Target Fixation

© Ken Bingenheimer

Dennis rolls past a dead animal in the road while Johnathon, behind him, signals a warning with his leg to the rider behind him

Whatever you do, don't think about pink elephants. Ha! Right, now there's no way that you can't think about pink elephants even though they were the furthest thing from your mind a moment ago. OK, try this. You're putting down the road on your favorite two-wheeled iron steed and there's a big pot hole up ahead. You really, really don't want to hit that pot hole, so you keep your eye on it very carefully, but inexorably you head right for it, and Whump!, you bounce right through it. Dang, what just happened?

Welcome to target fixation.

The very simple fact about target fixation is that, whether you're on a motorcycle, in a car, or whatever, you will go where you look. I know. I've seen the truth of this up close and personal more than once.

The first time was years ago when I was learning to fly a hang glider. I launched off the low hill we were using for training, with the simple intent of flying forward as far as I could. I got lucky and hit an updraft that popped me up nicely, so I was in for a good little ride. As I approached the landing area I saw the 10-foot aluminum pole stuck in the ground with a flag on top to indicate wind direction.

"Definitely don't want to fly into that," I thought.

So with my eyes locked on it, to my horror, I kept heading directly toward the pole. Just before I would have hit it I pushed out on the bar to flare the glider up and over it. That was successful. But at the slow speed I now had I had initiated a stall, and as soon as I got over the pole the nose dipped sharply down and I dove into the ground. I was a little banged up but the glider got it much worse than I did.

The next time was on my Honda CB750. After another, much more serious crash on my hang glider I sold the glider and used the money to buy the bike. I was out with the OFMC on one of our first summer trips and we were coming down some canyon road. There was a rock I'd judge to be about 5 inches square lying in the middle of my lane.

"Definitely don't want to hit that," I told myself. And then I proceeded to run right over it, bouncing the front wheel high in the air for the only wheelie I've ever done on that bike.

It was after that that I finally learned about target fixation. You will go where you are looking. If you want to avoid a hazard you MUST look away from it, not at it. Look to your escape route, not at the hazard.

The trouble is, it's not that easy to do. Your natural instinct is to look at the object--let's face it, you're extremely interested in it because it is a definite threat. You've got to have the presence of mind to overcome that instinct.

Fortunately, with discipline and practice you can train yourself. Now, periodically when I'm riding, I'll look ahead and pick a spot on the road that I designate as a hazard and then select another spot that I designate as safe. I keep my focus on the "safe" spot, steer through it, and avoid the "hazard." Then when I come upon a real pot hole or rock or object lying in the road, my instinct to look at it is not as strong, and my brain can take charge.

Be careful out there!