whilst negotiating hazards.
Would people regard themselves as good at this?
So, can anybody here read a newspaper at the extreme left and watch Top Gear at the extreme right simultaneously...whilst driving a car safely through town?
The idea being that good use of peripheral vision may allow quicker and more detailed visual processing and require less movement of the eyes.
A lot of drivers appear to have tunnel vision.
I've always noticed unusual things (not necessarily just road-related) that others don't as I'm driving along, so I must have reasonable peripheral vision and observation (and I'm quite inquisitive). The difficult part is maintaining the wide view whilst negotiating hazards.
Would people regard themselves as good at this?
So, can anybody here read a newspaper at the extreme left and watch Top Gear at the extreme right simultaneously...whilst driving a car safely through town?
OK. Some things to know about human vision.
It's horribly blurry. Everywhere. Except one little spot in the centre of the retina called the Fovea where it is, if all is well, razor sharp.
As your vision scans around your brain composits the information into the generally sharp image you see. Whilst doing this it can make mistakes - hence optical illusions and simply not "seeing" something obvious to others. That movie with the bloke in the gorilla suit is an excellent example.
So what's to do?
Roadcraft outlines a technique called scanning. At it's least formal level this is merely bouncing your vision around to ensure you collect ALL the information available out the windscreen of your car. By doing this you are trying to avoid seeing that which you expect to see and to actually see what is there and also to raise your vision as far toward the horizon as possible to give yourself the maximum warning of potential hazards.
Peripheral vision, however, is still damn useful. It may be blurry, it may be useless at judging distances accurately BUT it is FANTASTIC at spotting motion. This is clearly from the time when something might try to sneak up on you from behind and do you harm.
So. Use each for the purpose it's good at:
Peripheral vision will help provide warning of unexpected movement to the sides.
For accurate distance estimation and planning you need the sharp vision of the centre of the eye (fovea) so look deliberately around using the scanning technique.
HTH
It's horribly blurry. Everywhere. Except one little spot in the centre of the retina called the Fovea where it is, if all is well, razor sharp.
As your vision scans around your brain composits the information into the generally sharp image you see. Whilst doing this it can make mistakes - hence optical illusions and simply not "seeing" something obvious to others. That movie with the bloke in the gorilla suit is an excellent example.
So what's to do?
Roadcraft outlines a technique called scanning. At it's least formal level this is merely bouncing your vision around to ensure you collect ALL the information available out the windscreen of your car. By doing this you are trying to avoid seeing that which you expect to see and to actually see what is there and also to raise your vision as far toward the horizon as possible to give yourself the maximum warning of potential hazards.
Peripheral vision, however, is still damn useful. It may be blurry, it may be useless at judging distances accurately BUT it is FANTASTIC at spotting motion. This is clearly from the time when something might try to sneak up on you from behind and do you harm.
So. Use each for the purpose it's good at:
Peripheral vision will help provide warning of unexpected movement to the sides.
For accurate distance estimation and planning you need the sharp vision of the centre of the eye (fovea) so look deliberately around using the scanning technique.
HTH
MC Bodge said:
A lot of drivers appear to have tunnel vision.
They have this because they are not scanning. So they see that which they expect to see. Often people stop scanning because they are thinking about something else (daydreaming instead of concentrating) and then they also compound this with forgetting to check the mirrors.
Don said:
Peripheral vision will help provide warning of unexpected movement to the sides.
For accurate distance estimation and planning you need the sharp vision of the centre of the eye (fovea) so look deliberately around using the scanning technique.
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.For accurate distance estimation and planning you need the sharp vision of the centre of the eye (fovea) so look deliberately around using the scanning technique.
Something I have trouble with - I tend to focus in at the kerb/road edge.
Vaux said:
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.
That's interesting, I've always done this naturally, with occasional checks of 'main' vision to make sure my peripheral vision is right. james_gt3rs said:
Vaux said:
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.
That's interesting, I've always done this naturally, with occasional checks of 'main' vision to make sure my peripheral vision is right. I have to work at it.......
My problem with peripheral vision is that I do so much driving at night that I get out of the habit of checking the mirrors properly 
too easy to rely on peripheral vision to spot the lights in the mirror without actually looking at it, and unfortunately that doesn't work in the daytime...
Definitely, what with bikes being so much more inclined than cars to respond to your thoughts and head for what you're looking at.
It's hard work though.
too easy to rely on peripheral vision to spot the lights in the mirror without actually looking at it, and unfortunately that doesn't work in the daytime...MC Bodge said:
Vaux said:
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.
That's something I try to do. Especially useful on a motorbike.It's hard work though.
james_gt3rs said:
Vaux said:
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.
That's interesting, I've always done this naturally, with occasional checks of 'main' vision to make sure my peripheral vision is right. My 2p is that some people have natural 'situational awareness', some develop techniques to achieve the same aim, and a lot of people don't have a clue...
havoc said:
james_gt3rs said:
Vaux said:
Some good drivers I have been out with also use peripheral vision for maintaining their position in a bend, while keeping their "main" vision well up through the bend.
That's interesting, I've always done this naturally, with occasional checks of 'main' vision to make sure my peripheral vision is right. My 2p is that some people have natural 'situational awareness', some develop techniques to achieve the same aim, and a lot of people don't have a clue...
Scanning is only something I have recently started to pick up but not one that I do very often if I am honest. I am not in the habit of it yet, but am working on it.
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