Could Florida Motorcycle Accidents Be Caused By ‘Inattentional Blindness’?

More than 10,000 motorcycle crashes occur each year on Florida roads, according to the most recent data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. These crashes happen for many different reasons. However, in most cases, the crash is due to the car driver’s failure to see the motorcyclist. New research describes this phenomenon as “inattentional blindness.”

According to a study published last October in the journal, Human Factors, inattentional blindness occurs when people look directly at a danger but somehow fail to actually recognize or react to it.  The study found that a motorcycle often fails to register psychologically for drivers compared to other types of vehicles. For instance, as part of the study, the researchers found that participants were “twice as likely to miss [seeing] a motorcycle compared with a taxi.”

How Often Do LBFTS-Related Motorcycle Crashes Occur in Florida?

The study labels accidents that involve inattentional blindness as “looked-but-failed-to-see,” or LBFTS, crashes. This new research focuses on how inattentional blindness contributes to motorcycle accidents. However, researchers have studied LBFTS crashes for many years in different contexts. In fact, one British company, Driving Risk Management, estimates that as many as 50 percent of all motor vehicle crashes occur in LBFTS scenarios.

You can imagine many different situations in which inattentional blindness leads to motorcycle crashes in Florida. Here are three highly common scenarios that our Sarasota motorcycle accident attorneys have seen over the years:

• Car driver cuts off motorcyclist – Drivers often turn in front of motorcyclists who have the right of way at an intersection. The motorcyclist often cannot stop. As a result, the motorcyclist crashes into the car or must lay down his or her bike.
• Driver merges into the motorcyclist – Drivers often change lanes and run into a motorcycle that is next to or slightly behind the car. Again, this often happens because the car driver fails to see the motorcyclist in a mirror or blind spot and to react in a safe, reasonable way.
• Driver hits the motorcyclist from behind – These accidents often occur because the car driver follows the motorcyclist too closely, or “tailgates.” If the motorcyclist needs to slow down or swerve in order to avoid an object in the road, the car driver may plow into the motorcyclist from the rear and cause a terrible crash.

Our Sarasota Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Can Help You

If you have been hurt in a motorcycle accident in Sarasota or a nearby community in Florida, you should seek help right away from the experienced motorcycle accident lawyers at Buckman & Buckman, P.A. Whether you were the rider or passenger, you can count on our legal team to protect your rights and to fight for all compensation you are entitled to receive, including funds to cover your property damage, past and future medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress and more. Contact us now and let us provide a free consultation about your case.