Negative Hallucination

Or, a cyclist's anecdote about how the psychological phenomenon of negative hallucination is ever present in our lives.

I'm not going to the Last Thursday meetup this month for several reasons, but I thought I would share a short story about something that happened to me yesterday.

First though, watch this video.


My story starts as I was cycling home from the training course I had been on for a couple of days. The course was at a place only a few miles from my house so I decided that I would make the trip on my folding bike. It was an easy ride and I was glad of the fresh air and the exercise.

About a mile from home my route required me to cycle straight on at a roundabout. I should explain to my American readers that a roundabout, sometimes called a traffic island, is a popular kind of road junction in Europe. The principle is very simple in that traffic already on the roundabout has priority over approaching vehicles, which give way to their right (left on the continent). This constantly flowing arrangement can have many advantages over the alternative of, say, a traffic light controlled intersection.



The statistics show however that roundabouts can be very dangerous for cyclists and I think my misadventure illustrates this very well.

My ride home required that I cycle straight on and, being an experienced and confident cyclist, I proceeded to negotiate the junction in textbook fashion. I moved out to a position in the centre of my lane, waited for a gap in the traffic coming from my right, accelerated quickly out keeping well toward the centre of the roundabout, signaled my intention to turn left into my exit... and nearly got wiped out by a car.

I should make clear that the majority of bicycle accidents are what cyclists call SMIDSYs - "Sorry Mate I Didn't See You" - caused by the driver of a motor vehicle being in complete ignorance of the cyclist's existence, for whatever reason. This, and the fact that bicycles can negotiate junctions at much the same speed as other traffic, is why good cyclists take the centre of their lane when they have to manoeuvre. They need to be visible and act like the other traffic because being seen by motorists and lorry drivers is absolutely crucial to not being hit by them.

Unfortunately given the small number of bicycles on the road in the UK, and the even smaller number who actually display any understanding at all of good roadcraft, the bike awareness of motorists is often not especially high. Hence, when a motorist comes to a junction and gives way to traffic, in their mind what traffic means cars, lorries and buses. Did you spot the moonwalking bear the first time? Chances are you didn't, and that's because you weren't looking for one.

The motorist who pulled out from my left as I passed and nearly knocked me off my bike had been waiting in that spot for several seconds and just prior to pulling out had been looking right at me. I had, after all, very deliberately positioned in the place where I would be most visible. Cyclists often talk about the importance of getting eye contact with other road users for the very reason that knowing they've been seen is important, but as this case shows one can never be absolutely certain. As it turned out in this driver's field of view I wasn't a car, a lorry or a bus, I was the invisible moonwalking bear.

My point here is that all of us are capable of the phenomenon of negative hallucination, that it's happening all the time and that we simply aren't aware of it. If the brain doesn't believe that something is there we don't see it, it's that simple.

I could go on to talk about how, but for my taking evasive action, I would have easily been knocked off my bike. I could also go on to talk about the driver's response, which was to come alongside me a few seconds later and declare "I never hit you!" through an open window. I think human beings behind the wheel of an automobile can turn into such horrible individuals, and in this case it was his mission to prove to himself and others that he'd done nothing wrong. I could even recount exactly what I said in reply, although I'm not proud of my choice of language.

I will finish on a positive note however. I have cycled thousands of miles in the last few years and in my experience encounters like this are incredibly rare. This is in fact the first time that I have ever really felt in danger of being physically hurt by another vehicle. The vast majority of the time I find cycling to be a very enjoyable and rewarding activity, and I can't recommend it enough.

As an aside, if anyone is interested in learning about good cycling practice I can recommend the book cyclecraft by Jon Franklin.