Avoiding danger on the road…it all depends upon how you look at it

Years ago, when riding on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New York, I thought I saw an accident occurring about ten car lengths ahead. I could not describe what was actually happening up there because a few cars blocked my view. But, I could see auto rooftops suddenly moving erratically.

I anticipated that the drivers in front of me would soon react if an accident had occurred, so I quickly pulled to the side of the road to get away from them.

Moments later, drivers began to jam on their breaks and swerve left and right to avoid hitting each other as well as the two vehicles that had already collided. Luckily, I had separated myself from the action.

In that instance, my habit of systematically scanning the road far ahead as well as in close enabled me to anticipate and avoid a serious mishap.

Un-focus your eyes and take in the big picture

Recently I read how skilled hunters and trackers train themselves to expand their field of view and extend their point of focus to take in the widest possible swath of area in their path. They use their entire peripheral vision to spot even the tiniest motions.

When they do sense motion, they focus on it to identify the source.

My friend Jay, a motorcycle rider and former combat soldier, explained to me how he put this technique to work. "I learned it as a kid while hunting with my dad, but it really came in handy in Vietnam," Jay says.

"Not only can you learn to spot movement, but you can train your eyes to recognize unnaturally appearing objects. In Vietnam, for instance, dried leaves or leaves facing the wrong way would alert me that someone might have arranged cut branches to hide something dangerous.

"When I'm riding my motorcycle and I see skid marks that disappear around a curve, it alerts me to a possible hazard ahead -- perhaps an unusually tight bend in the road or a dangerous change in the road surface. Shadows in the road could indicate a pothole, a puddle, dead animal or some other obstruction in my lane.

"I know this ability to spot inconsistencies, anomalies and objects out of place kept me alive a couple of times in Vietnam, and I'm sure several more times on the road."

Focus away from danger to avoid "target fixation."

Surprisingly, however, if you do spot something dangerous in the road ahead, it is vital that you do not focus on it to the extent that a phenomenon called "target fixation" takes over your actions.

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