The subject of SMIDSY (Sorry, Mate, I Didn’t See You) comes up regularly on motorcycle forums and on dedicated motorcycle web pages. The term probably started here as it does seem to have a distinctly Australian flavour to it but, in any event, it pretty accurately sums up the frustration we, as motorcyclists, feel when we seem to be invisible to other road users. And, for as many comments about the subject, there are differing opinions on what, if anything, we can do about it. The prevailing wisdom is that car drivers need to be better educated on the subject and you won’t get any argument from me on that point.
It’s also suggested that we are partially to blame ourselves due to our propensity for travelling considerable faster than the speed limit, especially in a built-up area and our tendency to be “suddenly” there when we are not expected to be. Fact is that the vast majority of car drivers have no grasp at all of how much superior to theirs is the acceleration potential of even a small motorcycle is. We know this because, if they did, they would stop trying to drag us off at the traffic lights!!
But the HUMAN factors, while they are amenable to modification, are too often seen as the only factors in the situation. The PHYSICAL factors are too often ignored. Why DON’T car drivers see us? Is it because they are stupid? Of course they’re not, despite the lunatic fringe of the motorcycling fraternity insisting that they are. Are they careless of our lives? The answer again is no. Why don’t they see us?
BECAUSE THEY LITERALLY DON’T SEE US!! Why? Because the design of the modern car and light commercial vehicle makes us invisible. In the last 15 years car design has been totally directed towards two ends, reducing emissions and passenger safety (what the experts call “Secondary Safety”)
Look at the picture above. This is my car, a 2008 Toyota Aurion, without a doubt the safest car I have ever driven. It is equipped with every driver aid known to man at the time of its manufacture and has been specifically designed to keep me and my passengers safe in the event that the worst case scenario were to eventuate. But it is NOT a safe car for anyone else who is sharing the road with me. Why? Because I can’t see out of it properly! It is equipped with God knows how many air bags and a body design that emphasises large amounts of metal and very small amounts of glass. You sit low in the cars and you look at the world through a mailbox-like windscreen. How many of you remember when you could rest your elbow on the window sill when you were driving? You can’t do that now as you sit below the sill level.
And your view of the world is further restricted by the two main pillars that enable you to drive safely, the windscreen pillars, being thicker than they ever have been. Why? To accommodate the air bag mechanism. As well, the shroud around your rear vision mirrors also drastically restricts your forward and 3/4 vision while you are driving (see picture). That one area where you need to have maximum visibility is the area of modern cars that is most compromised, and all in the name of “safety” Safety, yes, but for who? The other pillars of modern cars are also similarly thick and obstructive of the driver’s view leading to a claustrophobic atmosphere and dramatically compromised safety for motorcyclists who are sharing the road with these modern marvels of passenger safety.
You can do the experiment yourself. Hold a pencil up about half a metre from your eyes (about the distance between you and the “A” pillar on your car), and see how much of your view is obscured. Now imagine how much MORE of that view is obscured when the pillars are grossly thicker than that.
Motorists don’t see us because they just don’t see us. It’s not because they are not looking, its not because they are careless, it’s just because the design of the modern car has the effect of making us invisible. That is why the driver is so devastated when the accident happens and and he says, “Sorry, mate, I didn’t see you.” It’s not an excuse, it’s not a cop-out, it’s not a lie, it’s just a fact.
Short of a dramatic rethink of modern car design, this situation is not going to change, so, sadly, the responsibility falls back on us to make sure that drivers DO see us because, at the moment, they don’t.
Martino says
Phil,
I completely agree with you, but it doesn’t absolve the driver from having the responsibility to keep a lookout. I’d say that distracting music and electronic devices have a lot to answer for as well, and don’t diminish the driver’s responsibility either. Maybe autonomous/self-driving vehicles may help….
Phil Hall says
Spot on, as usual, mate 🙂