Motorcycle Target Fixation - What is Target Fixation and How to Avoid Target Fixation
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Target fixation is one of the main causes of single vehicle motorcycle crashes and fatalities among new riders. In this video, we'll look at three examples of target fixation and then provide suggestions on how to avoid it. With special thanks to Cody C for providing permission to use his video and Car Crash Can Man for making his video available under YouTube Creative Commons. Read the full article related to this video at : http://therideadvice.com/motorcycle-target-fixation-understand-overcome When you target fixate, you are likely to steer in the direction of what you are looking at, ultimately causing an otherwise completely avoidable collision. A common and usually benign example is that of a pothole. You see it ahead of you and what happens? You keep looking at it and run right over it instead of making a slight course adjustment and missing it. The phenomenon of target fixation usually occurs because of the following: We see the object or hazard too late and we don’t think we have enough time to avoid it and hence, “lock on” to it with our eyes. We panic and instead of reverting to training, fixate on something we think we could possibly crash into. Strangely, there isn't a great deal of scientific material on the psychology behind target fixation, but it’s a very similar situation to when people freeze up when under pressure. The only difference is that on a bike, you’re not standing still – you’re moving at a rapid pace with the risk of hitting something very, very hard. So how can you overcome it? Like almost everything, practice will greatly reduce and hopefully even eliminate the risk of target fixation. Here are some practical ways to overcome it: 1. Look with your head, not just your eyes If you merely looking with your eyes and not moving your head, it’s possible you’re just going with the flow and not actively thinking about riding. By keeping your eyes as forward as possible and moving your head in the direction you want to look, you’re concentrating more and are therefore more actively engaged in your ride. 2.Actively scan By actively scanning with your eyes, you minimise the amount of time you look at one particular object. Keep your eyes dancing around, so to speak. Never let your eyes lock on something for too long – that helps prevent you from focussing on an object in an emergency. Another way to put it is to look in the general direction of where you’re travelling, not a specific point. 3. Talk to yourself. Doing this might make you look crazy, but it’s actually a fantastic way to not only preventing target fixation but breaking out of it should actually happen. By talking to yourself, you’re actively reminding yourself what you should be doing. Begin by saying something like “Look” as in look where you want to go when you’re in a corner, or “Push” as in push the bars of the bike. Eventually, you won’t need to do this but you’ll have it in your mind so that if you do find yourself target fixating on something, use that key word – shout it to yourself and you’ll hopefully break the spell your mind has on you. 4. Look through the corner This relates to 1 and 2, but is more broad and is a skill that you should use for riding anyway – not just to avoid target fixation. So often, we look just in front of our bikes. You’ll see hazards doing this but it’s generally too late to do anything about it. By looking ahead and through corners (and straights for that matter), you give yourself plenty of time to not only avoid hazards, but set up correct riding lines too. Look where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid. 5. Relax When you tense up, you tend to make errors. Your body clamps up both physically and mentally and you greatly increase the chances of doing the wrong thing. Of course, learning to relax isn’t always easy. Breathing exercises help and again, talking to yourself. Telling yourself to “Relax” can actually work – it reminds you that your bike is far more capable than you give it credit for and it will make the turn if you ask it to.
Comments
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I think my problem was 'fear'. I don't 'know' that the tires will not slide across the road. I don't have confidence in leaning the bike in the corner to a great degree of angle and, as you said, try to stand the bike up, winding up going straight and off the road. How do you get this confidence in the machine you are riding. It's kind of funny, when I had a less powerful bike I rode it many years without an accident and knew what it would do. When I got a 1200 I had fear and had no idea how it would perform in riding it, so got into two accidents and stopped riding altogether. The seat on the first bike was the low single original one and the 1200 had what they called back then, a loaf of bread two seater. That put me up higher and I didn't feel as much a part of the bike, if that makes any sense.
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ur voice is not Clear man... turn down the music
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Good advice. I'm a mountain biker and had two nasty crashes because I was focusing so much on things I didn't wanna hit.
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good video ...subs...
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Holy fuck this target fixation shit is going way to far. Not ever accident or example of a crash is target fixation. Motorbike runs off the road target fixation, squid pops a wheelie at 140 and dies target fixation, evel knievel jumps snake river TARGET FIXATION.
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Straight out of wikipedia lol
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people ever ridden a cycle and not learn this? School boy error
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i hate when this happens. i was on a dirtbike ride with my mates and i took a corner way way too fast, around the corner was a concrette bridge and a kind of cliff and in front of the cliff was a little pile of gravel. as i came around the corner i tried stopping but i didnt fast enough and ran into the pile of gravel, i hit my chest into my bars and did a front flip over the bars landing on the other side of the gravel.
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just close your eyes. Cant target something you cant see
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how about target fixation at night? I think its worst when your just staring into darkness.
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This was good, another sub for ya!
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You have a new subscriber.
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Good Video!
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I point my chin in the direction I want to go. Even if it seems like overkill. My brain automatically follows the "example" set by my chin, and then my brain tells the rest of me how to get there.
Look where you're going,
because you go where your looking. -
Good video! :-)
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Good advice .........
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While it might sound silly, talking to yourself DOES help!
Certainly when you start out and need to get used to your bike. When initial panic strikes when you need to counter-steer into a corner just outside your comfortzone ("Follow the bunny!", "commit!", "push to turn", "the tire contact is the same, when angled or straight", "look ahead!") -
Target Fixation is a busllshit, just open your eyes and watch where you going.
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You forgot to mention the most important rule: "Look at where you want to go!"
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As a beginner biker i believe target-fixation has been blown out of proportion. Target-fixation is what you're supposed to do when trying to aim for a target ie doing a figure-8. Look at the target where you want to go - especially in tight quarters - and you intuitively balance yourself to reach that target without falling over. I've ridden bicycles for decades and part of riding a bicycle is enjoying the view - you don't hear about target-fixation in the cycling world right? Same shit applies to motorcycles. I ride my bike and enjoy the vista - I'm not going to ride towards the mountain out in the distance. Ridiculous!
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