A Florida bike lawyer is shedding light on a little-known human factor that explains a whole category of car-bike crashes, and almost no driver has ever been trained on it. The phenomenon is called target fixation, and it occurs when a person locks their attention onto a hazard they are trying to avoid rather than searching for the safe path around it. Unfortunately the hands tend to follow the eyes, meaning whatever a driver stares at is often where the vehicle steers. George Politis, a Florida cycling attorney and advocate, breaks it down in the video below.
Politis argues this explains one of the most confusing things drivers say after a crash: “I saw the cyclist.” Seeing a cyclist and safely avoiding one are not the same thing. When a driver’s eyes lock onto a rider or the narrow gap beside them, the vehicle tends to follow.
The fix, according to Politis, is against human instinct. Look where you want to go, not at what you are trying to avoid. For drivers that means widening focus and identifying a safe passing opportunity rather than obsessing over the gap beside a rider. For cyclists, it means keeping eyes up and riding a steady, predictable line.
Politis also addresses lane positioning, noting that in roughly 32 states cyclists are legally permitted to take the full lane when it is too narrow for a car and bike to travel side by side with adequate clearance.