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Old 03-19-2013, 05:07 PM
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LVSteve LVSteve is offline
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Originally Posted by Kinman View Post
I drove city bus for 27 years, as large a frontal area as a bus is you would be amazed at the number of people that "didn't see it". The company painted one bus for the "Dare" drug project back in the 80's or 90's, all black and pretty. The first day that I drove that in a city route was one of the worst days I could remember. It seemed like I was driving a black hole down the street. I would see people pull up to a stop sign and look right at me, then pull out as if they didn't see me. I would never own a black car after that experience. I put in a recommendation to the safety committee that anyone that drove that bus at least make sure they had their headlights on. Everything I own I drive with the headlights on all the time, why not give yourself every edge possible with the growing number of self-important morons busy talking on the cell phone while driving down the road.
What you experienced there is a little acknowledged effect of the human visual system as a whole. We are hard wired to spot movement, small things to eat and predators that are similar in size to ourselves. Everything else is not that important and gets processed into the background, especially if it is a dark colour with little or no relative motion or there is a general lack of contrast. Even pilots suffer from this. I recall an account given by an RAF pilot that neither he nor his navigator could see the large tanker aircraft they were meeting until it did a quick fuel stream to add movement to the scene. Seeing is not just about your eyes, it is about what you brain does with the information.

Last edited by LVSteve; 03-19-2013 at 05:13 PM.
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