Target fixation gets another one. He was obviously focused on not hitting the car when he should have been looking for an exit route away from the car.
Happened to me about a month ago. I was approaching an intersection doing 90 km/h and the intersecting traffic had been stopped for almost an entire cycle of the lights. I got to about 4 car lengths from the intersection when a 1/2 ton Ford F150 decided to cross the intersection right in front of me. I stood on the brakes and laid on the horn. He came to a stop and I came to a stop. His front bumper ended up 2 feet away from my passenger door. My wife thought she was going to die. I sat there, threw my hands up thinking what the Hell just happened? He backed up to his position where he had departed from. No gesture of sorry or anything. This all happened at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The only thing that went through my head at that precise moment in time was to try and minimize the damage when I should have been looking for an escape route and avoiding the line of impact.
Target fixation - by definition - a psychological and attentional phenomenon where an individual becomes so intensely focused on an object—such as a hazard or a specific point—that they inadvertently steer or move toward it, drastically increasing the risk of a collision.
Some safe driving courses teach you about this and show you how to not get caught by it.. Good to learn. Almost impossible to avoid when it happens but I still advise learning about it. Saved my ass on several occasions.
Last edit: 13 hours 57 minutes ago by Kawboy.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
