Visual perception may be defined as seeing and understanding accurately. For practical purposes, it is identifying clues in traffic that could affect speed, lane position or path of travel.

Safe riding is a skill more of the eyes and mind (mental) than the hands and feet (physical).

Having 20/20 vision is not enough. Since we cannot perceive all that our eyes are able to take in, we have to keep at top-of-mind what's important to us.

Central vision is three degrees; peripheral vision normally exeeds 180 degrees. Peripheral vision cannot be used to detect all of the important factors.

Besides central vision and peripheral vision, there are studies looking at useful field of view (UFOV). Studies show that drivers with good UFOV don't crash as often. Studies show that our useful field of view may lessen with age.

Key aspects of our vision include: visual acuity (clarity); field of vision (ability to see to the sides while focusing straight ahead); depth perception (ability to judge distances ahead); night vision (ability to see at night); color vision (ability to see color accurately).

Generally, good use of the eyes when riding means to scan using a sweeping back-and-forth, in-and-out pattern.

Target fixation (focusing on one object or area for more than a second or so) is generally to be avoided

Perceptoin improves with knowledge and experience, and can be affected by attention and values.

We tend to see what we expect to see

Inattentional blindness occurs when someone fails to see what should have been plainly visible. It is caused by a combination of factors: low conspicuity, divided attention, and high expectation of seeing something specific, and low arousal for seeing a particular item.

It may be helpful to identify critical clues by searching in these categories, which are not in priority order:

• Traffic control devices and road markings
• Roadway and shoulder characteristics
• Other traffic

In very general terms, the eyes fixate on an object for about 1/3 second during normal search, and then travel for about 0.05 seconds until they stop and fixate on something else (these are called saccades). (Source: Why We Don't See What Is There To Be Seen, Dr. Bernard S. Abrams)

It is estimated that half of all collisions could be prevented if operators were aware of daner three-quarters of a second earlier.

A good rider responds to good space margins; a poor rider has to quickly react to emergencies.

We have a mental set that determines how we perceive, and it consists of the following:

• If we are looking for a certain event, we are not likely to perceive much else.
• The things we teach ourselves to look for, we will perceive first.
• How well we perceive and what we perceive depends to a great extent on previous learning and experience.

Sports vision specialists have recognized that superior visual skills correlate favorably with superior performance. Other aspects of vision include: focus flexibility (near and far focus transition); dynamic visual acuity (which involves eye movement); and visualization (to form an image of something in the mind, or a mental picture of a possible outcome).

When not riding, some eye exercises to practice for improving visual performance include:

• Eye extension: move eyes up, down, left, right.
• Focus near, then focus far; then repeat
• With eyes open, cover your eyes with the palms of your handsd and focus on the black.
• While looking straight ahead, pay attention to objects in the periphery.