Perfect example of target fixation

Only four days ago this terrible accident happened at Mulholland Hwy in California. The video went viral overnight and —as of the time I'm writing this blog post— it has more than one million views.

This accident shows a perfect example of what improper body positioning can cause. If only the rider had been more in balance with the dynamic forces acting upon him and his bike —and had he been looking through the turn— this accident could have been easily avoided; instead, the rider panicked and fixated his sight on the cyclist. Once you incur into target fixation, your mind is already in "survival mode" and it is hard —almost impossible— to correct your course.

Awesomely, rnickeymouse, the camera person and poster of the Youtube clip, linked to one of my past articles as part of the description of the video. The article was entitled "Why do we panic in a turn? (and how to prevent it)" at SVRider.com but can also be found here in my blog.

Hopefully this —now popular— video will serve as a wake-up call for new and experienced riders to try harder and learn from the many good resources available to improve their safety skills and riding techniques.


- Ofir